The HSU Triangle
The concept of the HSU triangle was pioneered by Chris Harris.
We use systems theory to look at the hardware, software, and
user as being part of a system. If there is a problem involving
the interaction of any or all of these components, there is a
problem and our technicians can fix it.
All computer repair shops fix hardware. The really good ones also fix
software and operating systems. Only the best meet with the end user and
take the interaction between the user and the computer into consideration.
By looking at computer problems in this way, we can catch many
problems that the other shops miss. In my (Shane Baggs') experience as a
hardware technician to a large company with a call center, roughly 15%
of the (presumably hardware-related) calls I received really weren't
about hardware at all, but concerned other issues that masquerade as
hardware problems.
While I drew the "H" for hardware on the top of the triangle to get the
acronym, it is in fact the user who comes out on top, as we make sure the
computer does what you want it to do, and we make sure you don't have to
deal with recurrent problems such as computers that come back from the
depot with the same problem they went out with because the trouble didn't
fall neatly into the categories of hardware problem or software problem.