A troubleshooter is the person called upon for assistance when things have gone awry beyond the experience of those involved to correct. The troubleshooter fulfills multiple roles. These roles include detective, technical support, and educator. As a detective, the troubleshooter provides an unbiased perspective with which to isolate the cause of the issue. He then serves as technical support to bring a solution to life. Finally, the troubleshooter becomes an educator to show those affected how to avoid such issues in the future.

The troubleshooter loves puzzles. They are a source of entertainment and rejuvenation. The troubleshooter takes on puzzles with great enthusiasm while rejecting the negative views of problems and obstacles.

The methods incorporated by the troubleshooter in order to understand the issue, create an effective solution, and educate those affected are varied based on the nature of the issue.

1) The process of understanding the issue usually involves the creation of a flowchart either mentally or physically and the creation of a list of symptoms. The processes receive full attention to understand purpose, function, and order of placement (or when it becomes active). While it is true that knowing more can make you more effective, the troubleshooter need not understand the very core behavior of every circuit and component of each circuit to troubleshoot a computer nor the composition of metals and heat limitations of mechanical assemblies.

2) The troubleshooter is now armed with flowcharts, lists of symptoms, and a firm idea of where to begin the quest to create an effective solution. The troubleshooter needs to isolate the fault of the issue, repair the fault, and engineer in preventive measures that will not interfere with other processes. The troubleshooter will refer to many specialized resources during this phase, but would do well to remember those areas where information is most readily available: the Internet, the library, and department/organizational resources. With more resources at the ready, the troubleshooter must begin to evaluate each process in the flowchart in terms of function and placement while referring to the list of symptoms. The additional gathered resources will play their part as unfamiliar processes are brought to attention. Some Internet searches may provide a 'canned' fix for particular symptoms and a little ingenuity to modify the fix into the troubleshooter's final solution.

3) The troubleshooter has now accumulated a lot more experience and documentation. These lessons learned can now be distilled into a manual of policy, maintenance, or training and given to those who requested assistance. The troubleshooter may also be asked to assist in instructing those affected in order to further clarify items that may be absent in the documentation.

The practice of troubleshooting is not specific to any one specific discipline. In fact, the practice can be started by a student still in school as this is the optimal environment to learn the skills needed. Namely, these skills are critical thinking, creativity, and flexibility. It is also an absolute must to develop strong interpersonal skills by which to properly assess a situation and determine the needs of the constituents affected.

Learn more about this author, Edward Raymond.
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