By
El Copeland
October 28, 2024
•
20 min read
Fundamental Skills
The Care and Feeding of Meat Computers: Episode 1 – A Companion Guide
Welcome to The Care and Feeding of Meat Computers
The article you've stumbled across is the first in a collection of five blog posts meant to be an extension of The Care and Feeding of Meat Computers series which I’m releasing on the Rising Tide YouTube channel, born from a talk I shared at MSPGeekCon 2023. These companion guides are intended to help provide links to resources, research, and books that informed parts of this collection. The goal is to give you enough information and connections so you can dig into these concepts, including things that I cut from the talks for time or other organizational, boring reasons. I am also going to include some questions at the end of each guide to help you facilitate conversation with your team or to further deepen it!
Before we go much further, it's important to me to also extend my gratitude to the people who helped me make sure this talk happened in the first place. Heather and Brian at Gozynta encouraged me as I wrote and honed this concept the first time and generously sponsored me to attend MSPGeekCon and give this talk. Matt Fox, for the reliable perspective, fresh jokes, and tots. Alicia Gregory for academic and psychological insight, a cache of useful journal articles, and listening to me cry basically bi-weekly for nearly a decade.
Of course, last but not least, my business partner, Mendy Green, for believing in me and that this concept needed to see the light of day at all instead of just our five-minute-long WhatsApp voice notes.
Who this talk is for? You.
If you’re here, there’s a good chance you’re involved in technology, whether you follow Rising Tide, are a part of the MSPGeek community, or otherwise found this series while searching the depths of the internet. Regardless of who you are or where you’re from, come on in, make a cup of something warm, and have a seat. I hope that you will find each word expressing my sincere love to the tech community, specifically to those often-unsung heroes, the nerds whose daily, Sisyphean job is to balance the science behind tech with the increasingly important art of human understanding.
This series is for those of you who may feel (or those of you who manage and collaborate with those who feel) more at home with your hard skills compared to soft skills. It’s completely understandable: in our society, and especially in tech, we tend to believe hard skills are the “real” skills, while soft skills are secondary or nice-to-have. But don’t let your imposter syndrome about the places you feel weak dictate what is real or true! Just because something can easily be expressed through certifications doesn’t mean they are more valuable or will help you live a more fulfilling life. In fact, you may have even been called “gifted” when it comes to technology, and as such, choose to feed that part of you, first. If we consider some of the theories about giftedness, specifically Renzulli’s three-ring conception of it, giftedness for any skill comes from ability, creativity, and commitment.
My goal with this series is to challenge the view that hard skills are respected and most prized; and to encourage us to reframe “soft skills” not as something separate or less-than, but as essential, accessible, and attainable, intertwined with our technical expertise. We may not come by it naturally, as in an above-average-ability, but with creativity and commitment, we can develop these skills as well!
I specifically want us to look at soft skills in a way that outright refuses the notion that as you are, you are bad, undesirable, or unacceptable. While there are certain social standards that you may have been trained to adhere to, I want you to put those rules aside for these conversations. If you’ve ever felt like you’re expected to fit a mold to be successful—whether to be more charismatic, more structured, or even more proper—this series is for you.
Being you is a good thing to be.
I’ve held a ton of jobs in a wide variety of industries and tiers of responsibilities. Despite my breadth and depth of experience and knowledge, I’m not interested in being revered as an expert. Experts tell you what you’re supposed to do and exactly how you’re supposed to do it to guarantee success. I’m sure my disdain for this snake-oily social power dynamic shows consistently in things I say and my approach in this series. Why the sass regarding experts? I want you to know and truly embrace the fact that your value as a tech professional goes beyond fitting into the boxes people want to put you in. Your value as a tech professional goes beyond fitting into the boxes you want to put yourself in! I’m not an expert, experts want you to be like them. I want you to be like you.
You have these skills: you have social skills, you have people skills, you have soft skills. Regardless of if they fit into what some expert tells you is “correct,” if you’re a little bit weird, I want you to embrace it.
You’re here because you’re passionate about technical solutions, and you’re here because you’re looking for ways to develop further yourself and your community. I propose to you that your passion for technology is actually a powerful tool, if not the most powerful tool, in developing your soft skills. You can use your technical intelligence to boost your Emotional Intelligence.
It’s time to stop kidding ourselves that hard skills are technical and measurable while that soft skills are just a “personality trait” exemplified by gentle people like women and mothers. This belief implies two terrible, not-true things:
- some people just “have it” and are naturally good team players while there are others who are destined to never expand beyond their personal hangups.
