Re: Developing a troubleshooting guide?

[Al Geist <al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>]

I agree with what Geoff wrote, especially the part about talking to 
Field Service first.  These are the guys who are on the front lines.  
Not only will they know about customer problems, they will also know who 
the customer phrases their requests.  For example, I worked for a small 
company that had customers in Europe, China, Australia, Canada, Mexico 
and the USA.  Each had a different way of describing the same problem.  
SInce most customers did not have a manual in front of them during their 
time of need, the service person couldn't say...."see the graphic on 
page 3.  That little whichamacallit is the part you need."

That same company also had a lot of knowledge tucked away in engineer's 
heads and archived emails.  We created a FAQ and got the engineers to 
sign on and all that information came flooding out. The FAQs helped 
organize it and allowed Field Service to solve many problems by 
referring to a specific FAQ, or if the user was not at a computer 
system, service personnel could walk them through a procedure by 
referring themselves to the FAQ.  You mentioned that you were already 
compiling the emails.  This might be a good time to take them to the 
next step...an FAQ.

Finally, Geoff is correct in saying that the quickest way to get on the 
wrong side of an engineer is to waste his/her time asking irrelevant 
questions.  They don't like to be pulled away from their toys for no 
good reason.

--

Al Geist
Technical Writing, Online Help, Marketing Collateral, Web Design, Award 
Winning Videos, Professional Photography
Voice/Msg: 802-658-3140
E-mail: al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com <mailto:al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>
URL: www.geistassociates.com <http://www.geistassociates.com> (online 
portfolio/resume)

See also:
URL: www.geistimages.com <http://www.geistimages.com> (fine art prints 
for home or office and note cards for all occasions)

"When the situation is absolutely hopeless, you have nothing to worry 
about."
                        Compliments of The Monkey Wrench Gang


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