IT Job Advice: Tickets/Work Orders

 I'm going to be honest here, I hate ticket systems. I hate filling out tickets. One thing I was never taught in school when learning IT was that most of the job is actually a bunch of bureaucratic fluff. I mentioned in a previous post that documentation is super important and an easy way to get you some praise at your job. Another piece that requires little technical information but extra stupid paperwork is tickets.

Here's the thing with tickets, I've heard the arguments about tracking work done for historical purposes, using notes for fixing future things, etc. Truth is, I've never seen it used for that at all. Notes are often useless, and often times important historical detail is left off or there's lies in the notes. The truth is they provide on important thing that allows IT managers to negotiate with HR, payroll, and hiring managers, and that is METRICS! That's right, it's all about tracking work hours. So why are the notes needed? To justify the hours the ticket represents.

So how does one be successful with tickets? The first is, add any notes you can, it doesn't even have to be fully technical. You just need to show "I did X task(s) and it took ## hours" in such a way that the hours spent are justified by the task performed. Also, attach any and all communications around the ticket to the ticket. This will also be a good cover for if a task takes too long or if a user lies about something communication-wise.

Another important piece that relates to the metrics ticketing systems offer, is meeting a Service Level Agreement (SLA). Keeping the metrics looking good, or having a documented justification when something is going a bit sideways will get you praise from managers up the chain with everyone concerned about what those metrics mean.

So the simple flow is as follows:

• Tickets track hours
• Notes justify the time spent
• Communication justifies solutions or breaches an SLA

The metrics there can then be used to:

• Justify the job or needs for more people or time
• Justify why an SLA might have been breaches
• Prove the situation was resolved or whatever closeout reason was used

Despite all of these good reasons, tickets still suck. It's time consuming and feels like a waste of time when you could be doing something productive. However, if you want to succeed in IT, fill out tickets as best you can to meet these specific notes and you should be successful at your job.