We encourage our team to bring their furry family members into the office. In fact, I bring my dog in most Fridays. Today she was acting normal.
By “normal” I mean she was running to every desk to say good morning with her particular brand of canine charm. One of our team members, Cindy, saw her antics and posed an interesting question. What if everyone in the office was a dog or a cat?
What would each of us be like? Would some of us be as outgoing and friendly as my dog? Would others be standoffish, the way some animals can be? I laughed at the idea of it.
And then I had another thought. What if people were like IT devices? What would that look like?
I know it’s silly but play along. Think about your own team. Who among your co-workers resembles one of the following?
Which one are you?
Cloud App
Nebulous (or cumulus) and able to take on huge workloads quickly. Works fast and hard—but watch out! They can put away the pizza at company lunches! Monthly costs add up faster than you’d think.
Onsite Server
Incredibly fast at the date of hire. But two to three years later? Yeah, they slow down. In fact, they become so much slower you eventually let them go so you can hire someone else. (That Cloud App is starting to look pretty good.)
iPhone
Easygoing. Always up to date. They just work. But they’re not very flexible. They do things the way they do things, and you can’t really make changes. Plus, there are always cracks on their screen—er, I mean glasses.
Android
A bit of a rebel. Can come across as independent or defiant or even perpetually hungry. (Have you seen these software updates?! KitKat, Lollipop, Marshmallow, Nougat—I’m getting hungry thinking about it.) But they’re flexible and totally cool with change.
Laptop
Needs the option to be fully mobile. I mean, needs it. But won’t actually take advantage of it most of the time. (But, boy, they could be mobile!) They need plenty of peripherals—a docking station, 3 monitors and external keyboard. A bit of a diva, but so ready to go mobile.
iPad
Actually willing to be mobile. Says they’ll go just about anywhere and work. But really, they’re more into the scenery. Great for watching movies with. Not really much of a workhorse, though. But man, do they look productive!
Desktop PC
Very similar to an Onsite Server, except they cause more visible problems over time. As a result, they get yelled at more. And sometimes they get kicked around a bit. (Time to reboot . . . again.)
Abacus
Fully independent. Totally self-contained. No need for outside power or inspiration. They’re proud of their accuracy and kind of cool to watch in action. But they’re not lightning fast. Still, they know how to do what they do, and they do it really well.
All Types Welcome
In the end, it takes all types of people (and devices) to make your organization work well. There’s no judgment here. Not for your staff or for your devices.
Instead, we believe everyone and everything just needs proper support.
And that’s our job. Do you need some help with your people? I mean, your devices? Then give us a call. We’ll be happy to pitch in.
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