[johnjhayes]

I already have too many people coming by and trying to talk and be my friend. That just prevents me from getting work done. Of course being nice to people is always a good thing to do, but it's not going to solve IT problems.

Here is what you can do: understand your needs, communicate them clearly and have realistic goals. That's it.

[marcuscreo]

Do you know non-technical people that can do this well and consistently? How do they do it?

[johnjhayes]

Yes, a few. They do it by being competent and aware. The point I'm trying to make is that if you don't understand what you need an IT person isn't going to be able to solve your problems by just throwing technology against a wall. You don't need to understand the technology, but you have to have a very clear understanding of what you need to accomplish and then communicate that clearly.

Everyone should try to be friendly and professional, and clearly being rude won't win you any favors, but you shouldn't get moved to the front of the line because you stopped by to talk about last nights game or how my kids are doing. That's not a solution that can scale.