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. . . The perceived unfriendliness of SMEs is more
often than not just an expression of their own
shyness. . .
Tony Markos responds:
While shyness comes into play, I feel that there
another major factor - maybe the largest. I have
always found that knowledge of essential procedure is
turf; and that people - especially SMEs - will often
defend "their" turf to the death.
An example from everyday live: I can not get the
preventative maintenance procedure for my Chevy. For
any given item requiring preventative maintenance, my
owners manual says one thing; but my dealer's
maintenance department (SMEs for my car) tells me that
I "may", instead, want to do A at B milage. When I
ask other certified mechanics (other SMEs), they tell
me that I "may" want to do C at D milage. I have even
called Chevorlet customer service in Detroit (still
other SMEs) who told me that I "may" want to do E at F
milage.
Whats going on here? Maybe cars are so complex that
it is beyond human ability to reach consensous on
things like if and when fuel injector cleaner is
required? Hardly. The more likely case is that my
dealer and mechanics are varying the prescribed
maintenance schedule according to their cash flow
needs. The more cash they need, the tighter my
recommended preventative maintenance schedule becomes.
(As far as Chevy customer service, they may just be
playing CYA.)
My point: Essential procedure has value, and often you
can not just ask for it. The unfriendlyness of SME's
may very well be that they precieve you as asking them
to give you something of value - without them getting
anything in return.
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