Support via script VS. Support via knowledge

[apotimber.livejournal.com]

Reading some comments in recent posts reminds me of a story which I shall share briefly. So how many people out there in tech support land are just following scripts as opposed to doing tech support by addressing the problem from an analytical perspective? Given that some questions are very common that a script works great, and other times, we experience the same questions so often it almost sounds like we're reading a script.

Back when I used to do tech support at a large university, where we have centralized services for the big things like email, major networking, etc, and departmental support for quicker response time, the localized needs of the individual school(s)/department(s), etc, we had a situation we as a departmental support could not handle. So I tell my boss, who at this time as our director was responsible for the IT support of 3 different graduate schools, and he calls central computing support. Being tech support folks ourselves, we know there are script kiddies over there answering the phones who deals with the common problems and we have protocol to follow.

So to make a short story that I've overly provided details with making it long, after answering many questions, the person on the other end of the phone follows the script to the final solution he could provide of: sorry, we can't help you, please contact your local departmental support. My boss responds to the kid, "I AM the head of the departmental support. Get me your supervisor, now!"

I've known many people who has done tech support for central services and they were all pretty smart. Somehow, they must have been desperate to hire people at one point.

Anyway, that was years ago. These days, I work at Best Buy. And just because a customer buys a computer from us, does not mean they get tech support from us to tell them how to get 3rd party software to work, or even use it. We sell the computers, we do not manufacture them. We really need to impose something where people should need a license to own a computer, like a gun, which requires a background check or something. And then a second license to use the internet, like in Germany where you have to take a long series of classes and tests to be eligible to drive on the autobhan.

Okay, I'm babbling incohesively in a public post now so I'll just say g'nite. =)

Comments

[kizayaen.livejournal.com]

I no longer work the helldesks, but when I did, it was a constant battle. Most of the techs wanted to give real tech support... and were well capable of doing so while maintaining all our SLAs... while most of management wanted us to follow the phone monkey scripts.

[superbus.livejournal.com]

Too many people from what I've seen HAVE to read scripts. It's horrible, to be honest, and it really kills the good techs. The good techs that take call centre jobs try to help a customer through something complex, and then get destroyed by some pinhead manager because his MTTR is too high; gotta keep that five minute average.

So that means the good techs go on to other jobs, and the bad techs end up taking those positions. It's no-win; people that shouldn't have technical jobs at any point are dealing with customers that need help, and the customers want escalations that they won't get. Tech support, from what I've seen, has become openly hostile.

As for me? I refuse to read a script, and note this in interviews. Noticeably, companies such as Cablevision (which I've heard nothing good about, but when I interviewed, it was getting to the point where I NEEDED a job) never called me back. I've been in this industry a total of less than two years, but already, I'm working Tier 3 support (my first job was a systems admin at some lumber company). I didn't get that high by reading scripts; I'm thankful to be at a company that doesn't mind if we're on the phone with a customer for an hour or two to get a complex issue fixed, and isn't allergic to escalating issues (notably, we are a security company, so we mostly work with department heads), so therefore, not only can we give people REAL support, but I've learned some shit along the way, even from some customers. I have problems with our management (as we get larger, we're starting to worry about stupid shit like MTTR, and it's affecting how we work our tickets), but overall, it's a great place to learn. But I realize I'm lucky.

[phrogg.livejournal.com]

I used to note my refusal to read from scripts. Two months since i've been trying to find work, and i never got a callback.
I had an interview with $local_isp yesterday, omitted that bit, and today i got a callback. *shrugs* Necessary evil, i suppose... *dies a little inside*

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

Luckily, my company (major research lab) is so diverse in their tech use that no scripts are possible. Was on the help desk for two years here and they pretty much throw you in the deep end, feet first. Is painful but a great way to weed out the problem solvers from the mouth breathers.

I've helped along a few folks coming over from AoL and various cell phone help desks; some love it here while others really just want the answers provided to them, before the customer even calls. Sigh. The puzzles are what keeps things fun!

Oh yeah, no license for gun needed here in New Mexico. Is North East thing?

[apotimber.livejournal.com]

Well, there is a waiting period for handguns and such. Shotguns are a different story. I hear there's something that's supposed to make it a lot easier to get a handgun working its way towards the supreme court, but that's another topic entirely.

The puzzles are definitely what keeps things fun.

[asbrand.livejournal.com]

No license / registration for guns in Georgia (or any of the Southern states) either.

:)



-Az

[jecook]

The law that the supremes are looking over is the legality of the gun ban that was in place in DC since, what? '76? The heart of the matter, IIRC, is if the 2nd amendment is an individual right, or a right that belongs to entities like a state milita (i.e., the national guard or other such organizations)

Both sides are using quite a bit of resources on this one. I hope the Supremes rule that the the 2nd Amendment is an individual right, and tosses out the 1934 NFA, the 1968 GCA, and the 1984 ban on machine guns while they are at it. I'd sure like to buy an honest to bog full auto tommy gun and now pay in excess of 50 grand for the privledge... (the closest I can get at this point is either a semi-auto tommy, or an airsoft tommy, which is not classes as a gun)

There's an active community on LJ for guns, and we are fairly open minded. /pimp

[jecook]

I have a rather largeish book that lists the firearms laws for all 50 states.

you could also reference the wikipedia entry for at least an overview.

