supporting 15k customers without losing too much hair

Supporting 15k CustomersWithout Losing Too Much Hair

JONNY CARTER | SOF TWARE ENGINEER | ADAPTAVIST | @JONNYTRON

Product Support Helping your customers

Internal Help Desk Helping your company

Who does this apply to?

Support adds value Whether it’s support for a

product or an internal help desk, support adds value

Source: www.imtrading.nl/en/metal/precious-metals/

Support is super hard to get right.

INTRODUCTION

Neglect Inconsistent, subpar support

Burnout Great support, unhappy team

Two Pitfalls

Agenda

Service Desk Done Right

First Tier Support

Hard Questions

Community Knowledge Base

PART 2

PART 1


First Tier Support

Hard Questions


PART 2

PART 1

Connect Support to

Delivery

Single Source of Truth

Support feeds delivery Support agents report issues to delivery teams.


Connect Support to

Delivery



Use the links Jira issue links connect customer issues to the delivery teams’ backlog.


Connect Support to

Delivery


Use the links Jira issue links connect customer issues to the delivery teams’ backlog.

Single Source of Truth Keep detail backstage

Get all the details in the support case, extract the relevant parts for the backlog.


All roads lead to service desk All support issues live in Jira Service Desk.

Connect Support to

Delivery



All roads lead to service desk All support issues live in JIRA Service Desk.

Tell your story Record support interactions and reveal your value.

Connect Support to

Delivery



So you set up your Service Desk… Now what?


First Tier Support

Hard Questions


PART 2

PART 1

Do It In Public Make it visible and accessible

Three Pillars of a Knowledge Base

Know Thy Customer Find subject matter experts

FAQ It Concrete how-to guides

Don’t cross the streams

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28277470@N05/35758175980

Example time…


We welcome and encourage you to share your ideas through our community forums. While our developers may not reply to your ideas, they watch the forums for constructive feedback, player reactions, and popular topics.

THE GAME COMPANY WHICH SHALL NOT BE NAMED


Normal Person + Anonymity

+ Audience = Total Jerk

You need the feedback.

WHY CAN’T I CROSS THE STREAMS?

Your public knowledge base and

Q&A forum.

Your private consultation

with the customer.

JIRA SERVICE DESK KNOWLEDGE BASE


First Tier Support

Hard Questions


PART 2

PART 1

First Tier Support

Delivery

Customers

Working test environment You can’t support what you can’t see.

First Tier Support

Delivery

Customers


Mentor The best teacher is not always the most senior person.

First Tier Support

Delivery

Customers


Mentor The best teacher is not always the most senior person.

Tips & snips, not scripts Get consistency without the headache.

Canned response Insert yours here!

First Tier Support

Delivery

Customers

Hear them out Take their ideas and feedback seriously.

First Tier Support

Delivery

Customers


Make them beta testers Let your agents try out new features and major changes before your customers do.

First Tier Support

Delivery

Customers


Make them beta testers Let your agents try out new features and major changes before your customers do.

Keep good boundaries Support agents are not developers or designers. Don’t try to give them everything they want.

Even when you are big enough to shield your developers from operational pain, DON’T.BARUCH SADOGURSKY - DEVELOPER ADVOCATE, JFROG

Source: www.flickr.com/photos/23397895@N08/17085849346

WRONGSupport is hard, remember?

Source: www.flickr.com/photos/23397895@N08/17085849346


First Tier Support

Hard Questions


PART 2

PART 1

Who are your VIPs?

How far will we go?

How far must we go?

HARD QUESTIONS

A VIP is anyone you would break your SLA for.

WHO ARE YOUR VIPS?

Are you on the list?

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11528357/A-club-owners-guide-to-dealing-with-bouncers.html

WARNING

DON’T FEED THE CYNICS

How far will we go?

How far must we go?

HARD QUESTIONS

Who are your VIPs?

How far will we go?

How far must we go?

How far

How far

HARD QUESTIONS

Who are your VIPs?

Don’t #@!% the customer means saying no sometimes.

HOW FAR…?

Don’t #@!% the customer means saying no at the right time.

HOW FAR…?

Who are your VIPs?

How far will we go?

How far must we go?

HARD QUESTIONS

Takeaways

Know who your VIPs are and why Know your limits

Separate your service desk and community KB

Treat your service desk agents like junior delivery

Thank you!


Questions?


supporting 15k customers without losing too much hair

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