RSS
Home
Face time
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Sometimes, you just gotta go!
No matter how adept one becomes at dealing with their work-load remotely, there always comes a time when you have to show up in person. There are lots of things one can do with a phone call to an on site pair of hands, but there's no substitute for the good will and efficiency of being there, reminding the people with/for whom you work what you look like and just effective you can be.
Years ago, I worked with a number of vendors who had printing plants all over the world. I was invited to visit a plant in North Carolina (I was production manager for a design studio in New York's garment district at the time), and I went to meet the faces behind the voices on the phone. These folks were thrilled to have the chance to show me what they did with the files I'd send and how they fabricated our digital designs into physical items. Our long-distance relationship going forward improved exponentially. I knew whom to call, by name, when I had a problem. It felt more like I was talking to a friend than some impersonal voice on the phone. And they were more inclined to call me when they had issues so we could clarify things together.
These days, the tools available for teleconferencing are much more sophisticated, but even so, the personal interaction of a visit is far more rewarding than a virtual one.
And when there's a complex problem, sometimes, you just gotta go there. I had plans last week to restore the software on my broadcast computer. I had gotten a little too, shall we say "creative" with the way I was using the computer. It has a LOT of proprietary software running on it. (I had tried to run Livestream on it, and that was a mistake!). And that would mean going on site, disconnecting a bunch of stuff and running a restoration routine, followed by reinitializing Windows (fun!). Before I could leave for Borough Hall, my printing client called: "My Mac won't start and there's a folder with a question mark on it. What do I do now?"
After briefly trying to explain how to use the OS installer disk to boot the computer and run diagnostics, I quickly realized this was a "face time" moment. My broadcast computer could wait. By going on site, I pretty quickly learned that the G5 I had upgraded nine months ago had a hard drive melt down. I was able to figure out some interim work-arounds to keep my client in business while we awaited delivery of a suitable new workstation. There's no way I could have accomplished this remotely. I get to configure and set up a whole new MacPro this week. And that will be a lot of face time with compensation both in fees and the satisfaction of knowing it will be done right the first time.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
