One of the key business user reported that there was a request by her that had been opened for several days (40+ days). The apps team had checked it, infra had checked it, and the supplier’s update was also visible and evident in the ticket history.

At a first glance, nothing looked neglected but to the fact, nothing had actually moved either.

“Have you ever spoken to Michael?” one of her colleague asked.

“Who is Michael?” the business user replied.

“He works somewhere in operations probably. I am not entirely sure where.”

“Does he own the service?”

“No. He is just…Michel”

“Then why are we dragging him into this?”

“Because he’s the one who usually cuts through the mess. He is my go to guy in the end. I put ticket for my issues and next I ping him immediately. It works like a charm.”

“Fine. I shall ping Michael then”, said the user.

“But, he is on vacation.”

“Oh! Back when?”

“I guess next Monday.”

The business user looked at the ticket again and said, “So what do I do until then?”

There was no immediate answer on it.

Here’s the thing – people like Michael are really valuable. They know the history, the technical details, the workarounds, all the tricks for getting things done. Those connections make everything run smoother and save hours, maybe days.

The problem starts when knowing Michael is no longer helpful, but necessary. Then the service works well for people who have his number and very differently for people who do not.

Because Michael is the process!!!

That’s not Michael’s fault. That’s a challenge for tech leaders. Did we build a service? Or did we just build a network of dependencies held together by the few folks who know all the secrets?

Our Michael does deserve the recognition. And he also deserves a holiday that does not appear on the risk register.

Do you have your Michael’s mobile number saved? Or him pinned in your MS teams chat? 😉