Tip on how to be successful in IT: Always try to find ways to add value

I just found this tiny screwdriver in my toolbox, and it reminded me of how I once used it to save many thousands of dollars for an old client of mine. This was back in the early 2000s when they we still using CRT monitors. They were out of warranty, yet not quite old enough to be replaced. A future goal was to do a refresh involving flat panel monitors and PC bundles at a discounted rate as part of a Windows XP migration. That project was well over a year away.

One day, a user reported that their monitor was severely out of focus. There was no setting in the menu to fix the focus, and there were no knobs to be seen to fix it. A Google search provided no info. It was only one monitor, so it was just replaced with one we had in stock.

Over the next few weeks, more and more users started complaining of their monitors going out of focus, and it became obvious that at the exponential rate of the issue it would become a problem where nobody would be able to do their job unless something was done. Talks were made of replacing all of the monitors firmwide before they could become a problem, well in advance of the XP migration. The vendor could only provide a small discount for the bulk purchase; substantially less of a discount than a PC/monitor bundle would afford.

That's a purchase of hundreds of monitors and shipping, along with any overtime incurred on the project when none of it had been budgeted for that year. On top of that is all the logistics of where to store the monitors before the swap and the old ones afterward, as well as arranging for them to be picked up for e-waste. Spending that much time, effort and money made absolutely no sense to me.

I decided to dive in deeper. I removed the plastic case from a problematic monitor and found that the metal case inside was welded shut. I couldn't go any deeper into it. However, I found two tiny holes on the left side. I tried looking in with a flashlight but couldn't see anything even with a camera. Since the monitor was for off for a few days, I felt comfortable sticking a tiny screwdriver inside.

It turns out that deep inside the metal case, there were two knobs that could be turned by the phillips head end of the screwdriver. One was for the brightness, and the other was for the focus. Go figure!! What were they thinking when they designed that? Was it an oversight not to extend the knobs beyond the metal case, or even to the exterior of the outer plastic case? Maybe. Was it cheaper to do it this way? Probably. Was it designed obsolescence, knowing that a jostled monitor would go out of focus, leading to future sales? Most likely.

Over the course of a few months, I quickly fixed any monitor that went out of focus. It cost my client absolutely nothing for me to do it; instead of them paying many thousands of dollars to replace them. All this by thinking outside the box, or in this case - thinking inside the box :)

So again my tip for you is to look for ways to add value. You might find that with all your efforts you can easily save your firm or client a million dollars a year.

If you're interested in collaborating on creative solutions for anything at all, feel free to reach out to me in LinkedIn.