inputs/outputs » help desk http://inputsoutputs.com how technology makes sense of users (and other stories) Sat, 03 Jul 2010 15:56:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 The 20 minute rule http://inputsoutputs.com/2008/09/25/the-20-minute-rule/ http://inputsoutputs.com/2008/09/25/the-20-minute-rule/#comments Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:27:15 +0000 zia http://inputsoutputs.com/?p=70 Here’s my proposal:

For all production support which involves an interaction between consultant and user, excluding a classroom setting, there should be a 20 minute rule between the question and the answer.  Basically, the user should have:

  1. 20 minutes to figure out a solution on their own
  2. The ability to close their own ticket
  3. Just a tiny bit of patience

For instance, if I get a request for some help on SAP, I’ll wait 20 minutes before calling them back.  I couldn’t confidently give a statistic of how many times the ticket will be closed when I check again after 20 minutes, but I’m guessing it could save some painful phone/email/research time.  Why 20 minutes?  It’s enough time for the user to use a learn-by-doing approach to solve their own problem without perceiving the helpdesk as unresponsive.

Often times, users do a knee-jerkreaction when they encounter an error.  We tell the user what to click without attaching meaning to the clicking.  (Why would we?  That’s what training is for.)  Then, when the error returns, they call us back.  More time, more money.

Question, for another post:  Is classroom training effective?  For who?

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