Hiatus
Please stand by
Considering team leads
You don't have to go it alone
From IC to manager, coda
Someone has to do it / I'm someone / Therefore...
From IC to manager
Mindset, and self-image, don't change overnight
Never stop learning
"We must move forward, not backward; upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!"
Moonlighting as (almost) everything else
The Swiss Army knife of employees 🇨🇭
Moonlighting as a CSM
Mild-mannered customer engineer by day, daring CSM by night. Or maybe the other way around?
Moonlighting as an SE
The farmer and the cowman should be friends
Inconsistent messaging will damage your team's reputation
Who's on first?
H124 wrap-up
It seems like just six months ago I made this joke
Introducing paid support: messaging
"Frustrated Scribbles" by tristendomusic is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. We’ve been talking for the last few weeks about converting your company’s technical...
Introducing paid support: designing support tiers
Some tiers are tastier than others
Introducing paid support: preparing the team
Cash rules everything around me
The Support skills matrix
"Hurdle Matrix" by Cayetano is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Troubleshooting any reasonably complex software product is going to require several related...
Getting customers to actually contact Support
Do it now or regret it later
Leading a team when you can't do the job
Where do you start?
Recovering from being wrong: the expertise trap
We have met the enemy and he is us
Recovering from being wrong
Controversial opinion: being wrong is no fun!
Support technique multilingue
My hovercraft is full of eels
A live troubleshooting checklist
You can never have too many checklists
Customer engineering: not (just) customer support!
The difference is more than just salary levels
Preventing alumni brain drain
Taking things for granted rarely works out well
Graduating from the support team
In which we discuss some sad realities
Support cross-training for some
"pc hondenschool Arthur Thiele" by janwillemsen is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Last week I talked about why I think every new hire in your company should...
Support onboarding for everyone
YOU get a shadowing session! And YOU get a shadowing session!
Macros: yes or no? [PLEASE CHOOSE ONE]
AGENT: DELETE THIS PART BEFORE SENDING
Prioritizing product supportability
Taking a look under the hood
Handling sensitive topics: customer frustration
To be fair, they usually have a point
Handling sensitive topics: security issues
Bug, beg, or just a bother?
Leading a technical support team
Just don't be a jerk
Support vs TAM
Fight! Again!
What's your support customer profile?
Welcome to the new home of Andy’s Support Notes! I don’t want to spend much time on the why rather than the what, so suffice it to say: there were too many...
Don't outsource your support to a bot!
At least not if you want to provide good support
Ticket response standards: updating open tickets
Have more standards!
Ticket response standards: initial ticket responses
Have some standards!
Considering phone-based support
Timeless, or outdated?
One year wrap-up
And it felt like 2023 was just getting going
A ticket handling checklist
✅ Writing a post about checklists
Justify your existence!
No pressure, now
Tagging and support analytics
I saved the most exciting topics for December
Doing handoffs right
Have we been here before?
Support vs Customer Success
Battle of the century!
Throwing up barriers to tech support
Don't annoy customers (more than you have to)
Customer satisfaction surveys and you
I sat, you sat, we all sat for CSAT
Choosing a ticketing system
Something something choose wisely
Is it time for a ticketing system yet?
No? How about ... now?
Streamlining ticket handling part 3: documentation
Will this be on the test?
Streamlining ticket handling part 2: screensharing
F it, we'll do it live
Streamlining ticket handling part 1: information gathering
Working smarter, not harder
Categorizing support issues
And as for the bucket, Pawtucket