Position of knowledge

We replaced our 32-year-old air conditioner this winter. We live in an environment where it heats up to over 100° for about 9 months of the year, with 3 of those months in the 110° range. The AC gets a regular workout especially since it is either cooling or heating and is never turned off. We got our money’s worth from that unit and our long-time repairman did a great job regularly servicing and inspecting it. He knew everything about our air conditioners. I trusted the decisions and maintenance he provided, especially when he discovered things going on with the units that weren’t obvious.

My AC man retired and sold his business to another company. I didn’t get to say goodbye to the man who shared my journey thru homeownership for 32 years. It was sudden and I found out when I called for my regular service appointment.  The voice on the phone sounded unfamiliar. It wasn’t the lady I’d been talking to for years. This person didn’t know me and didn’t know my AC units. The company had my information and records but didn’t really know more than that. I decided to trust that the new company would be as reliable as my retired AC man and moved forward with the service.

There was no crisis that led to replacing my air conditioner. It was working fine. I had previously talked about replacing it with my AC man a few years ago when the smaller unit died, so I had an expected ballpark price, a thoroughly laid out plan for taking the air handler out of the ceiling in the bathroom and felt very confident that things would go smoothly.

Problem 1 – Office staff didn’t check their email to see that I requested a salesperson. I waited a week and gave them a call. So sorry – blah blah blah…

Problem 2 – The sales guy wanted to destroy the bathroom ceiling to get the unit out instead of considering the way I was told it needed to be removed. I asked for a second opinion. He brought in an experienced guy who asked the salesman ‘What were you thinking?!’

Problem 3 –The unit quoted was no longer available. I’d have to choose between other options. I said I’d wait while the one I wanted was manufactured. This gave me time to have the air ducts cleaned!

Problem 4 – Installation. They took all day and checked and rechecked the system. With all the banging going on I assumed it was installed correctly and without issue. Turns out it worked but had sloppy workmanship – open wires without shielding, haphazard positioning of parts etc. It didn’t look finished. I called the next morning to ask for shielding on the open wires.

Problem 5 – Installer comes the next morning and corrects the wiring. Unfortunately, he bent a wire and didn’t test the system. It never turned on and we got cold that night.

Problem 6 – I call again the following morning to say that my brand-new unit isn’t working. Serviceman comes out and sees bent wire, fixes and actually tests the unit!

Problem 7 – Three weeks later the weather rises it to 80°. The new unit doesn’t cool. Serviceman comes out and is here for hours diagnosing the problem. Manufacturer defect. He says I can run the heat. I say turn off.

Two weeks later 2 technicians and the experienced guy are here to replace the defective part. It’s been working ever since! It was 116° this week…

I tell you that story to make a point: Act from a position of knowledge. I knew what to expect through every step of these problems: phone call, second opinion, wait for what I want, check the work, know what to expect, have a solution.

All too often we aren’t equipped to act from a position of knowledge. We are ‘turn the key and it goes’ consumers – like how I am with my car. Unfortunately, it can also apply to our NonStop Systems.

These challenges may apply to you:

• The team who ran the NonStop System retired but it’s working so no thought has been given about facilitating the expertise of the next team.
• No one actually knows the flow of data thru the NonStop System and therefore can’t really troubleshoot if something changes.
• New hires don’t know the ‘big picture’ and history of your procedures and can’t explain if they see something suspicious or even know if it should be suspicious.
• New hires may not know the meaning of statistics or values reported by NonStop utilities.

Pushing an EASY button can have consequences if you don’t know what to expect.

Install MOMI! We designed MOMI to give you information. Not only are you seeing Live data, but tool tips explain what you are looking at.  You can go back in time thru the data to look carefully at an event. You can set alarms to alert you for situations that are out of the ordinary. MOMI is a utility for you to manage your NonStop System and act from a position of knowledge.

User comments:

I think everyone should have MOMI to understand their System – new hire from IBM background

MOMI makes things a lot easier for my customers to explain what they need help with – GNSC

I couldn’t see how my System was running until I had MOMI – new NonStop customer

MOMI is easy to use and the price is right! – EVERYONE

My favorite advertisement from 2011!

The annual NonStop TBC is coming up in September. It is a great time to get your team up-to-date with HPE information, ask the NonStop Partners about their products and solutions, and network with the NonStop Community! The ‘new guys’ need to hear from experienced teams about the NonStop. Enhance actual intelligence!

Act from a position of knowledge. Help your team become the next experts on your NonStop System so both you and they trust their decisions, know the ‘big picture’ of how things work, and maintain the high level of expertise necessary for your environment.

See you in Denver in September!