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Problem Reporting Template
#51578 04/15/19 02:35 PM
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In another discussion the idea of a problem reporting template to be a locked post at the top of each Forum came up. That discussion has been moved here for further comment.

Originally Posted By: proposed template

PRODUCT:
example, appropriately adjusted for each forum

SUMMARY OF PROBLEM:
A brief statement of the problem


REPRODUCEABILITY
Always. Sometimes, Rarely, Unable, Didn’t try

DETAILED STEPS TO REPRODUCE:
Step by step instructions to reproduce the problem


EXPECTED RESULTS:



ACTUAL RESULTS:


PRODUCT VERSION:
Ie. Notes Version 4.6


CONFIGURATION:
Ie. MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports), MacOS Mojave 10.14.3


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Problem Reporting Template
joemikeb #51579 04/15/19 02:59 PM
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We sure could have used this back in the days when problems were a problem.

Will it be interactive?

Can we start a "Who'll Use It and Who Won't" office pool? (In all fairness, old timers may never notice it; it's new posters who are most likely to see it.)


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Problem Reporting Template
artie505 #51580 04/15/19 04:25 PM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
We sure could have used this back in the days when problems were a problem.

Problems are still a problem and although they are not as frequent, IMHO we too often spend too much time trying to figure out what problem the OP is trying to solve. If the OP followed this form there might be a lot less misunderstanding and running rabbit trails.

Originally Posted By: artie505
Will it be interactive?

That would be nice. Apple accomplishes that with a full blown app installed on the device or an interactive web page, either of which would require a lot of coding and both of which would face substantial implementation obstacles. The ideal implementation would be embed javascript code embedded in ubb-threads, and I don't know what that would take or even if we would be allowed to do that.

Originally Posted By: artie505
Can we start a "Who'll Use It and Who Won't" office pool? (In all fairness, old timers may never notice it; it's new posters who are most likely to see it.)

Even if they see it would they pay any attention to it? That's why I think embedded Javascript would be the best solution. If were to be fully effective, it would be interactive and automatic when starting a new thread and could be tailored to the particular forum. (I would also turn downloads on.)


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Problem Reporting Template
joemikeb #51582 04/16/19 06:46 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Originally Posted By: artie505
Can we start a "Who'll Use It and Who Won't" office pool? (In all fairness, old timers may never notice it; it's new posters who are most likely to see it.)

Even if they see it would they pay any attention to it? That's why I think embedded Javascript would be the best solution. If were to be fully effective, it would be interactive and automatic when starting a new thread and could be tailored to the particular forum. (I would also turn downloads on.)

Agreed! Presenting posters with a fait accompli would be ideal.

Turn downloads on?


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Problem Reporting Template
joemikeb #51586 04/16/19 04:56 PM
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I do a lot of "user interrogation" here, and when I look at a ticket I usually expect

1- a meaningful enough title that the person or group that's responsible can identify it as something they need to be the ones to look at
2- that were you tryin to accomplish?
3- what did you see?
4- what did you do?
5- what did you expect to happen?
6- what really happened?

a quickie put into context:

subject: projector in room 202 not working
body: this morning I was going to show a video from the computer on the projector in 202. the projector was off but when I tried to turn it on using the remote, the projector just beeped and flashed a red light

I rarely need any additional clarifications if the ticket hits all those points. Here anyway, having to track down the reporter and get more answers delays our getting repairs done and leads to additional users being inconvenienced. So I'm always grateful when a ticket contains all the information I need to immediately resolve the problem.

The most important part of that is getting users to report the last two points, what did they expect and what really happened. Users often just answer one or two of those questions, with vague reports like "can't play a video in the library". ("hoboy, where do we start....") A lot of the time they do well and stumble on the last two, instead speculating about what's wrong, and we get reports like "remote in room 202 needs new batteries". Regardless, in my book I always want to know "what did you expect?" because ultimately, #5 is the most important information in the ticket. Users may speculate wildly about what they think is wrong, or give you all sorts of irrelevant information and all the things they tried to fix the problem, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter how much you've done or how much you've fixed, if the user is still having the problem that caused them to put in the ticket in the first place. Frequently we'l get tickets where most of the details they provide are white noise - observations that are unrelated to the problem, things they did to try to resolve the issue that had no chance of helping, and it comes down to #5 being outright wrong. "there's nothing wrong with the phone in that room, you can't dial an outside number from it"

maybe a little OT but hopefully a little helpful nevertheless





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