Results tagged “funny situations” from Lohrmann on Infrastructure

Earlier this week I received an email from an out of state friend and respected colleague who I haven't heard from in a while. He got straight to the point. "I just discovered that I'm only three hops away on LinkedIn from one of the suspected Russian spies. But guess what, you're even closer. You're only two hops away."

 Put in the other terms, my (real life) friend was telling me that I was linked (had a connection which is similar to a "friend" on Facebook) to someone who had an online connection to one of the alleged spies. 

I immediately checked out my friend's facts. It was true. I had accepted an invitation last year to connect to a person who was in one of the security groups that I was also in. At the time, this individual wanted to make me aware of several "hot job openings" for senior executives in my field. That contact never went anywhere, but now I was kind of "guilty by association." I presume that many others are in the same boat, since the recruiter has thousands of LinkedIn connections.

This is not the first time something like this has happened to me. But the previous time, I was a bit more culpable. Once I gave an upbeat LinkedIn recommendation to a colleague that I knew well and liked as a person. This government staff member did good work and had a good reputation - until he committed a crime and went to jail. (It turned out that I didn't know him as well as I thought.) I quickly learned that I could undo (withdrawal) my online recommendation for this person, and I did so.

 As I researched "the good, the bad and the ugly of social networks" further, I found out that many HR professionals and lawyers have suggested that online recommendations are a bad idea in the first place. That is, recommendations are not recommended, for a variety of reasons. Even when there are no negative employee/boss situations that arise, some bloggers suggest that these recommendations can be seriously flawed - due to conflicts of interest. Some managers may even recommend staff so that they are more likely to leave.

So here I am on 4^th of July weekend, wondering if I should stop accepting LinkedIn invitations. Should I change my social networking habits? Should I stop connecting to other professionals online? I meet many people at conferences and often try to establish a connection with them on LinkedIn within the next month. Does this still make sense?

After more research, I've also discovered that LinkedIn has even clamped down on super connected users. Most experts say that quality matters more than quantity. And yet, I have always used LinkedIn as a good substitute for keeping track of business cards which can become out of date. Using LinkedIn, I can easily keep track of friends and colleagues that I worked with in England, back in Maryland and even former State of Michigan employees who move one.  This pattern has served me well, and best of all, my database of contacts updates itself with the latest contact information automatically.

What conclusion did I reach?  Should I fear being "guilty by association" online? Should I encourage others to stop using these social networking tools?  I've decided to march on - with a few minor modifications.

Why? If you're not guilty there is nothing to fear.  I think a consistent "middle of the road" approach still makes sense. As long as we don't go overboard with these tools, they can help us to become more productive, well-informed and (yes) connected.  They can even lead to new opportunities - like joining interesting online groups, speaking at conferences or writing for magazines.

Sure, we need to to keep an eye on how things evolve to protect our professional online reputation and our virtual integrity. But let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. I say keep using social networking tools like LinkedIn, when supported by company or government policies.

Meanwhile you can ask me to connect online - but I might say no or hit that archive button.

How about you? Have any stories you can share about online "friends" or "connections" gone bad?

A funny thing happened on my way to work yesterday. Actually, the situation was pretty frustrating, and there were a few lessons learned regarding interactive conference calls. Here's what happened:

 I was in the car listening in to our normal 7:30 AM "Day Start" call which goes over enterprise-wide status. (To get a sense of what I'm talking about, you can watch this quick video on our technology service management center in Michigan.)   

All was going well as I pulled into my underground parking spot at about 7:40 AM.  On this morning, we were scheduled to have a issue resolution follow-up discussion regarding one customer with a subset of people.

The roll call began: "Dan Lohrmann." 

I said, "Here." There was a long pause. "Dan, are you there?"

I checked my blackberry again. (No, I was not driving at this point.) My phone was not on mute. I said again: "This is Dan, I am here!"

 Continuing down the list, "Lynn... Mike.... John.... Judy..." No one responded.

Until, Sue said, "I am here." She continued, "I know that many people were planning to be on this call, I'm not sure what happened. We probably need to reschedule...."

Then came Jack, "I'm here to." A seven minute conversation ensued with several people discussing the importance of the issue at hand, the fact that this was a time-sensitive topic, the scheduling of the meeting, the reality that it was Friday and some were off, the early hour of the call, the level of commitment applied to this issue, and a host of other related topics. 

Meanwhile, I started talking very loudly into my phone. I felt like a "Who" in Horton Hears a Who. (Yes, I saw the movie with my kids.) 

As I walked across the Lansing Capitol grounds into the building, I was practically shouting. "We are here, we are here, we are here!" I felt frustrated and momentarily helpless.  (I later found out that about ten others on the call felt the same way.)

What was strange about this teleconference was that some people could be heard but others could not. We have had situations where all the phones were muted, but never just a few - unless the end user had their phone muted.

 Yes, we did find out what happened. Here the explanation:

"AT&T stated that the call monitor may have un-muted the calls, but logged off too quick for the calls to un-mute.  The call monitor has control of the call, so people could not un-mute themselves at that point by hitting * 6 or any other command.  He did find an option for the host to use if this happens again.  From the day-start conference call line, the host can hit *7 and choose option 1 to un-mute everyone.

 In the future, the Service Management center staff will have the call monitor stay on the website and make sure everyone is un-muted before logging off the website.  We will also document the capability for the day-start host to use *7 and option 1 to un-mute callers."

In other words, there was a combination of operator error and technology training concerns. We have learned in the past that sometimes a seemingly simple function like unmuting phones can cause serious problems and misunderstandings amongst virtual attendees. 

So what did I learn?

1) Teleconference operator training is important. All of those one-off 800 conference line functions that are available and seem unimportant are probably in there for a reason. You will likely use them some day, so you may want to double check the manual.

2) A few months back, we had a different problem, and in that case we added a step in our roll call process. The host confirms that attendees are heard by saying: "Thank you Dan" after the person says "I'm here."

3) Be careful what you say on a conference line about those who may appear to not have shown up. Perhaps they are listening and trying to get through. 

4) I need to laugh at myself more in work situations sometimes. The events actually became pretty funny - when I took a step back and thought about what was actually happening. 

Yes, we got things fixed and rescheduled the call for Monday. But if they can't hear me next time, I won't start shouting at my blackberry.  Hopefully, I'll just smile. 

 Any funny teleconference stories to share?