- people with only hard skills and no soft skills are the only ones who make good business people and leaders.
This is a disservice to you and those who you work with. You have soft skills, and developing and enhancing them is vital to your personal and professional growth. Here’s the thing: soft skills are hard. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth shaping or that they’re out of your reach as a technical, linear-minded person. Soft skills are hard-won through life experiences, loss, pain, and PRACTICE.
These concepts fold neatly into coding ideologies like Human-Centered Design and Human-Computer Interaction. You are technical, you are practical. Humans are hard. Let’s reframe this to help ourselves be more successful. I propose that soft skills aren’t the opposite of hard skills, but an evolution of them, and if you find them hard, perhaps you just need to look at humans as what they are: complex meat computers that really just want to do what they can to survive and thrive in the world they’ve inherited, just like you.
So together, let’s flip the script and let’s start with reframing a questions we often ask, to see how we can better harness our natural penchant for hard skills and alchemize them into above average soft skills.
Join me as we elevate the question, “Why aren’t people more like computers?” to “Why might people be too much like computers?” Instead of following a set of rules, I want you to ask yourself, “what if I treat people with just as much care and curiosity as I treat computers? What would my life, my job, and my relationships look like, instead?”
Video Chapters
- Soft Skills are Hard It’s ok to admit that soft skills are harder to you than hard skills. It’s not ok to never develop them further. Know your limits. And then dare to go further.
- Nuance rules over Rules Life is complicated. You don’t need a list of rules to know what right looks like. What is the heart of the laws you’ve been given? Mindlessly following rules will rarely get you the results you dream of.
- People over Tech Services work is rarely about the technical part and more about being curious and care-full about the people in our care!
- People over Stack Success comes from bringing your entire self to the table. No two people, no two MSPs are alike.
- People are Puzzles worth solving How do we, as technical people who love to solve puzzles, look as humans as solvable puzzles instead of pain points?
- People are Tech It’s not that humans are not like computers, it’s perhaps that they are too much like them.
Additional Resources and Recommended Reading
To deepen the concepts discussed in this series, here are several resources for further exploration:
Terms and Concepts
- MSP (Managed Service Provider) - Companies that remotely manage a customer’s IT infrastructure and systems
- Sisyphean - A task that feels endless and difficult, based on the Greek myth of Sisyphus, who had to roll a boulder up a hill forever
- Hard skills - Skills that involve specific knowledge or abilities, often technical, that can be measured or certified
- Soft skills - Personal skills like communication, empathy, and teamwork that help you work well with others
- Imposter syndrome - A feeling that you’re not as capable or skilled as others believe, even if you are
- Snake-oil - Something that is falsely advertised or exaggerated, originally referring to fake medicine
- Social power dynamic - How power and influence are distributed in social interactions or society
- Human-Centered Design - An approach to creating products that considers people’s needs, wants, and limitations.
- Human-Computer Interaction - The study of how people interact with computers and design technology that is easy and enjoyable to use.
- Emotional Intelligence (EQ) - The ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions in yourself and others.
Books and Research
- Emotional Intelligence
- Human Centered Design
- Giftedness
- The Renzulli Model: Three-Ring Conception of Giftedness | Renzulli Center for Creativity, Gifted Education, and Talent Development
- Giftedness + ADHD + Autism - Tending Paths
Questions for Team Reflection
If you’re watching this series with a team, here are some questions to guide your discussion and help you make the most of these ideas:
- Favorite Tech: What is your favorite piece of tech? What is the best device or tool you’ve used or owned? Why is it your favorite? How much time did you spend configuring its settings and developing your own abilities to use it?
- Self-Assessment: Which soft skills come naturally to you, and which feel more challenging to develop? How do these impact your day-to-day work with clients or teammates?
- Curiosity as a Tool: Have there been times when a “difficult” user or teammate surprised you with their insights or perspective? How might approaching people with curiosity change your interactions?
- Rule Reflection: Are there any industry “rules” you follow that don’t serve you or your team well? Where did they come from? How can you find the “why” behind those rules and adapt them to fit your context? If there isn’t a good “why”...why are you still doing it?
- Growth Areas: What soft skill do you most want to develop? Consider using the resources linked above as a starting point to dive deeper into that area.
That’s it for Episode 1! Tune in for our next Episode: The most expensive piece of technology you’ll ever see.
Throughout my career, I've had the joy of leading many diverse and multifaceted teams.
