Indianapolis Computer Help Desk

A recent article by Clive Thompson in Wired Magazine talks about the idea of group solving of games and puzzles. In my day we called these things "Cheats". Today they are called walkthroughs. Essentially, the idea is that people begin to tackle a puzzle (or a video game) and they document their success. Other people can then use this documentation to get to the point where the earlier people failed and attack the problem from there with a fresh approach. It's been done forever, but the Internet has allowed the collaboration to become global. The hive mind can attack a problem and solve it in an instant compared to what a lone problem solver can do.

At my Indianapolis computer support company, we use the walkthrough approach to most of the issues that come to our computer help desk each day. In fact, all of our tech support staff sits in a large room with no dividers so we can eavesdrop on one another's conversations and add whatever knowledge we can bring to the topic at hand. It's difficult when a new person joins our computer services team, but it doesn't take long before the benefits outweigh the discomfort.

Thompson's article suggests a similar conclusion. He says that game designers should build the kinds of puzzles that require a hive mind to solve rather than complain that people are taking this approach. That' the big lesson that our successful network technicians learn quickly. While it feels really cool to solve a business computer support problem on your own, many of them require a team to solve successfully. The problem one is seeing in Carmel may have recently been solved by another in Greenwood. More likely, the solution to the Greenwood problem suggests an approach to solving the Carmel problem. The actual solution to the Carmel problem will add to the collective knowledge. It will enhance the walkthrough for the next guy.