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A guy at a help desk says something inane like that to dodge being recorded ("for quality assurance") as bad-mouthing the product. He didn't code that app or s
by Semiapies 16y ago
A guy at a help desk says something inane like that to dodge being recorded ("for quality assurance") as bad-mouthing the product. He didn't code that app or set that field size.
Setting a field size that stupidly small could have a lot of causes, from a lazy coder who figures 1000 characters is enough to an actual directive from an executive saying that they don't want long assessments. (I've had higher-ups in a client's company tell me to do just that, in other contexts.)
In any case, it remains fucking terrible.
- burgerbrain 16y agoA more acceptable response would be "Thank you for your feedback, I'll pass it on." In fact "we did that on purpose" is possibly one of the worst things he could say. What authority does he have for making that assertion, was he on the design team? He's putting (rather rude) words into the mouths of the people who built the system.
- Semiapies 16y agoAgreed on the more acceptable response, but the corporate culture of the company may not make that the worst thing he could say in terms of staying employed. He clearly wasn't coached to say "I'll pass it on" and was floundering to respond to a person who was upset over what the help desk guy could easily recognize was a real flaw in the software, while obviously not feeling remotely secure in saying anything that might even suggest that this was a flaw.
- flatline 16y agoAgreed, there is probably no feedback system whatsoever, and the IT guy is almost certainly more powerless than the doctor. Which points to the real problem - it's usually the administrative staff that signs off on the software requirements with feedback only coming from other administrators. At least, that was the predominant trend for electronic medical records during the 90s and the earlier part of the past decade.
- sudont 16y ago"we did that on purpose" is engineering's exact reasoning behind every single bug we've discovered in our system's architecture. This is not an atypical response, this is a standard experience. I personally have discovered bugs that can shut down parts of our system, and these bugs are there "by design."
- joe_the_user 16y agoI don't think there's any dodge there. He could have said "we don't care, we don't have to". In a lot of ways, that is what he said. It's just appalling...
- Semiapies 16y agoThere's no "we" when it comes to some guy working the help desk.