techrecovery | Feb. 21st, 2010

This is from a couple of years back, when I did two stints in a government department.

There were all kinds of specialists in the office. The ones who were consistently the cause of more tickets than anyone else per user, however, were the social workers. No-one really knew why.

Eventually, a postulate was put forth: Social workers are crap with standardised data entry interfaces because they're trained in an incompatible mindset.

The mindset of social work is that you interact with a lot of people who have terrible situations, mindsets, behaviors etc, and you provide a set of better possibilities which they will hopefully move towards - essentially, the SW is a guide leading the other person gradually towards normality, or at least a slightly better life. If it doesn't work, they try a variation, a couple of different things and approaches, and hopefully this fuzzy method will eventually strike something which resonates with that one particular client. The client's behavior will then change, and the process repeats itself. The client is expected to be a constantly moving target.

This... does not work with computers.

Try something different to the very limited set of inputs the computer is expecting, and it won't work. Trying different approaches won't work. The computer not only will not improve itself if given a good example, it is fundamentally no more capable of doing so than a rock.

But it's sometimes programmed to give a passing approximation of helpful, intelligent responses. Which, presumably, trigger many social workers over into the "trying to change/improve the other party" behavior.

I only wish I'd realised this ten or fifteen years ago, so that I could have rounded up the social workers in the office and given them "Computers for Social Workers 101", which would have been roughly:

"Remember that your computer is not a client; it is not a psychologically fragile human being. Your computer is a flashy, blinky, rock. You cannot change its reactions with love and attention. It is not designed to 'catch on' if you try something new. You can't 'wing it' or be 'near enough'. The computer is a bigger version of the keypad which lets you into the office - if you press the buttons an unexpected way, it won't learn, or be stimulated, or take its first joyous steps onto the path of becoming a healthy member of society. It's fancy clockwork.

If something goes wrong with your computer, it does not mean you need to try something different. It means to start over from the top using the one true known method. No variations. No shortcuts. No improvements. Just the standard, original, and yes, boring sequence for that process. And IF that doesn't work, call me.

Please also note that I am a repair guy. I do not know how to do your specific job. If you can't remember how to do something, or aren't quite sure, I am not the guy to go to. I don't know what you need to do. Check with your colleagues, or your in-office trainer (if you have one) or have a look in your own notes, if you keep them (and I recommend you do). If you can't find anything there, check the manuals on the computer, which we will be covering in the next few minutes as a bonus information freebie for you. Please only call me if you are absolutely sure that your computer is broken."

tl;dr: Social workers are deliberately trained to be fuzzy, not precise. Anyone supported similar mindsets?