Challenge and Selection: I chose storytelling for my challenge. I work in IT Services and  run a group that specializes in rapid response engineering support for large scale Data Center  Migrations. A vitally important part of the work involves working through complicated  technical problems that are spread over multiple geographic locations, on different  technology platforms (applications to networks) and limited by the amount of time we must  successfully resolve problems. The tool I chose from the course was the Storytelling tool. It  is the most relevant tool that I use in my work.

Application: During the past week I was called in the middle of the night to assist a  customer with a technical problem they had. The problem was associated with a circuit  provided between two data centers from a third-party company. The third-party device  experienced issues that were not automatically reported to their technical support team for  resolution. This in turn led to my customer trying to copy data from one place to the other  and experiencing a failure. My customer then called my team to report an issue with my  service. I assembled my team and began diagnosing what had broken in the network. We  were able to quickly identify the source of the failure and engage the third-party company to  repair the faulty device. The project using this service was able to continue with their work  and not miss their deadline and did not incur any financial penalty. Despite the success of the  project, it was discovered that the device had been experiencing this fault condition for 16  hours in advance of the migration work. This caused considerable controversy amongst  management.

By capturing the events in real-time as they unfolded, I was able to reassemble the outage  and restoration into a coherent story for management at both companies to review and  understand what had occurred, when it had occurred, why it had occurred, where it occurred  and most importantly how it was dealt with. This allowed management to understand who  was at fault for what and where to assess blame if any was required. This level of  transparency is critically important for maintaining good relationships. Honesty is vital t the  success of the work my team does and any attempts to obfuscate or blur accountability are  easy to spot and leave a bad feeling with the customer.

Insight: I have learned that telling a good, honest and thorough story will often help present  sometimes uncomfortable or embarrassing information in a way that does not make the  listener feel as though they are being misinformed or deceived. “The facts are friendly even  when they are not” is an often-repeated phrase in legal circles, but it’s message carries over  to technical work and any activity that involves communication around incidents in a  business relationship. Presenting facts as a story with a start middle and end often makes it  easy for all parties to absorb the relevant details and make appropriate decisions based on  understanding rather than on misunderstanding.


Challenge and Selection : I chose storytelling for my challenge . I work in IT Services and run a group that specializes in rapid response engineering support for large scale Data Center Migrations . A vitally important part of the work involves working through complicated technical problems that are spread over multiple geographic locations , on different technology platforms ( applications to networks ) and limited by the amount of time we must successfully resolve problems . The tool I chose from the course was the Storytelling tool . It is the most relevant tool that I use in my work . Application : During the past week I was called in the middle of the night to assist a customer with a technical problem they had . The problem was associated with a circuit provided between two data centers from a third - party company . The third - party device experienced issues that were not automatically reported to their technical support team for resolution . This in turn led to my customer trying to copy data from one place to the other and experiencing a failure . My customer then called my team to report an issue with my service . I assembled my team and began diagnosing what had broken in the network . We were able to quickly identify the source of the failure and engage the third - party company to repair the faulty device . The project using this service was able to continue with their work and not miss their deadline and did not incur any financial penalty . Despite the success of the project , it was discovered that the device had been experiencing this fault condition for 16 hours in advance of the migration work . This caused considerable controversy amongst management . By capturing the events in real - time as they unfolded , I was able to reassemble the outage and restoration into a coherent story for management at both companies to review and understand what had occurred , when it had occurred , why it had occurred , where it occurred and most importantly how it was dealt with . This allowed management to understand who was at fault for what and where to assess blame if any was required . This level of transparency is critically important for maintaining good relationships . Honesty is vital t the success of the work my team does and any attempts to obfuscate or blur accountability are easy to spot and leave a bad feeling with the customer . Insight : I have learned that telling a good , honest and thorough story will often help present sometimes uncomfortable or embarrassing information in a way that does not make the listener feel as though they are being misinformed or deceived . “ The facts are friendly even when they are not ” is an often - repeated phrase in legal circles , but it ’s message carries over to technical work and any activity that involves communication around incidents in a business relationship . Presenting facts as a story with a start middle and end often makes it easy for all parties to absorb the relevant details and make appropriate decisions based on understanding rather than on misunderstanding .