Community building, especially within the technical community, is truly at the heart of what I do. I’m dedicated to fostering inclusive spaces where professionals can connect, share insights, and grow a culture of innovation and ongoing learning together, both in-person and when the team is 100% remote. I take pride in my ability to lead with both clarity and empathy, deftly handling the complexities of technology-driven projects while always keeping the human connection at the forefront of every decision.
For companies seeking consulting and project work, I bring a deep understanding of operational efficiency and project management. I am skilled at not only identifying areas for improvement but also implementing strategic solutions that enhance productivity and outcomes. My strong background in technology, education, and people management allows me to seamlessly integrate innovative tools and processes to address specific challenges, ensuring that projects not only meet but exceed expectations, and that teams are motivated, well-coordinated, and focused on delivering and maintaining organizational goals.
Outside the office, I enjoy blueberry muffins, Doctor Who, weight-training, gardening, and spending time with my cats.
See some more of our most recent posts...
Introducing Rising Tide Proactive Support
Tired of tools slipping through the cracks? Discover why Rising Tide built Proactive Support: a low-lift, high-impact way to stay in control of your systems like HaloPSA, Hudu, and Rewst—without needing a full consulting engagement.
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Built for Busy MSPs: Why We Created Proactive Support
While we pride ourselves at Rising Tide on being clever, we didn’t make this up on our own.
Over the past year, multiple clients told us the same thing in different ways:
“We don’t need a full-on consulting. We just need someone to help us stay on top of the tools we already have.”
“Can you set aside time each month to tell us what’s working, what’s not, and what we should actually do next?”
“Honestly, I just want to know if anything’s falling through the cracks.”
MSPs weren’t talking about emergencies. They meant the small stuff. The not-yet-broken-but-might-be. The features that got launched but never rolled out. The bugs they forgot to follow up on. The process that made sense when they built it... but not anymore.
So we listened and built out a Proactive Support offering for teams like yours. Support that pays attention, leveraging the best of Rising Tide to make the best of your systems. It’s not reactive. It’s not rushed. It’s not about being broken.
It’s about staying in control, without wasting time figuring out where to start.
What You Get Each Month
Designed for Rising Tide clients who’ve already implemented tools like HaloPSA, Hudu, and Rewst, and just want to keep things running smoothly without spinning up a full project or workshop every quarter.
Here’s what Proactive Support looks like in practice:
1. Systems Health Review
A short, focused check-in on the systems you want our guidance on. for:
- Are automations running like they should?
- Are there missed SLAs or ticket pileups that can be fixed with better workflows?
- Are there any underused (or over-complicated!) features?
You’ll walk away with a small, clear action plan that you can execute on your own or leverage the Rising Tide team to complete.
2. Feature Release Briefing
We read the release notes so you don’t have to. You’ll get:
- Highlights of what’s new
- Suggestions for features worth trying and what isn't
- Warnings about what’s likely to break or change
3. Vendor Liaison Support
We’ll chase the vendor on your behalf. That includes:
- Logging and tracking bug reports
- Validating bugs and escalating to dev teams directly.
- Identifying workarounds and assisting in implementation.
- Following up on feature requests or stuck tickets
- Communicating feature requests clearly (and tracking them)
4. Immediate Error Support
If something breaks in a tool we’ve implemented or documented, we’ll:
- Help triage and fix it
- Identify if it’s a vendor issue
- Tell you clearly if it needs escalation into a project
What Proactive Support is Not
To be clear, the Rising Tide Proactive Support Plan is not consulting. Proactive Support is only for systems we’ve implemented and reviewed. It doesn’t include:
- New tool or system implementation
- Redesigning workflows or processes
- Training or onboarding
- Deep reporting or strategic planning
If we find something that should be a project, we’ll tell you and help you decide how you would like to move forward.
Pricing
$900/month
Includes up to 5 hours of support time
Bundled with licensing or dashboard/reporting add-ons, if you need them.
Let’s Be Real
The goal isn’t to keep you dependent on us. It’s to help you feel like you’re on top of your systems instead of under them.
We’ll help you spot friction before it becomes fire, surface fixes you might’ve missed, and give you the clarity to act, delegate, or table things with confidence.
That’s the tide we’re trying to raise.
Ready to add Proactive Support? Or want to see a sample check-in?
Contact Rising Tide Consulting Today. We’ll show you what this looks like.
