"Its broken"

Many times I’ve received a report that a specific system or integration is broken, only to go investigate and realize that nothing is actually wrong.  Instead the root cause is a knowledge gap; the person reporting the problem doesn’t understand enough about how the system works so assumes it’s broken.  This is a common challenge that takes up a lot of time, and fortunately one that can be mitigated quite easily.

Ensure new hires get basic training

As new team members join up they have a lot on their plate.  They have a new team to meet, processes to learn and a job to do.  Part of their onboarding, however, should include a basic outline of how the systems they use are intended to work.  This basic knowledge will help reduce the risk they report something that turns out to be nothing.  

Exposing new hires to systems will also begin building a partnership with them as early as possible. This will lay the groundwork for a positive relationship as they learn about you almost immediately. Having more touch points throughout a relationship will make it easier for them to reach out for help, and for you to help them.

Document everything (well, a lot)

Documentation is your protection against future questions and problems.  You certainly don’t have to document everything, but taking time to write down and share out documentation on common challenges or basic information about your systems will help prevent users from reporting non-issues.  Training users to go check documentation before they come to you will also help deflect tickets and up-skill your team. Frequently when someone comes to me for help the first thing I ask (assuming it’s not an emergency) is “What documentation did you check?”. This is both a (not so) subtle reminder that they should do that, but also clues me into what they’ve already tried.

Build solid partnerships

Getting to know, and understand, your end users is always a good idea.  Strong partnerships make it easier for users to approach you with challenges or questions, and ensure they know who to go to for help.  When an end user doesn’t have, or doesn’t feel like they have, a strong partnerships they’re much more likely to escalate issues or not report them.  This can easily be mitigated by taking the time to get to know your end users.

While a large part of systems is working on tech, it is important to remember the importance of partnerships.  The strength of these partnerships will help us get through challenging situations and can be a huge help in bridging knowledge gaps.