In discussing the support I provide for my products (and changes I can make to do it better) with Geof, he pointed out that developers can be simultaneously the best and worst people to support their products.
One issue is communication – not everyone does it well. I think I do better than some, but I have my problems as well.
Another issue is being to close to the technical details, and not relating to the hazy cloud of functionality that the user deals with – especially “new user” issues. No one is immune from this.
A third, and one I’ve been struggling with, is that time spent working as a CSR is time not spent developing and building the product.
I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit, and have a few ideas on how I can do things better – both for me and for my customers. I’ll have a follow-up post on that.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Geof F. Morris adds this Comment:
I approve this entry.
September 18th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
Matt adds this Comment:
Follow up to this should be interesting.
I find that it can be beneficial to involve an “outsider” to help write documentation as well, since as the developer it’s easy to assume something is known, or not realize it could even be a question.
September 18th, 2006 at 3:36 pm
Geof F. Morris adds this Comment:
While I agree, Matt, my experience with Alex is that he writes good FAQs and documentation largely based on user input.
September 18th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
Matt adds this Comment:
Yeah, wasn’t really meaning to imply that it was a shortcoming of Alex’s, more just expanding on the original thought.
September 18th, 2006 at 5:46 pm