Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Then again, these poor people are usually being paid peanuts to handle 
> thousands of emails per hour. So I guess we shouldn't be too harsh on 
> them.

  Yeah, it's impossible to know whether the answer was generic and useless
because the technical support guy was just being lazy, or because he is
honestly trying to help but is so busy with the hundreds of emails he is
getting that he simply doesn't have the time to scrutinize all the minor
details in every single one of them.

  In the latter case responding harshly is certainly not going to help his
day to get better.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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"Orchid XP v8" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message
news:4b6893de$1@news.povray.org...
> Sometimes the hardest thing is figuring out why you're
actually writing
> something. Like, I mean, I *know* I have to write this
policy. But *who*
> is actually going to read it, and why?

Last year, my boss ordered me (in a very nasty tone) to
write something he couldn't define. When I asked him who was
going to read it, he told me it was none of my business... I
asked him why he needed such a document. He again said it
was none of my business. We went round and round on it... I
never wrote it... He hasn't spoken to me in over a year now.

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DungBeatle wrote:

> Last year, my boss ordered me (in a very nasty tone) to
> write something he couldn't define. When I asked him who was
> going to read it, he told me it was none of my business... I
> asked him why he needed such a document. He again said it
> was none of my business. We went round and round on it... I
> never wrote it... He hasn't spoken to me in over a year now.

Sounds like you got a good deal out of it!

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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"Orchid XP v8" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message
news:4b689c97$1@news.povray.org...
> DungBeatle wrote:
> > never wrote it... He hasn't spoken to me in over a year
now.
> Sounds like you got a good deal out of it!

I don't like problems like this. I much prefer easy, open
discussion. I love doing my job, it's people that suck...

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> fantastic features this software has but doesn't actually say... what... 
> it... does! >_<

I like the ones that say "use this feature just like the way it was three 
versions ago, only with a new name!"

Sort of like if POV 3.6 was documented in terms of differences from POV 3.1.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Forget "focus follows mouse." When do
   I get "focus follows gaze"?

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Warp wrote:
> 
>   Yeah, it's impossible to know whether the answer was generic and useless
> because the technical support guy was just being lazy, or because he is
> honestly trying to help but is so busy with the hundreds of emails he is
> getting that he simply doesn't have the time to scrutinize all the minor
> details in every single one of them.
> 

In addition, some places explicitly forbid the support people from 
exercising much creativity in their answers, but instead force them to 
select from a bank of pre-designed template answers.  So it might even 
be the case that the person knows what you're asking and wants to help, 
but couldn't because they didn't have the authority to answer it properly.

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"Kevin Wampler" <wam### [at] uwashingtonedu> wrote in message
news:4b68a6b0$1@news.povray.org...
> In addition, some places explicitly forbid the support
people from
> exercising much creativity in their answers, but instead
force them to
> select from a bank of pre-designed template answers.  So
it might even
> be the case that the person knows what you're asking and
wants to help,
> but couldn't because they didn't have the authority to
answer it properly.

Now THAT is a new one... I can see it though, just surprised
me. By the time I'm calling for support, I coubt some list
of stock answers is going to help me. :) Not that I'm some
high-falootin' tech genius, but I do build and take care of
all the servers here in my department, all three of them! :)
Usually my problems aren't trivial. And not all of them are
caused by me!

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DungBeatle wrote:
> 
> Now THAT is a new one... I can see it though, just surprised
> me.
> 

I should mention that the only data point I have for this some of the 
Amazon.com customer service policies (and they probably aren't nearly as 
bad as I make them sound).  I'd hope that people don't do this in 
technical support, but given that he policy exists in customer service 
I'd wager that it's used in technical support some places as well.

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Kevin Wampler <wam### [at] uwashingtonedu> wrote:
> In addition, some places explicitly forbid the support people from 
> exercising much creativity in their answers, but instead force them to 
> select from a bank of pre-designed template answers.  So it might even 
> be the case that the person knows what you're asking and wants to help, 
> but couldn't because they didn't have the authority to answer it properly.

  Why would they do that? Who does it benefit? Why would a company
actively *forbid* a tech support person from giving an answer he
knows fits the question best and instead *force* him to give an
irrelevant answer? What for?

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:06:38 +0000, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

> Sometimes the hardest thing is figuring out why you're actually writing
> something. Like, I mean, I *know* I have to write this policy. But *who*
> is actually going to read it, and why?

Yep, that is the hardest thing about writing.  If you don't know your 
audience, then all else becomes secondary.

> But, IMHO, *the* hardest thing is figuring out all the stuff your
> audience doesn't know that happens to be trivially obvious to you. 

That also can be difficult, because it requires putting yourself in your 
audience's shoes.  I had a discussion with a coworker who does some 
course development recently, and he observed that another guy who has 
expertise with the software in question was involved in designing a 
course and was designing it to be something he'd *take*, not something 
he'd *teach*.  He was having a hard time explaining that the course being 
developed wasn't for the other guy to take because there wouldn't be a 
huge market for it.

> Like,
> I've read *so many* projects on SourceForge that tell you about all the
> fantastic features this software has but doesn't actually say... what...
> it... does! >_<

I see this in a lot of different areas, not just in technical areas.  
Even in advertising, I occasionally see a commercial where I get to the 
end and wonder what exactly it was they were advertising.

> even the vaguest clue what the software is for. This is so trivially
> obvious to them that they've completely forgotten about it.

Happens in professional development houses all the time.

Jim

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