Breaking News: The Website Was Innocent 🗞️

Have you ever noticed that the people most convinced something is broken are sometimes the very people who haven't read the instructions?

I was reminded of this recently when a new website was rolled out at work. Before most people had even clicked around or explored it, one coworker became deeply concerned that everyone needed immediate training. According to him, if we didn't all learn the system right away, mistakes would be made, confusion would spread, and chaos would surely follow.

It was a dramatic prediction. The website had barely been introduced, and already it was being treated like a dangerous wild animal that needed to be handled by trained professionals.

Training sessions were discussed. Warnings were issued. Concerns were raised. It was all very serious.

Then came the plot twist.

The same coworker who was sounding the alarm downloaded the wrong data and confidently announced that the website was incorrect.

Not "I might have done something wrong."

Not "Can someone help me understand this?"

No, no.

The website was wrong.

The system was flawed.

The data was bad.

The technology had failed us all.

As it turned out, the website was functioning exactly as designed. The only issue was that he didn't actually know how to use it yet.

There is a special kind of confidence that comes from being completely unfamiliar with something while simultaneously believing you're the leading expert on it. It is both fascinating and slightly terrifying to witness.

What made the situation even funnier was that the very errors he was worried everyone else would make were the exact errors he ended up making himself.

The website wasn't the problem.

The training wasn't the problem.

The data wasn't the problem.

The problem was the person insisting everyone else needed help while accidentally demonstrating why a little patience and curiosity might have been useful.

The moral of the story? Before declaring that a system is broken, it may be worth checking whether you've accidentally clicked the wrong button.

Sometimes the bug isn't in the software.

Sometimes the bug is sitting in the chair.