Dear Users... (A thread for Sysadmin, Technical Support, and Help Desk people)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Norman Alexander said:
There is also now the concept of "end-user testing", that is: Running the draft version in a "real" environment to "run out the bugs" and then making further hasty bug-fixes on-the-fly. To my mind as a programmer of yore, that is simply ******* lazy.
Click to expand...

I forgot to note that there was a notice on the door on the way out, saying the store would be closed at 9pm that night for "upgrades". I don't know how long the kiosks have been there (it's been a while since I went to Taco Bell) but it looks like they have more work to do.
 
Norman Alexander said:
There is also now the concept of "end-user testing", that is: Running the draft version in a "real" environment to "run out the bugs" and then making further hasty bug-fixes on-the-fly. To my mind as a programmer of yore, that is simply ******* lazy.
Click to expand...

You need real environments to test on. And those need to be used as such.
Relying on a group of IT bods (even proper testers) rarely picks up on issues of how an end user will actually use the tool that's been developed.

At it's best, this form of end user testing occurs throughout development, obviously more as "end user input" in the early stages.

There really is nothing that will pick up issues faster than handing it over to some guinea pigs.

It even happens on websites. A new version will be rolled out to a random selection of clients to see how it actually functions in the wild, though in these cases it's usually more about the page layout and navigation than finding technical issues.
 
Norman Alexander said:
There is also now the concept of "end-user testing", that is: Running the draft version in a "real" environment to "run out the bugs" and then making further hasty bug-fixes on-the-fly. To my mind as a programmer of yore, that is simply ******* lazy.
Click to expand...

It think it's more that in the days when everything and anyone was just generally assumed to be constantly online releasing a bad and/or unfinished product and fixing and/or completing it later wasn't even an option.

Once a game was on a cartridge or program was on a disk/CD and shipped to stores that was it.
 
Ah well, for games these days the current trend is to release the beta as a cheap version, essentially doing the debugging and steering gameplay.

It's how my kids got cheap copies of several games they play. They quite like seeing the game change as they go along. The updates can be a bit of a sod...

Edit: thinking about it, some of the games are barely beta...
 
Something Cara Santa Maria said on the most recent episode of The Skeptics Guide to the Universe (it might have been Premium content) resonated with me, and I'm going to include it in my protocols for training new staff.

She was talking about science communication, and five rules of thumb she uses. One of them was never underestimate your audience's intelligence, but always underestimate their vocabulary. I think this is very true with ICT too. ICT is full of jargon and technical language. It's common for people to not be familiar with the language, but to still be perfectly capable of actually doing the thing that needs to be done.
 
arthwollipot said:
Something Cara Santa Maria said on the most recent episode of The Skeptics Guide to the Universe (it might have been Premium content) resonated with me, and I'm going to include it in my protocols for training new staff.



She was talking about science communication, and five rules of thumb she uses. One of them was never underestimate your audience's intelligence, but always underestimate their vocabulary. I think this is very true with ICT too. ICT is full of jargon and technical language. It's common for people to not be familiar with the language, but to still be perfectly capable of actually doing the thing that needs to be done.
Click to expand...
Good good insight.

That said, I think there are a few vocabulary words that everyone should understand:

CPU
Disk
Memory
I/O (KVM)
Network

Everything else can be explained in terms of those, or by stacking/combining them, or by calling out an exception to them.
 
A user needs to understand "these gosh darned confanguled computer thingies you we just started using.... errr 40 years ago" enough to verbalize to someone who is attempting to help them what the problem they are having actually is.

They don't have to explain it, they don't have to understand, they don't have to even use the "correct" terms they just need to be able to say something beyond "It doesn't work" or "It doesn't look right."
 
JoeMorgue said:
A user needs to understand "these gosh darned confanguled computer thingies you we just started using.... errr 40 years ago" enough to verbalize to someone who is attempting to help them what the problem they are having actually is.

They don't have to explain it, they don't have to understand, they don't have to even use the "correct" terms they just need to be able to say something beyond "It doesn't work" or "It doesn't look right."
Click to expand...

Very true. I'm an IT guy, but I'm a developer, so I don't do a lot of user support in my job, but, since I'm a computer guy, I end up being tech support for friends and family a lot. The worst was my Mom (no longer with us). She was a very intelligent woman who seemingly turned off her brain whenever she was in front of a computer. I had approximately this conversation with her more times than I could count.

Mom: "I got a weird error message when I (tried to do something or other)."
Me: "What did the error message say".
Mom: "I don't know; I didn't understand it".
 
Well, I know staff who insist that computers are too new for them to understand.

One who in fact wouldn't read their emails, until they were told they might want to look for the ones from HR!
 
It's not that they're too new. It's that they're not in their area of expertise. I speak every day to people who are highly skilled in their area, but who have never learned much about how computers work. It's not relevant to their job, or their study, so they don't have the vocabulary to talk on a technical level. I don't have the vocabulary to talk on a technical level about their area of expertise either.
 
