Re: first: "Reset CPU."
I disagree for two reasons. The first reason is the wording. If the instructions say "first", they mean there is no step before it. He shouldn't go looking for one, and had he performed a shutdown when the instructions didn't call for one (and didn't need one), there's no doubt he'd have been blamed by everyone, including the posters here.
The second reason is that, especially when the procedures are thoroughly documented, it's reasonable to think that the process might have been automated. I'm not sure what "reset the CPU" entailed in this situation, but if it was a command, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that running that command would perform operations like shutting down. The format of the instructions would imply that was likely. If I'm told to run this command to perform a reset, I'm more likely to trust the people who have done this several times and could have made the command perform an orderly shutdown of all services rather than assume that I should perform my own basic shutdown instead, because there's always a chance that the scripted shutdown does more than just telling the OS to halt.
If the policy is that I always follow the procedures to the letter and it's plausible that the procedure I'm reading is exactly what needs to be done, I don't think there is any blame due to him.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
