For some support may not be a factor in their software purchase decision. For others, it counts as a pivotal decision.

Tech Support as a Core Competency

Today I’ll analyze the effects that the implementation of a successful Web 2.0 Technical Support strategy has on a corporation. As MadCap CEO Anthony Olivier stated last year, tech support wasn’t something they took lightly.

Update: I just found out Thursday that MadCap Software has won the ASP Online Support awards.

Continuing my previous Web 2.0 Tech Support case study, let’s revisit our initial external Web 2.0 participation of MadCap Software’s Technical Support and analyze the effects of their participation within the blogosphere and user groups. 

Web 2.0 Beyond The Firewall: Winning Their Hearts & Minds

I’ve already blogged about MadCap’s external Web 2.0 Tech Support efforts. It’s a strategy that has worked well for MadCap. If business can be described as warfare, almost from the very beginning there was an asymmetric war going on between Adobe and MadCap for the Technical Communication / Help Authoring Tool space.

In comparison I’ve witnessed a hardcore Product Manager / Evangelist approach to the Rich Internet Applications market in researching my Silverlight vs Flex analysis series. While that’s to be expected by career marketing staff, Tech Support Web 2.0 usage beyond the firewall is a more guerilla tactic. 

Although the battle is far from over, in most online user accounts MadCap has been declared the victor currently as far as Tech Support goes. For some users, that’s a very important part of the buying decision.

That would be the ‘winning hearts and minds’ of asymmetric warfare. This gives another example of a classic military tactical description / acronym: The OODA Loop.

From Wikipedia: It has become an important concept in both business and military strategy. According to John Boyd, decision-making occurs in a cycle of observe-orient-decide-act. [OODA]

…Boyd theorized that large organizations such as corporations, governments, or militaries possessed a hierarchy of OODA loops at tactical, grand-tactical (operational art), and strategic levels.

In addition, he stated that most effective organizations have a highly decentralized chain of command that utilizes objective-driven orders, or directive control, rather than method-driven orders in order to harness the mental capacity and creative abilities of individual commanders at each level. He argued that such a structure would create a flexible “organic whole” that would be quicker to adapt to rapidly changing situations.

An entity (either an individual or an organization) that can process this cycle quickly, observing and reacting to unfolding events more rapidly than an opponent, can thereby “get inside” the opponent’s decision cycle and gain a military or business advantage.

MadCap’s gotten inside Adobe’s OODA loop regarding their customer service and if it’s a metric measured by comments from users, there is a large gap between them.

No Groupthink Allowed

In this instance, by empowering their internal staff to participate in Web 2.0 conversations throughout the internet, I observed the MadCap TS staff multiply their effectiveness.

This is because each individual acts quickly and without undue delay for review from the hierarchy. Looking again at the ‘force multiplier’ aspect from Wikipedia:

Force multiplication through technology – A small force is multiplied when a small number of units are made as effective as a much larger one.

Swarm Philosophy

Honeybees don’t ask for permission to pollinate flowers and return to the hive, they just do it. Same with what I previously blogged about MadCap’s Web 2.0 strategy.

From Wikipedia about the OODA Loop:

…Since the OODA Loop was designed to describe a single decision maker, the situation is usually much worse than shown as most business and technical decisions have a team of people observing and orienting, each bringing their own cultural traditions, genetics, experience and other information.

It is no wonder that it is here that decisions often get stuck and the OODA Loop is reduced to the stuttering sound of “OO-OO-OO” [2] 

OO-OO-OO – Adobe’s Tech Support Loop

In 2007 Adobe made two grave errors in the Technical Communication space. First, they canned the entire RoboHelp support team located in San Diego. Second, they were not quick enough to regain key support staff competency within the RoboHelp community.

MadCap quickly capitalized on this by hiring the brain trust of Adobe’s San Diego-based Tech Support and formulating a positive beyond the firewall Web 2.0 offensive. This was a strategic coup for Anthony Olivier. Yet another timely decision last year in hiring Var Galpchian after Adobe made her a free agent.

From Does Tech Support Count? Can Good Service Sell in the 21st Century? posted here in 2007:

The question is, will this create a better user experience, and therefore, a better product?

