Getting a technical problem resolved can be a frustrating and time-consuming process, for both the end user who is needing help, and for the support personnel trying to provide assistance. But there are a few basic steps that the end user can take to help streamline the process, resulting in a better experience for all concerned.
Find out if what you are experiencing is a known problem. If you are having trouble accessing a service, check the relevant status page to find out if the administrators are already aware of the issue and working on it. Some service providers will have a status website to provide this information, others will provide notifications via mailing lists. (Here at UT, status updates for ITS services are provided at http://www.utexas.edu/its/alerts/.) If the administrators are already aware of the problem and are working on it, further notifications that “Server X” is down don’t really help. But if there is no indication that the administrators are aware of the issue, then certainly let them know of the problem through the relevant channels. If you are encountering a problem with software, take the time to check the relevant documentation and/or consult a search engine to find out if you are dealing with a known bug. In the process of doing so, you might encounter information about workarounds or bug fixes. Google really is your friend here. If you are running into a problem, odds are that someone else has as well.
At the risk of sounding repetitious, but it is an important point, read the relevant documentation. Frequently, there will be troubleshooting guides available that will help you solve many simple, commonly-encountered issues. This frees up support resources to work on issues that aren’t documented.
When reporting an issue, be specific. Saying “I can’t get to Server X” or “E-mail isn’t working” isn’t enough information for troubleshooting. What is the actual text of the error messages that you getting? What exactly were you trying to do when the problem occurred? What client software and version are you using? What OS version are you using? When did you first notice the problem? When did it last work correctly? Have you made any changes on your end just before the problem cropped up, such as installing a piece of software or changing your configuration? If you are requesting a restore from backup, when was the missing data last known to be present? Being vague in your request for assistance only results in lengthening the time that will have to be spent subsequently gathering the needed information.
Communicate. If the support staff request further information, please respond. If they ask you to try something, follow-up with information about whether it worked or not. (If the suggested fix DID work, the support staff need to know so that they can close out your support ticket.) Otherwise, your support ticket will languish in the queue while support staff work on other issues.
Recognize that there are limits to what your support staff can do. For example, if you are encountering a bug in your software for which the developer has not issued a patch, the best that can generally be hoped for is a workaround. As another example, I am frequently asked to do mailbox restores so that a user can recover a missing crucial message, but what users tend to fail to grasp is that I cannot actually see the contents of the backups. You need to tell me when the missing data was last present so that I can select the appropriate backup. (This is not the case for all backup solutions, but, alas, it is the case for the one we are using.) We are not deities. We do not have access to the source code of Windows. We do not have a magical “fix all my problems” button. But we will do what we can.