One year wrap-up
And it felt like 2023 was just getting going
It seems like just six months ago that we had our last wrap-up. Here’s what’s happened since then.
Six month wrap-up - by Andy Magnusson
It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness
July
We started the month with some musings on the necessity of building proactive actions into the inherently reactive Support function.
Proactivity in a reactive team - by Andy Magnusson
It's like peanut butter and chocolate
After that, an extended metaphor about my broken dryer raised a lot of interesting considerations around making assumptions: while sometimes unavoidable, it’s best to minimize them to provide more effective support.
Dryers and Assumptions - by Andy Magnusson
I'm not going to make a joke in this post about asses, you, or me. Honest.
Assumptions, coda - by Andy Magnusson
And a dryer update, not that you asked for it
A trip to the beach in late July was an introduction to a larger discussion around staffing and burnout, segueing into a deeper look at different Support coverage models.
Support Notes from the Beach - by Andy Magnusson
The sand really does get everywhere
Support coverage models - by Andy Magnusson
Can you minimize disappointment with minimal outlay?
August
We continued in that line of thought through August, investigating the notion of ‘support load’, then analyzing each coverage model and the staffing levels required to support them.
Calculating support load - by Andy Magnusson
Warning: math ahead. But you can skip it, I don't mind
Staffing levels and support coverage, part 1
Really? Another part 1?
Staffing levels and support coverage, part 2
I didn't have time for a short post, so I made a long one
Staffing levels and support coverage, part 3
What's a 7x math error among friends?
September
We started off September by returning to the topic of burnout, and the importance of varying the support team’s work—and providing sufficient assistance, technical and otherwise—to help prevent it.
Preventing burnout on support teams - by Andy Magnusson
Or at least mitigating it. I’m not a miracle worker!
After this, we looked at the worst-case scenario: your team is already on the edge and about to crumble. How can you turn things around?
SOS: my support team is drowning - by Andy Magnusson
Sometimes there are no good choices
A request from a colleague led me to build a sample support team progression document, and I shared it with some commentary here.
A support team career progression - by Andy Magnusson
By popular(?) demand
Next we looked at the importance of regularly categorizing the support tickets your team is handling.
Categorizing support issues - by Andy Magnusson
And as for the bucket, Pawtucket
October
This led us into a series of posts on streamlining your team’s handling of support issues, looking at better ways to gather information, when to suggest a screenshare, and how to help improve your product’s documentation.
Streamlining ticket handling part 1: information gathering
Working smarter, not harder
Streamlining ticket handling part 2: screensharing
F it, we'll do it live
Streamlining ticket handling part 3: documentation
Will this be on the test?
We then looked at a few topics around ticketing: when is it time to get a ticketing system? What should you be looking for when choosing one?
Is it time for a ticketing system yet? - by Andy Magnusson
No? How about ... now?
Choosing a ticketing system - by Andy Magnusson
Something something choose wisely
November
This naturally transitioned to one of my favorite topics: why CSAT (customer satisfaction) surveys are so important for improving your support process.
Customer satisfaction surveys and you - by Andy Magnusson
I sat, you sat, we all sat for CSAT
A frustrating vendor interaction motivated the next post, which was all about why it’s a terrible idea to gate support behind a sales interaction.
Throwing up barriers to tech support - by Andy Magnusson
Don't annoy customers (more than you have to)
To close out November, we talked a little about the relationship between Support and Customer Success, and how to do effective handoffs from team to team.
Support vs Customer Success - by Andy Magnusson
Battle of the century!
Doing handoffs right - by Andy Magnusson
Have we been here before?
December
As we rolled into December, thoughts turned to tagging, support analytics, and helping tell a story about the purpose (and necessity) of a great support organization.
Tagging and support analytics - by Andy Magnusson
I saved the most exciting topics for December
Justify your existence! - by Andy Magnusson
No pressure, now
Finally, we looked at a fairly simple checklist to be used when responding to support emails. Checklists are a great way to make sure your support team are all working off the same rules and don’t inadvertently skip important steps in the troubleshooting process.
A ticket handling checklist - by Andy Magnusson
✅ Writing a post about checklists
And that brings us to this week and this end of year summary. It’s hard to believe, at least it is for me, that I’ve been doing this for a solid year and I still have things to say about support. But it’s been a really interesting year too, and I thank you all for coming with me on this trip. Here’s to many more years — well, at least one more. After that my topic list starts getting fuzzy. Happy new year to you all, and see you in 2024.
Thanks for reading Andy's Support Notes 💻💥📝!