MadCap’s CEO thinks so: “We’ve made it our mission to deliver the ultimate customer experience through next-generation content solutions and a locally based, highly experienced support team that understands our users’ needs. It is a great honor to be recognized as a 2007 AeA High Tech Award finalist for our success in delivering on that goal,” said Anthony Olivier, MadCap CEO.

Although eHelp and Macromedia were both prior web support winners, Adobe is absent from this year’s 2008 ASP Online awards. Microsoft happens to be a four time winner, within the organization’s ‘Hall of Fame’. And now MadCap brings home its first ASP Online award.

With just a few of Adobe TCS staff (and not one Tech Support staffer) posting on external blogs to assist users it doesn’t seem as if the same level of trust exists within Adobe’s Technical Support staff as it does with MadCap’s Technical Support staff.

Related Articles:

• Does Tech Support Count? Can Good Service Sell in the 21st Century?
• Web 2.0 Tech Support: Part 3
• Web 2.0 Tech Support Usage On HATT Re: flare evaluation
• MadCap Software’s New Digs | More Adobe Layoffs
• Web 2.0 Tech Support (Part 1)
• Adobe and MadCap’s Cold War: Who’s the Superpower Today?
• Another Satisfied Adobe Customer…
• Company blogging 101

Continuing my previous Web 2.0 Tech Support case study, let’s look again at the example of MadCap Software’s Technical Support. It’s not only the outbound use of Web 2.0, the internal use of Web 2.0 within MadCap is prevalent and highly structured.

Of course MadCap has been able to use this capability as a force multiplier regarding support staffing. I started this discussion last year with my blog post Does Tech Support Count? Can Good Service Sell in the 21st Century? 

One of my commenters stated:

…I just don’t get why companies think that offering crappy, expensive support is a business model that will sustain customer relationships. Saving a few pennies in support will cost big bucks down the road.

But there are exceptions. Companies like Spectrum Brands (Remington shavers), Newegg, MadCap, and Versatrans – just to name a few – have outstanding support and are truly support leaders in their respective industries.

On top of that, they make great products or follow through with assistance or replacements every single time. Those companies have a bright future.

Update: Sarah O’Keefe has an excellent white paper titled Friend or Foe? Web 2.0 in Technical Communication which has a lot of overlap with my initial Tech Support / Good Service article last year. My analysis was initially inspired by Sarah’s post and her white paper is an excellent resource. Great minds think alike, Sarah.

Web 2.0 Technical Support Overview

One of my former business partners once told me that the key to any type of web commerce was giving people what they need within three clicks of their initial portal or entry point.

This kind of logical organized thinking simply reeks of competency…

Update: I just found out Thursday that MadCap Software has won the ASP Online Support awards.

Web 2.0 Tech Support: PHP-based Forums

First, PHP works quickly and is easy to search. There are ‘user forums’ out there which are awful to find information within their siloed content.

MadCap’s isn’t like that. The user community for MadCap is vocal, and I’ve said before, provides a rabid fan base for the products. These power users are the core around the community, and are global.

By giving the user a quick path to browse as a guest versus becoming involved, it eases the usability of the forums. It’s been my experience that the response level has been less than 24 hours for answers to be posted. And that’s on a weekend.

Additionally, the MadCap Tech Support staff lurk on those forums like tiger sharks around a school of bluefin tuna. If the MVPs can’t answer something well enough or fast enough there will inevitably be a request by one of the Tech Support staffers to examine the trouble closer.

By the way, the MadCap TS staff obviously enjoy including the users in the fun. Not many companies allow posting a well planned April Fools Day joke on a corporate website like this:

MadCap Ping Pong Released!

Madcap Software is proud to announce the Upcoming release of Madcap Ping Pong, With Madcap Ping Pong, your days of losing at Ping Pong are over.

The first product to provide help authors with instantaneous, controllable back spin.

This software will be the first product to have its own XML based Deflection Editor. Madcap Ping Pong skips right over the net other HATs get caught in.

Knowledge Base: Top choice for Do It Yourself’ers

Most release bugs or top issues will be found here first. Additionally, the KB uses MadCap’s Feedback server, allowing Web 2.0 interaction with their community. That means that all users can comment on procedures, just like our comments within blogs.

