Six Ways to Bridge the “Nerd Gap” - Part I of II
Posted by Guest Author on Tue, Dec 27, 2011 @ 09:52 AM
Everyone needs help once in a while. Sometimes, we can’t pay the bills. Other times, we need medical attention. In today’s world, there are a ton of problems surrounding us, and there’s almost always a service designed to help you out. When you have an illness, you seek a doctor. When your car breaks down, you seek a mechanic. When your technology is broken, you seek a nerd. Help desk support is generally fulfilled by nerds.
Nerds are people, but we’re not just any kind of people. We are people that have spent our entire lives learning about technology. We’re motivated by a variety of reasons. Just like a doctor needs your medical history, sometimes we need your computer history. Just like a mechanic, we need a description of the problem and what happened to cause it. Sounds, visualizations, and even smells; they all contribute to the diagnostic process.
It can be frustrating to talk to nerds because we constantly ask you questions. We’re not asking these questions because we’re ignorant about your systems. In fact, that’s not the case at all. There are so many moving parts to modern technology that we MUST ask questions, or we’ll never find the problem, let alone fix it. Would you drop your car off at the shop without an explanation? Would you ask your doctor to fix you without letting them examine you? Of course not! The “magic” that we experience with technology is often expected at the service level, which causes a huge difference in communication and expectations during a support call. This is a problem I lovingly refer to as the “Nerd Gap.”
Below, is part I (3 of 6) six key items that you should always do or have prepared to help us bridge the Nerd Gap.
1. Your Information
This is an easy one. We have to get this information every time someone calls. We have to know what client to bill and who to call if we get disconnected. You’d be surprised how many people jump into their issues without introducing themselves.
It’s also important that we give you accurate instructions. Knowing whether you have Windows XP or Windows 7, and even what version of Office you have is extremely helpful. If you call every day (and you know who you are), then we probably know what to enter by memory. Otherwise, it’s a great idea to have the following information ready to go:
Name
Organization
Your office location
Whether you’re calling from your office location or somewhere else
The best call back number for you
Your e-mail address
Operating System (i.e. Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OSX, Windows 7)
Office Version (i.e. 2007, 2010, etc.)
2. Exact Symptoms
Whenever someone says, “I got an error message,” the very next question a nerd asks is, “What is the error message?” Some programs are capable of thousands of error messages, and trying to guess which one it is based solely on the actions that caused it can be futile.
Some error messages are numbers. Others are actual text. Some are a combination. While that information is easy to just click through and ignore for most users, it is a gold mine of information for a trained nerd. Even if it doesn’t explain the error to us, most error codes can be looked up and translated for us. The messages often tell us exactly what’s wrong with a program. Because that information is so valuable, we will often make you go through the same process to create the error so we can see it if you didn’t document it.
What if you don’t have time to write it all down? We have a solution for that, too – screen shots! On any Windows computer, when you have the error message open, simply press ALT+Prnt Scrn (or Print Screen on some keyboards.) It will take a snapshot of whatever you have open on the screen. You can then paste that image into Outlook (CTRL+V) or some other application and send the message to us. If you attach the image when you email in a ticket, it will automatically send the attached error along with your message, and it will all be saved in our ticket.
3. What Did You Do?
Sometimes, the exact error isn’t enough information. Other times, there is no error message. In order to figure out the cause of the problem, a skilled nerd is going to attempt to re-create the situation. Knowing exactly what programs you were using, where you clicked, what order you did things, and which computer you were on when things happened is all very important. By slowly removing variables, we can often rule out systems and applications until we get to the root cause. However, if we’re unable to see the problem, we’re rarely able to fix the problem, and were DEFINITELY not able to confirm that it won’t happen again.
Contributed by Scott Stover, Help Desk Analyst