Lessons · IT support · when to stop
When to stop: the time box, the access line, and the data
Stop troubleshooting and escalate when any one of three things is true: your time box is up, the next step needs access you do not have, or the next step could lose data. Stopping at the rule is not giving up; it is the rule.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
Two hours into a laptop that will not boot, you are about to reinstall the operating system. The user's thesis is on that disk and has never been backed up. The two hours were a sunk cost; the thesis was not. The time box would have stopped you at thirty minutes, and the data rule would have stopped you at the word 'reinstall'.
How to think about it
Write the start time on the ticket. Set the box before you begin: thirty minutes on the desk for a P3, less for a P1 because a P1 needs more hands sooner. Before every change ask: do I have the access, and could this lose anything. If the box is up or either answer is wrong, write what you tried, and hand it up with the notes.
Worked example
Started 10:02, time box 30 min → stop at 10:32Set before the first check, so the decision is made by the clock and not by your pride.
10:20: next step is to reset the network switch portNeeds the network team's access. Stop here for that step, whatever the clock says.
10:31: three checks done, cause narrowed to the port or the switchThe box is up. The notes say exactly where it was narrowed to.
Escalated to network with the three checks and the port numberThe next person starts at 10:31, not at 10:02.
Your turn
The next step is to wipe and reinstall the disk, and the files on it are not backed up. Write the rule that stops you.
Stop: the next step could lose
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Extending the time box by 'five more minutes' six times. The box exists because the sixth five minutes feels exactly like the first one from the inside.