Note that Adobe’s LiveDocs interface also has the ‘comment’ feature, however I don’t believe it works in the same crisp transparent method as MadCap’s Feedback Server.

Online Help for all products

Documentation for all products is easily found two clicks from the top site level. Aside from the typical single user assistance, this is great for their reseller tech support and internal corporate IT departments who operate as first level tech support.

There have been complaints about the Adobe Online Help used to support… their Online Help Authoring Tool. WritersUA had a review that mentioned this also.

You might ask: Is it fair to critique RoboHelp’s online help? I mean, who uses online help anyway? Oh, wait. This is a help authoring tool. We all hope that our users use our help.

Shouldn’t RoboHelp set a very high standard for help development? And shouldn’t it demonstrate the best practices that are well-established in the help industry that it has dominated for so long?

Yes, of course it should.

Embarrassing.

That’s not the case here. Entries are meticulous. Well structured styles and css usage. In fact, a beginning technical writer could find several excellent structure and style suggestions to review here as well.

Again, with MadCap’s internal online help using the same Feedback server as the KB, Web 2.0 blog-post style interaction with the public in the forms of comments, etc.

System Requirements / Install Checklist

Install Checklists are great for internal IT departments evaluating a product’s ease of use or User Experience reviewers. System requirements also work for IT departments configuring corporate Documentation workstations.

Both of these categories avoid unnecessary tech support calls. This call avoidance works into real dollars saved.

Software Patches

Here’s a top level choice with dropdown for product choices. A lot of regular users can simply download the latest version and try to duplicate their problem prior to contacting

Additionally, this makes it easier for Forums responders to hyperlink directly to the patch someone may need.

eLearning Recorded Demos

Self explanatory, helps those who normally read help files and aren’t clingy technophobes. Hey, given enough stress about a deadline, that includes me as well.

Those of us who are clingy technophobes – well, you might have to pay for the support to be reassured in person. But… the person will be a San Diego-based HAT industry veteran.

Web 2.0 Support Feedback

Self explanatory, but important. Feedback is a direct view into the community fishbowl. Top level feedback also serves an important role because anyone in the executive team can tap into the pulse of the company fairly quickly. At some corporations this is overlooked, however I’m well aware that transparency at MadCap is like Blue Sky Software was – feedback is a fishbowl.

From my conversations with Var Galpchian, MadCap’s TS Director, if someone’s cheesed off she wants to know about it. And then she wants to find a solution. Today.

Web 2.0 Product Manager Blogs

In response to questions from clients, I was looking into Company blogging last year. MadCap Product Managers Mike Hamilton and Sharon Burton even have direct blog links on the corporate technical support site.

I’m glad to see that MadCap has stepped up to the plate. Adobe and Microsoft have encouraged corporate blogging for years. As Mike Hamilton’s blog states, on the road he and his team work to bring users into the fun. Check his article about Ping Pong Palooza:

In keeping with that interest, and our somewhat irreverent ways, we have commandeered a “meeting room” in the hotel Monday night and we have already arranged to get a ping pong table delivered and set up. You can watch the MadCap staff battle each other (while you drink our beer and soda) or if you are a brave soul you can challenge one of the MadCap staff to a game.

Are there other examples of truly excellent Web 2.0 integration within Technical Support? I’d like to examine them, as well as Rich Internet Application integration. Let me know.

Related Articles:

• Does Tech Support Count? Can Good Service Sell in the 21st Century?
• Company blogging 101
• Web 2.0 Tech Support
• Web 2.0 Tech Support Usage On HATT
• Adobe and MadCap’s Cold War: Who’s the Superpower Today?
• Another Satisfied Adobe Customer…

While I’ve been working feverishly these past two months on my NorCal project, Paul Pehrson talks about MadCap’s Blaze beta on his blog Technically Speaking » Early Review: MadCap Blaze. He specifically mentions MadCap’s new collaborative workflow tool:

If your reviewers don’t have Blaze or Flare installed, MadCap is introducing a new product called X-Edit Express — a free tool your reviewers can use to review, make suggestions and light edits, and submit back to you. All my SMEs can install X-Edit Express, and I can use Blaze/Flare to submit the file to them for editing.