A card or permit to buy a firearm is very much a east coast/ great lakes thing. (i.e., New York City, certain northeast states, Illinois, and Commifornia)

a fair amount of states are allowing easier access to concealed carry permits (which even a gun liberal state like Arizona requires; Open carry is fully legal, although you might get hassled if you are walking around with a slung rifle or shotgun openly.)

My work is similar- we had a n00b start monday. Wendsday was the first day we had him, and the tech that's training him tossed him on the phones for the large part. :)

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

I would have quit anywhere which had support scripts. I seriously considered it over a one-line "You have called the X helpdesk" spiel that was mandatory at one place.

Checklists are a great idea - they help bunches in making sure you cover everything when you're under the hammer. But if you're going to be told exactly what to say and how to say it, you may as well be a bit-part actor for used car commercials.

[vortex.livejournal.com]

I think it's partly because they are being cheap.


When I started in IT (SysAdmin) in the early 90's, we didn't have all of these documentation programs like SMS and Remedy. All we had were techs who enjoyed helping people and figuring out problems.

Apparently, some exec/bean counter figured out that if we documented the problems we encountered and the fixes we made, they could just hire cheap labor in place of a "real tech". It's unfortunate, but it has become widespread and has blead over into other areas of IT, like Network Engineering (my last IT job) and soon, Security Engineering. Some people in IT tried to Unionize back then to prevent this from happening, but the money was good to some people and they were opposed to Unions in general...now we see the result.

It's been 2 years since I last worked in IT and I refuse, no matter how broke I get, to work in that kind of sweatshop environment again...

[xforge.livejournal.com]

We don't use scripts where I work, but the sysadmins ("Level 3") seemingly do. Their script consists entirely of one phrase:

"Well, it's working for me, I don't see a problem."

Grrrarrrrggghhh.

[apotimber.livejournal.com]

These days I just sell computers rather than doing tech support (at Geek Squad) so once in a while a call bounces to the sales floor when the geeks are busy. I did work on Geek Squad for a while as well (so yeah, I have clip on tie and badge sitting in my closet somewhere) and the script on the floor is often one line:

"Something's not working on your computer? Bring it in and we'll have our Geek Squad look at it."

Or step 1 in daignosing any problem over the phone:
Me: Your computer isn't turning on? Are you sure it is plugged in, surge protector isn't off, or have any loose cables, which may have occurred if you moved something, bumped it, a pet perhaps? Try plugging it directly into a known working outlet?
Customer: It was working fine [earlier] and everything seems connected.
Me: Well, since I can't tell over the phone, I might guess power supply problems, possibly due to surge, or just failure. Bring it in and we can check it out at Geek Squad. And no, you don't have to bring everything in, just the tower.

[Some time later after I gave GS a heads up this customer was coming in.]
Geek Squad Agent: Works fine. You might have had a loose cable [and lists other possible reasons as I did.]
Customer: Well I wish someone had told me to check those things over the phone instead of having me bring the whole thing down here and wasting my time.
Geek Squad Agent: I'm pretty sure he [pointing at me standing about 15 feet away cashing out another customer, and me waving back with a smile, surpressing laughter] did.
Customer: Um... thank you for your time.

Almost as fun as the time I reponded to a tech call from a grad student in the department I support saying her computer wasn't turning on. I arrive and press the power button and it starts powering on, with me doing nothing. She was stunned and amazed, since she says that's exactly what she had done, so I power it off and ask her to show me what she was doing. She wasn't pressing the power button far enough in.

[sethb.livejournal.com]

The problem (or at least, one big problem) is that companies measure the wrong thing.

You get what you measure.

When you care how long each call takes, you get a lot of short calls. If you're smart enough to realize that one ten-minute call ending with a happy customer is better than 20 one-minute calls and the problem unresolved, you don't simply measure "average call length". Too many companies aren't that smart.

Checklists are good; it's too easy to leave out a step (and I only support stuff I wrote, so I know exactly what's supposed to happen and how the user can fix it without involving me). Scripts at the first level I can see, especially if they're carefully written to handle all the dialects your customers speak.

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

That, and scripts serve more to limit the support offered than they do to facilitate supporting a product. (In some cases, that seems to be by design, particularly with certain ISP's that have a tendency to instantly punt customers with a certain OS/platform over to the platform's support at the first mention of that platform's name, which can be annoying if the ISP is clearly the one who caused the problem.)

