SEP - Somebody's Else Problem

That's a free adaptation from the book "Life, the Universe and Everything", 3rd book from the Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

Ford Prefect defines SEP as Someone's Else Problem.

Adapting it to the corporate world, this is my interpretation:

A SEP is a anomaly - a problem, failure or something that should be solved, be it simple or complex, small or big. However, being Someone's Else Problem, the anomaly becomes invisible and undetectable by any normal means. The conscious mind actively erases the SEP from all senses making it impossible to be dealed with.

Ford Prefect has a very... clever way of detecting a SEP once he realizes he is facing one: He blinks very fast, jumps and keep turning his head to all sides, hoping to get it from the corner of his eyes or while blinking...

In the Corporate World, SEPs are very common. While blinking, jumping and turning your head might be awkward, I believe it may work. You should be aware that if the Someone Else is you, people will have extreme difficulty explaining you a SEP related to you. You can then suggest the Ford Prefect's method of SEP Detection to the person that is trying to explain you about his SEP anomaly, please note that if you can't see it too. That means it's your SEP anomaly too. Or Somebody's Else Problem.

Try the new TSHOOT trouble ticket scenario!

Go there: http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/le2/le37/le10/tshoot_demo.html

I took a little while just to understand the new concept.

Then I obviously didn't read instructions and both the first and second tickets had EQUAL symptoms. After I finished the first, I thought the 2nd was the 1st repeated... and missed the 3 questions of the 2nd ticket.

Then I reloaded the page, and thought the 1st ticket would be exactly the same, well, I was wrong again...

Then I reloaded the page once more, and decided to read the instructions... then it was written: "CAUTION: similar symptoms, different causes and solutions".

DUH!

Anyway, pretty good idea, I liked a lot to play with it, I'm looking forward to have to face it in real life.

Good for those that understand what certifications is all about. Bad for those that think that dumps are all that is needed.

Go ahead and play with it. Face the same day-to-day problems we're used to see. Most of them are caused by junior techs in real life, and you end up having to clean their mess. That's pretty much what a CCNP job should be.