They open it in X-Edit Express, do their review, and click Save. The file will show up again for me as being reviewed. I can open it to see what changes/annocations they made.

X-Edit Express isn’t available for review yet, but I’ll give you my comments on that one once I’ve had a chance to evaluate the program.

Replacement for Microsoft Word or…?

I can see Blaze being useful and complementary to Word however X-Edit pushes the envelope. Sharon has a great couple of workflow diagrams on her blogpost: Beta, beta, everywhere which show where it belongs in the workflow.

In my December 2007 MadCap corporate headquarters visit and subsequent interview of Mike Hamilton we talked about workflow and specifically about Word.

I think one of the tougher questions I asked him was whether or not it was an intent of MadCap Software to compete with Word. In my podcast program we find the relevant segment within the Hamilton podcast:

27:00 (minutes through podcast)
Mike answers the question about Word competing with Flare or Blaze. Since the MadCap –products are a complete workflow, does it compete with Word?

28:15
Getting granular about Word vs. Flare in typical generic user usage – where the breakpoint comes in.

30:15
Strategy and policy for supporting new Microsoft releases. Mike includes Internet Explorer web browser, Word, and operating system support in his answer.

Briefly, Mike answered that MadCap was not looking to create a Word replacement and that MadCap intended to work with Microsoft products as a valued Microsoft partner. My opinion is that… X-Edit was designed with a specific (ahem) industry problem in mind…

Hey SME, Don’t touch that template!

IMO, X-Edit fits well in preserving a doc template so it can’t be horked down by fatfingering.

With Sharon’s website showing the template form of X-edit and Mike’s previous statement I figure that either Word or X-Edit will be great for sourcing information and X-Edit Express wraps it up for those who don’t need to write it, just read and be heard.

Killer Application: Helping begin corporate conversations…

Ann Gentle has a complementary article about corporate conversations which IMO, is a critical application for this tool.

Imagine the Technical Support staff having a Web 2.0 window into documentation, becoming empowered to review the docs as they are published and implement troubleshooting into a software workflow.

Here’s yet another great article from Just Write Click >> Technical writers and conversations:

I had an “ah ha” moment at SXSW Interactive, when one of the social media metrics panelists Rohit Bhargava said he sees three areas or channels for measurable conversations – Public Relations, Marketing (Sales), and Customer Support.

For me, those three categories crystallized this connection: where our role as tech pubs is strongest in an organization, that’s where we might start successful conversations.

… Tech support seems the best alignment for many companies, as Charles Jeter’s follow-up points out. Tech publications that drive down support costs are another area where value proof lies.

Ann, you’re on a great thread with the conversations bit. Getting corporate cultures to open up and use Web 2.0 smartly is critical to their success against their competition.

Threat Assessment – Adobe TCS will lose even more ground…

My opinion is that Blaze coupled with X-Edit Express is what we called in the military a ‘Force Multiplier’. It’s another technological smart bomb, just like MadCap’s newly released Analyzer.

It will help the overall workflow of the Technical Communications Manager / Team Lead by allowing their subject matter experts (SMEs) to comment freely without impacting the installed software cost. This is a low (zero) cost high yield product befitting a hard look.

If this were the 1980s and the Cold War, X-Edit Express would be Star Wars or the smart bomb. As it stands, it’s just another reason not to renew the licensing on existing Adobe Acrobat Professional.

I’ll have to try it before I claim it beats the DevBlog concept, but I won’t be shocked if it kills my old workflow standby and raises the bar for MadCap’s competition.

I figure that X-Edit Express will compete with Adobe Acrobat’s reviewing workflow and will easily compete with the ‘next generation’ of Adobe’s Technical Communication Suite as Adobe moves towards true single-sourcing. 

As a free tool for reviewers it removes the requirement of a licensed copy of Adobe Acrobat for reviewing. It also swings into the single-sourcing workflow that FrameMaker so desperately needs – with a wrecking ball.

I’ll be watching Paul’s blog closely for more industry information – he’s really stepped up as an MVP in the MadCap community.