My employer discourages scripted support and actively encourages even its frontline techs to think outside the box and focus on actual resolution. Then again, its tech support department is run by people who've been on the phones and know that scripts just get in the way of the process. I've had some issues here and there with techs at some call centers who are trying very hard to hide the fact that they're on scripts, but you can't really hide a complete lack pf any logical analysis of what's really causing a given problem when the case notes are a trail of shotgun-troubleshooting quick fixes that have no connection to the problem actually presented and the only thing the tech has done is spend 45 minutes pissing off the customer even more before they get to you and you fix the problem in 30 seconds. I'm having increasing trouble dealing with that, because it's hard to control my resentment at people like that making my job harder in completely fucking unnecessary ways .. just to save a few seconds on their call handle time and polish up their metrics.

Yes, you're absolutely right, you get what you measure ..

[spitfire-sam.livejournal.com]

i have heard of these so-called "scripts" but i've never used one.
granted i've only worked two tech support jobs at this point, one for a local ISP (where scripts just don't work- you are troubleshooting connection and email issues hardcore) and one for a huge company that needs its own tech support department because it has as many employees as a US city has inhabitants.

neither has used scripts.

but since i see the same issues over and over and over, all the time, i bet it sounds like i'm using a script- i have developed answers that are quick, simple, and get the point across without being too wordy/techy.

call handle time is important here (wasn't at the ISP), but we've never been told to brush someone off just to improve our stats. in fact, all of us have had to spend 45 minutes or more on VPN calls because the tech group above us that packages installations fucked up.

[azurelunatic]

Seconded on the things that must sound like scripts -- once we find an answer that works hardcore, it tends to come back. And we pick things up from our neighbors.

[brothersterno.livejournal.com]

Here there are no scripts, and it's pretty rough sometimes. You really get some mouthbreathers who can't work their way through a problem logically. Basically, companies don't want to pay for people who can think, and everyone suffers. I talk to front line reps who just want the answer, instead of the question to ask. I try my damndest to get them fired.

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

we have opening and closing scripts, i have no problem with these though i change them to my own wording and order. we also have documents to follow for trouble shooting but we don't have to follow them word for word but they are good to follow step by step on the most part. some of our call centers on the other side of the ocean have a little more structure or scripting to their calls.

[azurelunatic]

No real scripts here, although I've got some internal things that might as well be scripts, and they do offer us some helpful checklists. There are some things we have to say (like, any time we hang up on a dead-air call we have to mention that a) we can't hear them, b) we're open 24-7, and c) they can call us back) but no real scripts. I worked telephone surveys before that, and that was nearly 100% scripted. That experience made me develop a very good phone voice, to the point where I get mistaken for the IVR; I've since learned to deliberately roughen my delivery so I sound a little more human.

[momentarygenius.livejournal.com]

ha i did over the phone magazine sales for a long time, and i get mistaken for IVR alllll the timeeeee. especially with me having a generic name like Mary.

[dr-zira.livejournal.com]

I work for a local ISP. We don't have scripts. (Actually, I think that we are supposed to have an opening script; but no body uses it.)

However, I will agree that once you have said the same thing for the 50th time, it starts to sound like a script. (eg "How long is the phone cord going into your DSL modem?... Do you have any splitters or filters on that cord?... Is it plugged into the back of the modem where it says Line or Phone?" "That PING like Ping-Pong... P-I-N-G... papa india nancy george...")

Luckily, I've been a lead for about 6 months, which means not being a phone monkey all day.

We're supposed to have a 10 minute AHT (average handle time). I found that it wasn't too difficult to stay within that. I would always have a couple 20-30 minute calls every shift; but there were always some 1 and 2 minute calls to even it out. At our company, being on a long call is acceptable when you are accomplishing something... However, I find that to be rare. Usually, it is a tech floundering, troubleshooting the wrong thing, and too macho to ask for help.

[asbrand.livejournal.com]

Makes me glad I work in a NOC / backbone environment.

If my call takes 1 minute, or 10 hours...they don't care. Just fix the damn problem and make "teh internets" work. :)

Just *try* to script a random IP allocation misconfig, or problem with BGP somewhere on a 10 state backbone network. *grin*



-Az

[tanetris.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered what it would be like if medical care followed a script.

How many people would be sent away from the emergency room because they hadn't already tried getting a good night's sleep?

[pne.livejournal.com]

And then a second license to use the internet, like in Germany where you have to take a long series of classes and tests to be eligible to drive on the autobhan.

I wonder where you picked that up.

To the best of my knowledge, all class B (cars) drivers licenses here in Germany let you drive on the autobahn; there's no separate licence nor a separate test.

There is a minimum number of hours you have to have spent with a driving instructor on the autobahn before they'll let you take the test, but then, there's also a mininum number of hours spent driving after dark, for example.

But it's just two tests (theoretical - multiple-choice on paper - and practical - driving with a tester) before you get your driver's licence that will let you drive your car on any road, from the smallest gravel path to the biggest autobahn.

[apotimber.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I wasn't too up on driving in Germany other than it is significantly harder to get a license over there than it is here in New York and was just drawing parallels of driving really fast with the internet. Either way, I still think there are some people who are hazards on the internet and shouldn't be allowed on without proper training in advance.

[naggy.livejournal.com]

Internal help desks tend to be less script oriented. Internal help desks also have customers who really can yank chains and make your life hell.