Table of Contents

Overview

Step 1: Understanding what's happening

Step 2: Isolating and diagnosing the issue

Step 3: Finding and implementing a fix

Step 4: Celebrate!

Overview

In customer support, troubleshooting requires both technical knowledge about the platform and the ability to communicate with the customer to fully understanding the situation. "Troubleshooting in support is 50% human fixes and 50% machine fixes". (Read the Art of Troubleshooting) 

• Understanding what’s happening
• Isolating and diagnosing the issue
• Finding and implementing a fix
• Celebrate!

Keep in mind: You should only have one issue documented per ticket, if there are multiple bugs address them one at a time.

Step 1: Understanding what's happening

When troubleshooting an issue we must first gather information and context to figure out what the customer is trying to accomplish. This means gathering information by asking good questions and being able to reproduce the issue yourself. 

Asking good questions

We ask our customers questions so we can get the full picture of what is happening and identify the true source of the issue. Try questions like these...

• What happens when you click x, then y?
• What are you trying to accomplish?
• Can you send me a screenshot of what you see on that screen?

Reproducing the issue

Once you understand what is going on it's time to reproduce the issue for yourself. It is also very important to verify that this is in fact a bug and not an intended behavior of the platform. That will change how you help the customer later in the conversation. 

Step 2: Isolating and diagnosing the issue

Now that you understand what is going on try to removing complexity by simplifying the problem as much as possible, try to get back to a known functioning state. Just like in science we need to change one factor at a time. 

"Understanding what to try first is another skill, and this depends on balancing the effort of a customer trying the next step (more on that later) and the likelihood of it fixing the problem. Trying it from a different computer might be guaranteed to resolve the issue — but it’s kind of a big hassle. Is there something else to try that can get the same results? To find the best option, consider the diagnostic test in terms of how easy it is to run and how likely it is to help diagnose the issue (ensuring it’s also a safe and systematic step).

But you also only want to change one thing at a time; this narrows down the scope of what could be wrong. If you change multiple things at a time and fix the problem, you don’t know which of your tests resolved the issue and you’re back to square one." (Read the Art of Troubleshooting) 

• Browser & Computer Differences:
  • Log out and log back into the Admin
  • What browser are they using? See if switching to a new browser can solve the issue or browse anonymously.
  • Have they ever deleted their browser cookies? Ask them to clear their cookies.
  • Do they have a lot of browser extensions? See if they will remove all unused extensions and delete new extensions.
  • Try on a different computer

• Phone & App Difference:
  • Logout, close the app, and log back in.
  • Delete the app and redownload

• • What operating system are they using? Android or iOS
  • What type of phone are they using? iPhone 9, iPhone 10, Samsung Galaxy, Galaxy Note, etc
  • What software version is their phone using and is there a new version they can use? As of 1/9/21 Apple's latest version is iOS 14.3
  • What version of the app are they using and is there a new version they can release? As of 1/9/21 MilkCrate's latest version is v6.7.1

• Content or User Complexity
  
  • Is the content only available to a specific group of users? Try removing that segment just to make sure it works
  • Do they have different credentials? Different segments, teams, and user groups might make some content disappear or appear. 

Step 3: Finding a Fix or Workaround

It is now time to come up with some solutions! This might look like

• A workaround that accomplishes the same task in a different way
• Updating settings or changing a setup without fixing a bug in the code
• Involving engineering to make an update to the software itself

How to close the ticket if it's not a bug

If you are able to solve the customer's needs and it is not a true 'bug' we want to make sure future customers do not have the same confusion. Make sure to change the ticket's category from 'Product Bug' to 'General Inquiry' and close it. AFTER you have closed your current ticket, create a new ticket with the category 'Help Article'. 

See if the customer wants this to be a feature request (if so change the ticket's category to "Platform Idea" and follow the platform procedures.

How to close the ticket if it's a bug

If you have found a temporary workaround for the customer, great! Either way, if there is an issue in the platform it needs to be properly passed on to our development team with as much information as possible. AFTER you have closed your ticket head over to Airtables and start searching for the issue. 

First, check if the request already exists

Search Airtables to see if the task has already been created for our development team to review. Search by keywords, feature, or check the upcoming sprints. If the request already exists please be sure to...

1. Add any clarifying notes to the "Description" section  (information captured during the diagnosis process like phone type, operating system etc)
2. Add any screenshots created by yourself or the customer 
3. Add the customer's name to the "Clients Impacted" section 
4. Add a comment tagging both the head developer and product manager
5. Add your name to the 'Who filed the task' section
   
   

If it doesn't exist then create a new entry for our developers

You will have to create a new entry from scratch, be sure to include...

1. Task Name: Make sure it is as clear as possible and to the point, an developer should know what it means by just reading it.
2. Task Description: Add as much (if not the whole entire conversation to the description section) it is especially important to note if you were able to reproduce the issue, or what phone type it happens for, etc, etc)
3. Task Type
4. Location
5. Task Priority
   1. Low- It's not a big deal, merely cosmetic
   2. Med- Something small is missing...it would be nice if...
   3. High - It impacts the way data is stored in our system or the user experience
   4.  Critical - It impacts the way data is stored and it's being used heavily.  This means it's... Not working for more than 25% of active users (For example a random issue affecting 10 of the 100 customer users would not be considered critical) AND It is part of a core feature: Login, Registration, Event Registration, Event Checkin, Business Checkin, Action Completion, Comments, Chat, Admin Charts, Admin Save/Edit on Users, Teams Segments, Actions, Events, Surveys, and Places. 
6. Clients Interested: Please add the customer's company name
7. Stage: Mark as 'Needs Dev Review'
8. Who filed the task: Add your full name and the customer name if available
9. Sprint: You may tag the next upcoming sprint (that has not yet started)
10. Theme/Feature: Add only one or two max
11. Task Impact: 
    1. Value of 1 - The task is associated with a primary feature and there is no workaround
    2. Value of 2 - The task is associated with a primary feature but there is a workaround that can be suggested to customers
    3. Value of 3 - The task is associated with a secondary feature/function and there is no workaround
    4. Value of 4 - The task is associated with a secondary feature/function but there is a workaround that can be suggested to customers
12. Visual Examples: Provide as many as possible and be sure to take a screenshot of the whole entire screen including the URL and browser type. Label each image and video.
13. Add a comment tagging both the head developer and product manager
    
    

Step 4: Celebrate!

Thank the customer for their help in documenting the issue! If your trouble shooting efforts resulted in just helping the customer understand how the platform works be sure to send them over some additional help articles to review as well.