Mike, Sharon, that name has got to go…

Okay, I hate to knock MadCap, but I hate the X-Edit  / X-Edit Express name already.

On the (very) bright side this is what you get when your core competencies are user experience and programming and the brain trust won’t (waste)spend a lot of money on marketing weenies.

I’m sure the product will work excellent regardless of its name, I’m just being picky. 

My two cents: Stick with the tradition of a one or two syllable name.

Flare. Blaze. Mimic. Capture. All sound memorable. Like Rocky. Legend. Matrix. Halo. 

Besides, MadCap’s not staffed by ‘haters’. They can take a ding or two from little old me!

Related posts (some external):

• MadCap’s VP Mike Hamilton Speaks! (Dec 7th, 2007)
• DevBlog Collaboration | Your Internal Process Holy Grail
• Web 2.0: one man writes » Conversation V.I.P.s
• Technically Speaking » Early Review: MadCap Blaze
• Sharon’s MadCap Blog » Beta, beta, everywhere
• Communication from DMN » Staying on top of changes
• Just Write Click » Technical writers and conversations

Another successful example of Web 2.0 Tech Support usage as we’ve discussed earlier: HATT post 69635 Re: flare evaluation

I am nearing the end of my evaluation period with Flare (just 9 days
left!)

Here are my comments:

The MadCap (Flare) people came out of the woodwork to support me,
whereas Adobe (RoboHelp) never uttered a peep – even though I
downloaded free trials of both and have posted several times in this
group. It reminded me of the good ol’ days of Blue Sky Software
(original owners and the creators of RH) and I was delighted to learn
that MadCap is sort of a reincarnation of Blue Sky.

If you liked hearing that Regina, you should check out my blog article with pics of the new/old place and the podcast with Mike Hamilton done last December.

Continued from How This Savvy Techie Downloaded His First Virus

I got lucky. Others have had direct attacks on their sites after a trojan is installed which sniffs their passwords. I’ve got two adware programs which are a nusiance, but right now they’re isolated and cannot get out. I’ll kill them later today as I have time, and find a program that works on them better than the ones I’ve already owned.

From one victim’s words:

I spotted tvsetmp3. com in my web stats refering to one of my sites. As I’d never heard of it, and being curious, I decided to take a look.

Big mistake! the site pretends to offer porn videos but of course you need to install a special codec. Not being stupid I tried to cancel and close the browser – but it still installed a trojan – videoaccesscodecinstall.exe which I’ve now removed.

It’s hard to be your own IT/IS department

Since I had pulled the plug to the wireless router I took some time to figure out what I was dealing with.

Now to fix my system… What are my resources against tvsetupMP3?

Installed: Norton Antivirus, Norton Firewall. I don’t click on ads, and Microsoft and Google toolbar generally protect me against popups and other scummy items.

It’s the social engineering on this bug that made me click it.

I thought I was safe inside my web server’s stats program. Just like people used to think ten years ago about their email.

Norton doesn’t pick up adware it turns out. I’m sure they make another product that does, but what’s the point in that?

So I downloaded Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware. It didn’t pick it up either. Shocked I moved onwards, and tried both in Safe Mode.

Next move was to get into Safe Mode, and do all the full scans again, on a deep level (normally it only goes three levels down within .zip or .rar files, I did seven levels down).

As you can imagine, this takes a while. Normally I have two systems set up, but since my move back at Labor Day I haven’t had the core system set up. So I went offline to read some books.

I let it scan overnight, and no such luck. Next on the list was AVG. Now, I had come out of safe mode and PC Doctor had already found and isolated the malware / virus / adware programs. I was concerned because I’d also seen a download.BN virus pop up which Norton took care of.

I also went back to Lavasoft and found out that they have a specific application which takes out these types of programs. Right now they’re isolated, but I’ll have to try them right after the AVG scan, which is over 1 hour so far without finding it.

Here’s what worked for me – almost. PCTools Spyware Doctor found and isolated the nasty suckers, and didn’t let them relaunch when I restarted my system.

…but it asked me to register and pay $30 before it would dispose of them. Well, at least now I can use my browser without real concern. So it’s off to shop around and find the best I can for $30.

