Sanchez / Sleeth Technical Support Essentials

Advice to Succeed in Technical Support
1. ed
ISBN: 978-1-4302-2548-5
Verlag: Apress
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 260 Seiten

Technical Support Essentials is a book about the many facets of technical support. It attempts to provide a wide array of topics to serve as points of improvement, discussion, or simply topics that you might want to learn. The topics range from good work habits to the way technical support groups establish their own style of work. This book applies theories, models, and concepts synthesized from existing research in other fields-such as management, economics, leadership, and psychology-and connects them to technical support. The goal is to build on the work of others and allow their success to evolve the profession. The book's broad perspective looks at proven practices, legal issues, dealing with customers, utilizing resources, and an array of other topics of interest to tech support professionals.

Andrew Sanchez is a senior principal support engineer at CA, Inc. He started his technical support career in the early 1990s with different companies and, and during his 10+ years of experience he has worked issues, visited clients on escalations, trained and mentored colleagues in the United States and abroad, and seen products and support trends come and go. His invaluable experience is presented to you in a concise and easy-to-read format in Technical Support: 101 Pieces of Advice to Succeed in Technical Support. Novice as well as experienced technical support staff will find this book's information useful when dealing with colleagues, management, and clients.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sanchez, Andrew

Sleeth, Karen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Title Page;1
2;Copyright Page;2
3;Contents at a Glance;4
4;Table of Contents;5
5;About the Author;11
6;Acknowledgments;12
7;Preface;14
8;Introduction;16
9;PART 1 Advice for Dealing with Yourself and Your Work;18
10;CHAPTER 1 Your Work Ethic;19
10.1;The Value of Technical Support Work;20
10.2;A Dynamic Career: Moving Up Laterally,and Even Down When Necessary;21
10.3;Keep Your Job;23
10.4;Yeah, It’s a Job, But Make It More;25
10.5;Look Out for Your Company;26
10.6;Tell It Like It Is;28
10.7;You Either Have It or You Don’t—Troubleshooting;30
10.8;Leave the Work Where It Belongs;31
10.9;Make a Difference in Every Call;33
10.10;Success is Up to You;34
10.11;Take the Initiative;36
10.12;Specialize in Something;37
11;CHAPTER 2 Intricacies of the Field;40
11.1;The Status of the Profession;41
11.2;The Curse of the One-Eyed Man;42
11.3;The Paradox of the Solo-Solver;44
11.4;Technical/Mechanical Support Style Theory;45
11.5;The Avit Phenomenon;47
11.6;Support Demand Function;48
11.7;The Multidisciplinary Field;50
11.8;The Vernacular of the Profession;52
11.9;The Expert Proletariat;53
11.10;One Last Note About Science;55
12;CHAPTER 3 Your Work Practices;58
12.1;Write Down Anything New Immediately After You Learn It;59
12.2;The Above-Average Performer;60
12.3;The Resource Collector;62
12.4;Work Smarter, Not Harder;64
12.5;Following the Watson Way;66
12.6;Don’t Be Afraid of the Tough Issues;67
12.7;Find Your Zebra;69
12.8;The Knowledge Seeker;70
12.9;Reinventing the Wheel;72
12.10;The Technology Contributor;74
12.11;Recognizing Opportunities;75
12.12;The Approachable Expert;77
13;PART 2 Working with Others;80
14;CHAPTER 4 The Technical Support Group;81
14.1;Group or Team: Which Is It?;82
14.2;Informal Groups;83
14.3;What’s So Good About Groups Anyway?;85
14.4;Groups: What’s In It for the Individual?;87
14.5;The Vision of a Group;89
14.6;Group Communication;91
14.7;The Involved Group;93
14.8;The Open Group;95
14.9;The Group Crisis;97
14.10;The Constructive Group;99
14.11;Support Group Development Cycle;101
14.12;The Successful Group: An Inventory;103
14.12.1;Cohesiveness;103
14.12.2;Collaboration;104
14.12.3;Sympathy;105
14.12.3.1;Total Value = 3 — The Dysfunctional Group;106
14.12.3.2;Total Value = 4–5 — The Struggling Group;106
14.12.3.3;Total Value = 6 — The Idiosyncratic Group;106