2025 Q3 Newsletter - Get more out of Halo, Hudu, and Rewst
Rising Tide’s Q3 2025 newsletter is here—with fresh updates shaped by the conversations we’ve had with you on the road and in your consulting calls. Check out our new Proactive Support plan, admin tools in the client portal, and hands-on YouTube training for HaloPSA, Hudu, and Rewst. Let’s keep your team sharp and your systems humming.
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It’s been a few months since our last update. We’ve enjoyed seeing many of you on the road at Right of Boom, MSPGeekCon, and Flow. Hopefully you’ve taken the learning and tools you picked up at each even and are using them to their fullest!
In light of the conversations we’ve had with many of you at these conferences and in your consulting calls, we’ve been building a few new offerings that we hope will help you and your teams continue to learn and grow in your use of HaloPSA, Hudu, and Rewst. Take a look at our new Proactive Support, YouTube videos, and Administrative tools for you in the Rising Tide Portal.
Proactive Support with Rising Tide
Shaped directly by your requests, the Rising Tide Proactive Support plan is for teams who want another set of eyes on your systems, to make sure you’re getting the most out of your subscriptions. This new monthly support plan includes:
- A health review of applicable systems
- Updates on vendor features that matter to you
- Vendor liaising regarding bugs and requests (we’ll validate bugs and escalate to dev teams directly. If there's a workaround or fix we'll identify that and provide them for you too.)
- Hands-on support for tools we’ve implemented or reviewed
Read more about it here:
https://www.risingtidegroup.net/thoughts/introducing-rising-tide-proactive-support
Learn With Us
We’re actively growing our YouTube channel to create more and more helpful resources for you as you implement your tools and automations. Of note, check out:
- By the [Run]Book – A bi-weekly series, aired live with our friends at Renada where we review HaloPSA’s release notes and make suggestions on what to implement (and what not to!) in your HaloPSA instance. Watch the first episode here.
- Drag-and-Drop Dispatching in HaloPSA – Jason's video on how to visually schedule tickets for your technicians using dashboards and filtering lists.
- Streamline Your MSP Ticket Closure Process with HaloPSA – Jen's latest video on systematically restricting ticket closures and communicating why to your technicians until they’ve completed associated tasks, tickets, and activities.
There’s plenty more! Be sure to subscribe to our channel and hit the bell to get notified when new videos drop.
Let's keep your projects moving!
As a reminder, if you have hours on your pre-pay total, we keep them viable as long as you have a project on the books with us within a calendar year. If you want to know what your current hours are, visit the Rising Tide user portal at portal.risingtidegroup.net. In this area of our website, you can:
- View hours remaining on pre-pay blocks.
- Submit and track tickets.
- Refill Pre-Pay hours for consulting work.
- View feature requests and bug reports submitted to Halo by Rising Tide.
We recommend booking an hour at least once a month, and more frequently if you have work you want to get done! We don’t charge cancellation fees, so book time freely with any of our consultants and we’ll get your sorted. To book time, access your project from the portal to grab your booking link or pull it off any of the recap emails sent.
- Mendy Green - Halo General, Automations – Halo and Rewst, Hudu General and Migrations from IT Glue
- Jason Parsons - Halo General
- Jen Butler - Automations – Halo and Rewst
- El Copeland - Halo Invoice/Quote/Email Templates, UX/UI, Branding+Marketing
Of Note
A recent change to how HaloPSA processed notifications caused them to break in certain conditions. If your notifications stopped working, update your Permissions - Base role client restrictions to grant all clients to role members. Reach out for more specific instructions if you need it.
Lastly, as a bonus, enjoy the new Rising Tide theme song generated with Suno by our very own Jason Parsons.
Thanks for trusting us and being part of this work with us. We’ll keep refining what we offer based on your feedback so don’t hesitate to reply and tell us what’s working, what’s still messy, and what you’d like to see next.
Until next time,
The Rising Tide Team
Rethinking Productivity: Tools and Mindsets That Actually Work
What if productivity isn’t about doing more—but doing what matters? In Rethinking Productivity: Tools and Mindsets That Actually Work, Elizabeth Copeland shares how the Triple D framework (Do, Discover, Dream) helps shift your focus from output to impact. Learn practical, sustainable tools to support meaningful work that aligns with how your brain and body actually function.
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Productivity. It's one of my most beloved and yet most hated concepts. At its core, productivity is just output over time: a metric that first rose to prominence during the Industrial Revolution as we looked for a way to measure how efficiently machines (and then people) produced goods.
But, dear reader, I propose to you that we aren't machines whose only value in what we produce, and we should be intentional about evading that trap.
