AV SuperFriends: On Topic - We won't do anything until that form is filled out

Recorded May 15, 2026 This episode of On Topic gets into the glamorous, soul-polishing world of how AV projects actually begin, which is apparently somewhere between a formal intake form, a support ticket that got out of hand, a hallway ambush, and someone discovering the room needs power, asbestos abatement, and lots of opinions. The panel compares how different campuses define and initiate projects, from TeamDynamix and ServiceNow workflows to informal emails, consultation requests, facilities handoffs, and the dreaded "this was supposed to be a simple fix" scenario. A big theme is the messy boundary between support ticket, request, incident, problem, and project, especially when aging systems, construction needs, or money get involved. They also get into the joys and failures of project management platforms, Project, Planner, Smartsheet, TeamDynamix, ServiceNow, and the eternal higher-ed struggle of trying to force real work, real communication, and real accountability into software that was clearly designed by people who have never been asked do any of that. In short: projects should start with clear scope, timelines, goals, funding, stakeholders, and process. In reality, they start with an email that says, "quick question," and end with everyone arguing over whether it was ever a project in the first place.   Alternate show titles: Is this directed to me? Wow, that's big! I don't touch tickets What if I email you? Hey, we're going to do this thing We'll have the meeting eventually Facilities doesn't do power Requires a state employee to inspect the electrician We get requests every which way from Sunday We want to drive everybody to a ticket Rapid fire from wherever-the-hell-it-came-from That means it's approved and no one wants to do that sh*t I don't do projects, I do stories and epics   We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com    ▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀ ► Website: https://www.avsuperfriends.com ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/avsuperfriends ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avsuperfriends ► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@avsuperfriends ► Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/avsuperfriends.bsky.social ► Email: [email protected] ► RSS: https://avsuperfriends.libsyn.com/rss   Donate to AVSF: https://www.avsuperfriends.com/support