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.