Many times asking for help can open doors for you.

In a previous role, I worked with a team that had limited interaction with an organization's internal Warehouse Management Software (WMS). The organization's main distribution center site would frequently experience an issue where the printer queue which allowed them to print shipping labels would jam. Team leads would halt production and contact support and wait for a resolution. This could happen during business hours and at times when support staff would be out of the office, this resulted in slowed production.

At the time, the distribution center site was a startup environment where we all learned together, and pivoted to multiple issues, multiple times when necessary. Since the system was internal there was no documentation I could search for at the time and no google search would provide a resolution.

I contacted the lead software engineers who primarily worked with the WMS to request their time and gain an understanding of how the software was intended to work. I tested the functionality as a user, I was then able to proceed in documenting the steps to clear the printer queue both in the graphical user interface (GUI) and by a series of commands in the Linux-based version of the system.

I created how-to documents for team leads and internal IT support to use when clearing the print queues. Team leads and IT support team members could now follow the steps and assist the production team in getting up and running in less time. This documented process enabled a reduction in the distribution center's downtime during instances where the printer queues would jam in the future.

I am thankful to the engineers who took the time to meet with me during their busy workday and share their years of experience with me on the intricacies of the software.

This experience empowered me to know that no matter what the situation, collaboration, documentation, and thinking through the steps of a process can be beneficial to a team and create value for an organization.

If the opportunity presents itself, try asking for help you may be amazed at the results.

All the best,

Shane W.