So, I can finally tell you. I got promoted.

I am moving off of the front lines, at my company, into more of a management role. I'm shifting from the badly-named tier 1 team (tier 1 at this company is FAR more than what you'd think of as "tier 1" support, probably T2 or T3 anywhere else) to a Training and Documentation Coordinator.

The question was pretty simple: how did one person in Alabama become a ticket-smashing machine while maintaining clear communication and genuine customer focus?

The follow-up question is even simpler: and how do we teach this intangible?

I have, in essence, a mission that is as singular as it is far-reaching: figure out what made me awesome at my job, even though I was never the most gifted coder or diagnostician, and transmit culture, values, and troubleshooting skills to every new employee that comes after me.

Care, feed, and garden my team.

I was already doing it, promotion or no, but having it made my official focus is pretty awesome. I actually did something crazy in mid-2012: I turned down a promotion because it was the obvious step but not the right one. I chose to hold out, and wait for this position; I knew it would come, eventually, because it was too critical not to, and I knew it was where I belonged.

Not bad, 2013, not bad. Nice opening move there.