Messages

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Living Room / Re: Windows 8 is just a Service/crapware pack for Windows 7

« on: April 03, 2012, 02:06 AM »

I kind of agree with a lot of the opinions being offered here... but it's a real shame. I don't like the tile UI that much, and I certainly don't like the weirdness of the "start menu"- but I'm glad to see Microsoft innovating/trying something different- just like with Windows Phone (which also looks to be a flop) they're actually standing out from the rest of the crowd and doing something unusual with their OS.

I initially struggled with the Ribbon (and there's a great post here http://blogs.msdn.co...y-of-the-ribbon.aspx about it) - but there's two reasons why I came to settle down with it- use and acceptance that I'm not all IT users. You've got to use it day-in, day-out in order to BREAK the habit of the old system- and that's the main reason people become efficient with desktop/office OS (come on, how many of us really associate scissors with moving text on a written page- an appalling visual metaphor!). And I also realised I'm a power user, and I'm happy with shortcut keys and such like therefore changes in UI probably aren't aimed at me- they're aimed at people who haven't used computers for years, or are young and developing their skills.

Now Windows 8 offers a similarly scary set of changes - some of which are double-edged swords (new ui: new learning curve, but a change to make tablet PC's work like desktops; new marketplace: a secure way to get apps to people (and to get people to pay for them- great for donation coders, surely!), but with Microsoft vetting)- but I'm excited about change!

2

Living Room / Re: What's your approach to this help desk procedure issue?

« on: May 06, 2011, 03:22 PM »

I actually work on a Helpdesk, and have been in the process of implementing a new software system to manage our support calls (we're using a hosted SAAS service of which there are plenty out there- including some great free/open source ones) so hopefully my experiences might be of use! (plus it's my first post  )
A ticketing system is really useful for tracking issues and making sure they don't disappear off of someone's radar- plus you can spot patterns as they occur, so you know when there's something "bigger going on" and responsibility can be shared easier (rather than everyone just forwarding emails around).
In terms of information capture-  Email "scraping" is great for saving time- but it's actually a lot of hard work to process emails to create tickets and prevent duplication- nothing's worse than creating a new ticket when it's actually a follow up. The solution we use for our Helpdesk actually uses a third-party piece of software called Email2Db (www.email2db.com) which adds a bit of intelligence to the puzzle, but it's still not perfect (largely because email and it's users aren't perfect either!).
I think forms are the BEST way as it gives you a chance, without too much effort, to ask important questions - I can't begin to count the number of times where if one extra bit of information was added to an email it would save hours- but because the person calling or emailing isn't asked that *particular* question, they never think about it. That said, I find people are unkeen to fill in forms (based on my experience at least) - and you either end up compromising on required bits of information to make sure that people use it. What we tend to say is that if you fill your form in better, we respond quicker (and it's true- as we know who best to give the call to).
Finally, there's no reason not to do a bit of everything- that way people who work mostly with email and are comfortable with email can log calls that, people who prefer a bit of hand holding and the personal touch can call in, and the technical guys who understand the benefits of providing information will use a web form!
Hope that helps!