I have this co-worker, let's call him "Bob", that gets assigned a trouble-shooting task that I don't have time for.
Bob's first action is to set up a meeting with me, during which he basically asks to be technically hand-held through his attempts at trouble-shooting. I apply my best effort in tact as I inform him that the reason he has the assignment to begin with is that I don't have time to do it myself. Bob reluctantly agrees to try to work the task on his own.
After a couple weeks of no progress, Bob declares that he has other committments and wants to hand the task off to someone else. The new person assigned to the task, let's call him "Joe", repeats Bob's approach - the first thing he does is insist on an IM chat with me, where he expects to work through the task cooperatively, getting technical answers/direction from me.
The exchange starts out like this:
Joe:
I need access for the task
Me:
Have you <process for access to server> ?
Joe:
Yes
Me:
Have you logged in ?
Joe:
Yes - <problem to troubleshoot> happens in the web GUI
Me:
Have you tried <problem to troubleshoot> from CLI on server ?
Joe:
Which server ?
Me:
So, have you <process for access to server> for <server> ?
Joe:
Yes, let me look <pause> I didn't have it, so now I'm doing <process for access to server>
Me:
OK, that's a good start
... call me crazy, but I have a feeling I'll be returning to this task and doing it myself, eventually.