Things I Wish More People Knew, Part 721: Working Offline

Me: Service Desk, how can I help?

Them: Outlook says that it's working offline, and it's been like that for hours and I've rebooted the computer and restarted and nothing I do works.

Me: In the Send/Receive tab of Outlook, click the Work Offline button to deselect it.

Them: Oh, it's working! Is that it?

Me: That's it.

For some reason, Outlook occasionally goes into offline mode in our environment for no apparent reason. This causes a lot of people a lot of distress, but it shouldn't because it's really easy to correct.
 
arthwollipot said:
It's not that they're too new. It's that they're not in their area of expertise. I speak every day to people who are highly skilled in their area, but who have never learned much about how computers work. It's not relevant to their job, or their study, so they don't have the vocabulary to talk on a technical level. I don't have the vocabulary to talk on a technical level about their area of expertise either.
Click to expand...
I have known world-class neurosurgeons who refuse to use computers for pretty much that reason. They prefer the old approach of using a dictaphone to record their notes, and having their secretary type it up for their paper file system. It seems to be an extreme case of being stuck-in-a-rut.
 
Norman Alexander said:
I have known world-class neurosurgeons who refuse to use computers for pretty much that reason. They prefer the old approach of using a dictaphone to record their notes, and having their secretary type it up for their paper file system. It seems to be an extreme case of being stuck-in-a-rut.
Click to expand...
Focused on their own field. I'd be even less surprised that someone who has such a highly-skilled job as a neurosurgeon has never had the time or the inclination to learn the details of how computers work.

ETA: Public servants (aka shiny bums) have less of an excuse because computers are tools that they need to use on a daily basis.
 
Last edited:
And this "computers are these mysterious totems that we can never hope to understand" meme has become self sustaining to the point that it's now a sort of backhanded pride, as if there is a certain achievement in getting a job that uses a computer while never learning how to use the thing.

Nobody is expected an end user to be going their own IRQ Assignments or editing the Registry or compile a DNS Black Hole List.

"The icon was on the left side of the screen but now it's on the right side of the screen so I'm going to completely shut down because 'it looks different' and wait for IT to come move the icon back the side of the screen I'm used to and brush off any attempt to show me how to do it with a passive aggressive and coyish 'oh I'm not a computer person'." is not that.
 
Okay so the newest version of "Everything has to be exactly the same or I can't function" that my customer base has latched onto is the giggling "Oh I'm just so OCD fiddle dee" nonsense.
 
JoeMorgue said:
And this "computers are these mysterious totems that we can never hope to understand" meme has become self sustaining to the point that it's now a sort of backhanded pride, as if there is a certain achievement in getting a job that uses a computer while never learning how to use the thing.

Nobody is expected an end user to be going their own IRQ Assignments or editing the Registry or compile a DNS Black Hole List.

"The icon was on the left side of the screen but now it's on the right side of the screen so I'm going to completely shut down because 'it looks different' and wait for IT to come move the icon back the side of the screen I'm used to and brush off any attempt to show me how to do it with a passive aggressive and coyish 'oh I'm not a computer person'." is not that.
Click to expand...

JoeMorgue said:
Okay so the newest version of "Everything has to be exactly the same or I can't function" that my customer base has latched onto is the giggling "Oh I'm just so OCD fiddle dee" nonsense.
Click to expand...
I usually tell these users that my 91 year old mother who is in nursing care with the beginnings of dementia can still work her PC and do emails and skype. Slowly, but she can still do it. So what is their excuse?
 
Norman Alexander said:
I usually tell these users that my 91 year old mother who is in nursing care with the beginnings of dementia can still work her PC and do emails and skype. Slowly, but she can still do it. So what is their excuse?
Click to expand...

I usually don't even get the respect of getting excuses. They just literally shut down, as in literally sit at their desk and play on their phones, until IT shows up and moves every icon back to the same spot on the screen or moves a window from one monitor to another.
 
ETA: And ironically I have a few legit "old" users, people in their 60s are higher and I don't generally see this problem from them.

I see it, almost universally, from 40-55 year old women. Sadly in health care that's like..... 80-90% of your user base.
 
Last edited:
Customer: "My computer runs really slow when thing get really busy, between 1 and 2. Can you take a look at it?"
Me: "Sure"
*Shows up at 1*
Customer: "Oh I can't get off my computer right now, it's way too busy. Come back when it's less busy."
Me: "Errrr... okay."
*Comes back later*
Customers: "Well it's not doing it now. It only does it when it's busy."
Me: "......"
 
Last edited:
My office has IP Phones

User: I am not receiving any calls

Me: What does the display on the phone say?

User: Where?

Me:...the screen on the phone... (these are not friggin IMAX screens)

User: It says "please log in"

Yup, that's why I make the big bucks
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Back
Top Bottom