It's tempting to equate productivity with worth. In a tech-driven world where the average worker is already exponentially more productive than generations before, chasing productivity for its own sake can leave us burnt out and disoriented.
Chasing productivity alone can reduce our identities to more emails, more code, more content. An endless and meaningless attempt to bend the boundaries of finite resources.
Instead, I want to reframe the conversation around efficiency: meaningful output over time. Efficiency asks better questions which will lead us to better answers. No longer are we asking, "How much did you do today?" but rather, "Was it worth doing?" It is very important to me that we can reclaim this quality as something every worker can own and take pride in, and that it isn't merely a metric for middle management to squeeze as much out of you as they possibly can.
Triple D: A Framework for Meaningful Work
It's called Triple D not just because I'm a Guy Fieri fan (Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives is peak American reality TV in my humble opinion), but because I believe every great day at work should have that same heart: a little execution, a little learning, and a little dreaming about what’s next.
Triple D in light of our conversation on meaningful, modern productivity and efficiency in the workplace is: Do, Discover, Dream.
- Do: The core of your work. The tasks you're responsible for completing.
- Discover: Feedback loops. Communicating with others. Learning from customers, coworkers, or your own process. Research, reading, and further education.
- Dream: Rest, imagine, and plan. How could you improve your work, systems, or strategy?
These three feed into each other, creating a loop of sustainable, intentional work. It honors both execution and imagination.
The Tools of Efficiency
SInce we've defined efficiency as something every worker is in command of in their own lives, it's worth noting that attaining better efficiency isn't about having expensive software or corporate resources. It's about using what you already have as well as finding new tools. Many aspects of productivity can be inexpensive, or free. With that said, I break tools into three categories:
1. Rhythm & Flow
In order to accomplish all of the Doing, Discovering, and Dreaming you are capable of, it's vital that you establish a Flow to create structure, sense, and accountability.
Your body and brain are your most important tools. Building a rhythm that supports rest, clarity, and momentum matters more than any productivity app. Ways that you can establish Flow:
- Health, including fitness, sleep, and nutrition habits
- Therapist check-ins
- An agenda planner or a analog tool that supports weekly and monthly goal-setting, habit tracking, and reflection. I'm personally a big fan of Ink + Volt, and a huge thanks to my buddies Josh Mallard and Blake Imeson at LimeCuda for gifting me that first planner years ago!
2. Products: Hardware & Software
Start with what you already have. You might be surprised by what your existing tools can do.
- Consider using shortcuts and macros within programs, or even programming your keyboard or mouse.
- Ditto Clipboard Manager + a programmable mouse shortcut: game-changer for copy/paste workflows
- ActivityWatch, RescueTime, or Qbserve: passive time tracking for digital self-awareness
- Logseq, Obsidian, or Notion: personal knowledge management that links your thoughts, tasks, and notes
- Calendly or other booking links through Microsoft or Hubspot to reduce scheduling fatigue
- Microsoft Scheduling or Doodle polls for easier group coordination
And if your organization already uses Microsoft or Google, explore Copilot or Gemini before paying for new AI tools.
3. Space
Space is more than just free time. It’s about creating breathing room to connect the dots.
- Generative AI - Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and CoPpilot aren't just for doing tasks. They help you think and make YOUR VOICE STRONGER instead of being your voice. Use them to:
- Clarify jumbled thoughts
- Summarize or rewrite rough ideas
- Generate alternatives or brainstorm solutions
- Transcription tools built-in options with Microsoft Teams, Zoom. Or other tools like Otter.ai or Firefly reduce cognative load during conversations
- Combine Transcripts with GenAI and you're going to be way ahead by having GenAI create follow up summaries, emails, and work plans.
- Email agents like SaneBox, Superhuman, or Inbox Zero to help you manage unruly inboxes
Most importantly, focus on how you can build in downtime to let your mind wander. That’s where big ideas and problem-solving happen.
From Output to Impact
At the end of the day, productivity was a metric that was created for machines, and you're not a machine. You’re a human in a finite, soft body, in a world that is often very hard. Your value is not your output.
Efficiency, in contrast, helps you:
- Respect your limits
- Align your actions with your values
- Deliver meaningful work consistently
When we focus on efficiency, we create room for autonomy, insight, and innovation. That’s what helps teams thrive and businesses grow.
So: Do. Discover. Dream. And build a system that works for your actual life—not just your to-do list.
Author's Note: I also recorded a video on this with a few anecdotes and visuals. You can view it here: Rethinking Productivity: Tools and Mindsets That Actually Work.