Everyone should read support emails • Hacker News Board

Re: Everyone should read support emails

#41

Post by nostrebored » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 2:02 PM UTC

endofcapital wrote: post #35

nostrebored wrote: post #21

This is one of my favorite things about Amazon's support system. Support has direct access to PMs, developers, customer facing solutions architects and all of these orgs have close connections to the customers as a result. While not everyone has access to the support cases, customer sentiment is conveyed as part of this process and features or bug fixes are quickly roadmapped as a result of customer pain. The fact th…

I have reported and watched maybe half a dozen bugs get fixed on Amazon, starting in 2003 I think. Never even experienced a reply from any other company when trying to report problems over the years. I think a handful of companies are getting more proactive with security reporting, but everyone still treats the quality of their services and front line support system as an afterthought.

Yeah, it's honestly disheartening, but it's great seeing Amazon realize the value that support can play. Even looking at the hiring requirements for some of the positions can give you some insight into why it works as well -- support teams which require it have strict development requirements, and consequently the support engineers 1) know the problem space and can infer what you're trying to do 2) know what it feels like to be blocked by something completely out of your control and feel like you're writing into the aether

It would be great for companies as a whole to start realizing the value that you can bring to your existing customers through this experience, and to recognize that this is another face of your company.

Re: Everyone should read support emails

#42

Post by AllegedAlec » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 2:04 PM UTC

ape4 wrote: post #40

Now its impossible to email many companies I find. You click on "Contact" and get Twitter, Instagram, Facebook... but not email :(

A few weeks ago I tried to make a complaint to the national mail service, because they decided the pickup point closest to me was about half an hour from my house, rather than the pickup point that was literally around the corner.

They had an online complaint form, but you were only able to use it on workdays between 0900 and 1600.

Re: Everyone should read support emails

#43

Post by superice » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 2:05 PM UTC

This is why we regularly take developers to customers. It is eye-opening to see on-site that your mobile app with tiny but well-designed buttons doesn't work for registering container positions when the user is in a shaky 90 metric tons weighing machine, handling 30 metric ton containers.

We write software for container terminal and other logistical actors, and seeing the software being used by real users is so incredibly important when designing new screens and workflows, it's baffling to me that developers aren't taken on-site more often.

Re: Everyone should read support emails

#44

Post by _red » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 2:08 PM UTC

kbar13 wrote: post #28

AlexTWithBeard wrote: post #24

Where I work dev team also does the L3 support: we have L1 who can change the password, reboot the computer, we have L2, who know the basics of our app and its surroundings, but if an issue is not obvious to them - here we come!

why does l1 even exist

Who says the ability to "reboot the computer" is avail to the user? (ie. remote RDC connection or a locked down retail POS terminal).

Also, the "real purpose" of L1 tech is to categorize and prioritize incoming calls for further L2 / L3 processing. Knowing "who" needs to handle the call next, and its priority, is usually critical to getting real problems resolved timely.

Re: Everyone should read support emails

#45

Post by jansen » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 2:09 PM UTC

We did this at Loom (W12) and it was one of the most powerful things we could have done as a team. Internal comms became much more streamlined as a result and it was usually apparent to everyone what we needed to work on next.

Re: Everyone should read support emails

#46

Post by taf2 » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 2:09 PM UTC

mrhappyunhappy wrote: post #23

taf2 wrote: post #15

I built my whole company around this idea. For years, I was the front line support - IMO, its the best thing you can do to improve not only your product but your approach to life. That and having kids.

How did having kids improve your approach to life? (This is for my own comparisons sake since having a kid also changed my life and how I think)

One thing I always liked to do now is imagine the person who's angry or annoying me is just a 2 or 3 year old. It's much more fun and takes the edge off the situation whatever it might be...

Re: Everyone should read support emails

#47

Post by antidaily » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 2:09 PM UTC

All 3 employees.

Re: Everyone should read support emails

#48

Post by iagovar » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 2:10 PM UTC

kbar13 wrote: post #28

AlexTWithBeard wrote: post #24

Where I work dev team also does the L3 support: we have L1 who can change the password, reboot the computer, we have L2, who know the basics of our app and its surroundings, but if an issue is not obvious to them - here we come!

why does l1 even exist

Because most people have very basic questions, and you don't want to waste dev time because someone don't know the basics of their OS.

Re: Everyone should read support emails

#49

Post by ianamartin » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 2:11 PM UTC

When simple (the internet bank) was first getting started, I was in their public beta. Support was handled by the developers. All the engineers had to do rotations on support.

As an engineer, I think I would hate that being a required part of the job. But also as an engineer who works in the banking/transaction processing industry, the support was damn amazing.

A ton of things about the company went downhill as they grew and especially after they were acquired, but the support turning completely crappy was the worst by far.

Re: Everyone should read support emails

#50

Post by jdorfman » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 2:12 PM UTC

I started my career in technical support and looking back it was one of the greatest learning experiences.

The Support Team knows the product better than anyone in the company which is extremely valuable if/when you get promoted to another position within the company.