I do technical support and maintenance programming work during my day job. In other words: I fix technical problems all day long. Usually I am optimistic and outgoing despite constantly being in high stress situations, but lately its been difficult to stay positive. On especially trying days I get a sickly feeling looking back at the end of a day, realizing I’ve accomplished almost nothing tangible, that my day has been full of interruptions, technical catastrophes, and operational nightmares. My eyes glaze over, and I feel that everything I do results in a dead-end. but I’m too stubborn to stop and take a break so I simply continue to run headfirst into a brick wall. For me and for anyone else who has days like this, its worth reminding myself of the most important things I can do in a stressful situation.
Don’t panic
Being calm is the most important part of dealing with a stressful situation. If you are having difficulty staying calm, one strategy is thinking about the worst thing that could happen if you fail and what you would do in that situation. Say a high-profile customer is complaining about an issue and you still can’t fix it, what then? You could consider your options to get more help, hire an expert for a short amount of time, or communicate frequently with the customer. All of those things you can do without directly making headway on an issue. Knowing there are alternative solutions to your problems is critical to not being overwhelmed. Have a backup plan and know your options.
Define the problem
It’s real easy to say something doesn’t work the way it should, but defining the problem fully can prove more difficult. Do you understand the problem based on the description given to you? If you’ve found the problem. have you confirmed the scope and impact of the issue? Can you establish a timeline of when it started? Resist the temptation to jump right in and start fixing things. Unless you immediately know what the problem is, researching an issue should take much longer than implementing a fix. This ensures (most of the time) that you can fix the problem the right way and never revisit it again.
Break tasks down into their smallest indivisible parts
Dividing your big overwhelming task into smaller tasks makes troubleshooting more manageable. For example, if you have some vital component of your infrastructure break down and you have no idea why, it can become a scary and stressful situation fast. Thousands of dollars are draining from your company’s pockets by the second and people are banging down your door for answers. But proceeding methodically and systematically will ensure that you can eliminate the most likely causes of your issue and will help you find the root causes as soon as possible.
Establish a goal
So there’s a problem, we already know that, but there may be a wide array of possible resolutions. By stating your ideal outcome (doing so in writing helps), you can then backtrack to how to achieve it. In the same vein as setting a goal, understanding that fixing a problem 100% may not be the ideal solution. Are 90% of the people happy with a 90% solution? Does the extra 10% cost twice as much? Will the 90% solution return as a -200% bug or design issue in the future? Finding the middle ground is difficult and far out of scope of this post, but simply confirming that the solution will satisfy you, your customer, and the bottom line means that you don’t have to thrash at a problem, instead you establish a plan and follow it with confidence and dedication.
Set expectations and give status updates
When you have a problem that is affecting others’ productivity and happiness providing them with an explanation and an expected timeframe of a fix can be crucial to your sanity. By explaining the issue and the possible solutions to another person you will help yourself better understand the issue and the solution. However, under no circumstances should you commit to an exact time that the issue will be resolved by. Expected completion dates should be only reserved for the development of a fix, and tentatively at that, but you should not commit to the unknown amount of time it takes to discover and troubleshoot an issue. As you proceed with your plans, give frequent status updates to the interested parties. This will show them that you are both concerned and actively working on the issue and it should help keep the dogs at bay for a quick fix.
Keep a list of your failed attempts
Sometimes debugging an issue can take an undue amount of persistence. To help yourself feel like you are still being productive, try keeping a list of each of the failed solutions you’ve tried. By keeping a list of the these negative accomplishments, you now have a real list of the things you are actively doing to fix the problem instead of feeling like everything you try is failing.
Break time!
Lastly, and maybe most importantly, take a break. Most problems aren’t solved instantly and most can wait an extra 15 minutes for you to get your head together. If you feel like you’re spinning your wheels, it’s probably break time. Get up, stretch, use the bathroom, or have a snack; whatever it takes to get you away from your desk, do it. A real break will help your endurance in a stressful situation and will allow your mind to wander and you will revisit your problem with a fresh pair of eyes.
Tags: goals, panic, problem solving, stress, time management