For the past two days I have been in update purgatory. It all started with a new iPad. We are working with a start up to build out their sales process and to do so we need to understand the current process inside and out. So, we are hitting the street to sell their product. In order to sell their product, we need the use of an iPad, which the company graciously provided us. When we were at their office to get the iPad all set up it would not let us create a new apple ID or add our email. Instead of sitting in their office and wasting their time we decided to take the iPad with us and set it up at our office. This is when the purgatory began, and I came to the realization that I love Help Desk people dearly and miss them tremendously.
When I got back to our office I found that the iPad was a refurb and the iOS on it was version 8.4. No biggie, I clicked update and watched the little circle spin with nothing happening. Like any true tech wizard, I click it again and again with the exact same result. (The Tech wizard part is sarcasm if you didn’t catch it. Ask anyone who knows me, especially Help Desk people from my last jobs and they will tell you that I am kryptonite to technology. However, if you ask my Mom she may tell you that I am a tech genius and swear I can communicate with Mark Zuckerberg himself to complain on her behalf about the latest changes to Facebook).
Back to my spinning circle of nothing.
I decided to live-chat Apple to figure out what was wrong. The Apple Chat person had me perform various sequences of tasks from turning airplane mode on and off, to doing a sun salutation while pressing the update bottom. All to no avail. My last resort was to force the update from my laptop to the iPad. I could do that!
Until I plugged the iPad into my new laptop and found that I now needed to update my Laptop to install the driver that would allow the iPad to be updated from my computer. I went into settings>windows updates and was not able to find an update button. My computer told me I had updates to complete but would not let me install the updates. Back to live chat I went. This time with Microsoft. I think Microsoft took pity on me and decided it would be faster if they remote accessed my computer and put the updates on. We are a few hours in at this point folks. As I said, purgatory.
The Windows update started at 3pm yesterday and finally completed at 9am this morning. 18 hours. 18 HOURS to update and I was still not done. Once that update was finished, I could plug the iPad back in. With the iPad plugged back in, I had to download the iTunes app, find the iPad and force the iOS update. This all took another 30 min. All in all, I was in purgatory for a day and half.
Most entrepreneurs have similar horror stories about having to fix, update and install their own tech. This cuts into valuable billable hours and business development time and can be super frustrating. It is also very rewarding and empowering when you FINALLY figure it out for yourself.
Moral of this story. Hug your Help Desk people. Bring them lunch, coffee or even a high five. You have no idea the hours of productivity they give you just by having properly working tech.