14.12.3.4;Total Value = 7–8 — The Healthy Group;106
14.12.3.5;Total Value = 9 — The Communal Group;106
15;CHAPTER 5 The Technical Support Colleague;108
15.1;Work on Trust;109
15.2;Respect Among Colleagues;110
15.3;Coworker Solidarity;112
15.4;Teach Them How to Fish;114
15.5;Personal Conflict;116
15.6;The Power of Criticism;118
15.7;Comforting the Demoralized Colleague;120
15.8;Understanding Your Colleagues’ Behaviors;121
15.9;The Customer Within;123
15.10;The High Performer Vs. the High Producer;125
15.11;The Self-Sustaining Colleagues;127
15.12;Dealing with the Impossible Coworker;128
16;CHAPTER 6 Leadership in Support;131
16.1;What Is a Leader?;132
16.2;The Leader: Made or Born?;133
16.3;The Major Leadership Models;135
16.4;The Pragmatic Leader;137
16.5;The Linda Effect;138
16.6;Characteristics of a Support Leader;140
16.7;Leadership Development;142
16.8;The Situational Support Leader;144
16.9;Leading by Involving Others;146
16.10;Cultivating Leaders Within the Support Group;148
17;PART 3 The Support Organization;150
18;CHAPTER 7 Support Roles and Behaviors;151
18.1;Your Excess Value;151
18.2;The Contributor Role in Regard to Management;153
18.3;The Role of the Support Manager;155
18.4;The Nature of Management;157
18.5;Systems Theory in Support;159
18.6;Managing Behaviors;161
18.7;The Davila Cycle;162
18.8;The Price of Recognition;164
18.9;The Management Support Structure;165
18.10;The Fallible Manager;167
19;CHAPTER 8 Structures and Tiers;170
19.1;The Structure Dilemma;171
19.2;The Tiered Approach;172
19.3;Technology vs. Skill;174
19.4;The Service-Oriented Structure;176
19.5;The Meaningful Support Structure;177
19.6;The Reactive/Proactive Tiered Approach;179
19.7;The Performance-Driven Structure;181
19.8;Common Mistakes from the Upper Tiers;183
19.9;Wiping Off the Tiers: The Flat Structure;185
19.10;The Hybrid Support Structure;186
20;CHAPTER 9 Process and Practice;190
20.1;What’s a Process?;191
20.2;Discretionary Process Principle;193
20.3;The Reasons Behind Process Changes;194
20.4;The Support Practice: A Definition;196
20.5;Group Process Evolution;198
20.6;Process and Maturity;200
20.7;Practice and Incompetence;202
20.8;The Process Map: Friend or Foe?;204
20.9;Problem Solving: A Waste of Time;206
21;PART 4 Working with Customers;208
22;CHAPTER 10 Customer Service;209
22.1;Customer Service: A Dimensional Explanation;210
22.2;Customer Reality;212
22.3;The Customer’s Iceberg;214
22.3.1;Find the Affliction;215
22.3.2;Real Wants;216
22.3.3;Real Needs;216
22.4;All About the Behaviors;216
22.5;The Open Mind Approach;219
22.6;Problematic Interactions and Coping Strategies;221
22.6.1;Rational-Emotive Therapy;223
22.6.2;Systematic Desensitization Therapy;223
22.6.3;Cognitive Character Replacement;224
22.6.4;Mindful Agreement Technique;224
22.7;Customer Service: The Hierarchical Approach;224
22.7.1;Meet the Customer’s Needs;225
22.7.2;Address the Customer’s Requirements;225
22.7.3;Accommodate the Customer’s Requests;226
22.7.4;Respect the Customer’s Wishes;226
22.7.5;Consider the Customer’s Suggestions;226
22.7.6;Reshape the Customer’s Unrealistic Demands;227
22.8;The People Business;228
22.9;Talk Is Not Cheap;229
22.9.1;Inexperience;230
22.9.2;Buying Time;230
22.9.3;Inefficient Processes;231
23;CHAPTER 11 Communications;232
23.1;At the Core of Our Work;233
23.2;Colleague Communication: It’s All About Us;235
23.2.1;Talk in Terms of “Us”;236
23.2.2;Be Genuine in Small Talk;236
23.2.3;Speak a Common Language;236
23.3;Communication Challenges with Language Accent;237
23.4;Get to the Point: Cutting the Useless Chatter;239
23.5;Situational Communication;241
23.5.1;Email;242
23.5.2;Online Chat;242
23.5.3;Online Forums;243
23.5.4;Phone Support;243
23.6;When All Else Fails;244
23.7;Spinning the No;246
24;CHAPTER 12 Perspectives;249
24.1;What the Future Holds;250
24.2;The Renaissance Professional;251
24.3;The Preventive Support Model;253
24.4;No More Training Down the Drain;254
24.5;The Support Contractor;256
24.6;Opportunities in Global Labor Dynamics;257
24.7;The Need for Uniformity;259
24.8;Going Customerless;261
24.9;The Extra Mile;262
24.10;Where to Now?;264
25;Index;266