A few weeks ago, I was talking with a business owner who told me their entire morning had been derailed because they couldn’t print a document. Not because the printer was broken. Not because the network was down. The printer had simply been switched off.
That conversation stuck with me. Not because it was unusual, but because I see versions of it all the time. We live and work with technology every day, yet many people still treat it as some kind of mysterious black box. The moment something doesn’t work exactly as expected, productivity stops and someone else gets called in to fix it.
I think that’s a problem.
I’m not suggesting everyone needs to become an IT professional, write PowerShell scripts, or manage cloud infrastructure. What I am suggesting is that every modern worker should be able to perform basic technology troubleshooting. In much the same way we expect people to know how to change a light bulb or check whether a door is locked, we should expect a basic level of technology self-sufficiency.
Start With The Simple Things
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the years is that many technology issues have surprisingly simple causes.
The application may need to be restarted. The internet connection might have dropped. A browser tab may have frozen. A file could be stored in the wrong location.
Yet many people jump straight to “it’s broken”.
Good troubleshooting starts with slowing down and asking simple questions. Has anything changed? Does the problem happen everywhere or just in one application? Can someone else reproduce it? What happens if you close and reopen the program?
These aren’t advanced technical skills. They’re logical thinking skills applied to technology.
The people who develop this habit often solve their own problems in minutes rather than waiting hours for assistance.
Technology Is Now Part Of Every Job
There was a time when technology sat on the edge of the business. Today, it sits at the centre.
Whether you’re creating documents in Word, collaborating in Teams, managing email in Outlook, or analysing data in Excel, your ability to use technology effectively directly impacts your productivity.
What’s interesting is that Microsoft 365 Copilot is making troubleshooting even more accessible. Rather than immediately opening a support ticket, users can now ask Copilot questions such as:
“Why won’t this Excel formula work?”
or
“Help me understand this Outlook error.”
The person still needs enough troubleshooting awareness to describe the problem, test the suggestions, and determine whether they’re heading in the right direction. Copilot can assist, but it can’t replace basic curiosity and problem-solving skills.
The organisations getting the most value from AI aren’t replacing thinking. They’re using AI to support people who already know how to think systematically.
The Cost Of Helplessness
One thing I notice when working with organisations is how expensive technology helplessness can become.
If every minor issue requires escalation, support queues grow. Staff become frustrated. Work slows down. Simple interruptions turn into significant productivity drains.
Now multiply that across dozens or hundreds of employees.
On the other hand, when people can resolve common issues themselves, support teams can focus on genuinely complex problems. Everyone wins.
The goal isn’t to eliminate support. The goal is to reserve support resources for situations where they’re genuinely needed.
The best IT teams I’ve worked with aren’t the ones fixing every problem. They’re the ones helping people become more capable.
A Skill Worth Developing
As technology becomes more deeply embedded into every role, basic troubleshooting is no longer just an IT skill. It’s a workplace skill.
The ability to observe, test, question, and methodically work through a problem is becoming as important as knowing how to write an email or create a spreadsheet.
In my experience, the people who thrive with new technologies such as Microsoft 365 Copilot aren’t necessarily the most technical. They’re the people who are willing to experiment, investigate, and learn from what happens.
Technology will continue to evolve. New tools will arrive. AI will become more capable.
What won’t change is the value of someone who can look at a problem, stay calm, and work through it logically.
That’s a skill worth building, regardless of your role.