So I called up Joe, one of my friends who started his own computer services company and used to ask me for technical help. Our usual roles were reversed since I have been out of hardware support for years, so he’s now the onsite commando.

Joe asked, have you been thinking about formatting your system lately?

After we discussed the ‘Nuke the site from orbit’ plan of formatting the system, he told me to check AVG software out, since that was his preferred method. Since he’s in the ‘Data Plumber’ business and does daily threat removal for his clients, I’ve downloaded AVG’s adware component.

I used to use AVG years ago, and I like its slim profile rather than Norton’s heavier grip on system resources. However, and I’m not sure if this is because it’s already quarantined by PC Doctor, nothing has been found with a full scan.

Update: As it turns out, an hour and a half after a full scan, nothing found. You get what you pay for, apparently, with the free AVG and Ad-Aware software.

After 25 years of safe computing last Friday evening the social engineering behind viral transmission finally beat me. I downloaded my first ever virus on Friday night.

How on earth could I get suckered? Through my website’s statistics. I thought I was safe inside my web server’s stats program. Just like people used to think ten years ago about their email.

You’re not safe anymore. Don’t click the links within your stats.

I’ve been computing since playing snake in my preteen Commodore PET timesharing days in Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science in the early 1980s.

I owned my first Apple //e in 1983 when I was in middle school. I worked for both America Online and Gateway computers in technical support. I’ve installed Citrix systems and rolled out configurations across five hundred desktops overnight.

And now I was another malware statistic.

Bloggers and small business owners who host on your own servers: beware of the tvsetmp3 dot com address. I’m sure it’s only going to be one of many such evil backlinks we will be dealing with soon.

Stats junkie sees referral link – who’s this?

When I was looking through the referring links I found this one for tvsetmp3. com. Warning: do not hit that site! That’s why I didn’t hyperlink it.

While it looked innocuous, this is a new and innovative method to get website owners to click on links they normally wouldn’t.

I had also been experiencing problems with my Apache server’s AWStats – it wasn’t showing results for over a week on any of the domains I’ve got hosted. So now my AWStats is under my scrutiny.

So I’m wondering who tvsetmp3 is…

Of course I am looking through AWStats and get to my links from external pages section.

Bad idea. Very bad idea.

After going to this site, a blank YouTube-style window popped up, and some sort of familiar sounding player codec asked to be set up. This is where I lapsed in judgement. My tech-savvy nature had me thinking the referring link was embedded within the Flash so I accepted it.

This is where the social engineering behind the application of this adware really worked on me. After all, if someone’s referring people to my site, they’re… they’re inside my web social circle, right?

Then all sorts of hell started breaking loose.

My browser changed, and some sort of quasi-porn image popped up, with an overlay made to look like I had been redirected.

A window in poor English stated that I had the Agent.bn virus and needed to get Advanced Cleaner to get rid of it. Conveniently, all I had to do was watch my browser be taken to the Advanced Cleaner website. How nice.

Apparently the download was supposed to coerce me into buying some sort of virus / adware cleaning product. How I and WordPress community folks fixed this is detailed beneath the fold.

And this content was also found in my windows directory in a file named search_res.txt.

1. tvsetmp3.com|t|videoaccesscodecinstall%2eexe+virus+symantec|sym-priority-demote|tvsetmp3 .com|tvsetmp3 .com|t|t|Ad-Aware 2007|t|advanced+cleaner. com|advanced+cleaner+removal| Advanced Cleaner| Advanced Cleaner|AdvancedCleaner|web counter|technical communication|instant messaging security|help authoring tool|go to my pc|virgin|key+influencer|internet media|spyware|

Advanced Cleaner obviously was supposed to be my solution. I think the other search results derived from my Google or IE7 search results, you can see technical communication and help authoring tool in there

Oops. What’s the name of that truck driving school, Maverick?

Since my frustration was mounting about the total loss of time, I decided to channel my anger and blog about it, therefore make the world a better place by educating more people about the risk and how I fixed it. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in…

I had immediately severed my data connection, and while i figured out that a trojan or some other data capturing algorithm would be blocked by Norton, I was still trying to recapture my browser control and rid myself of the constantly random display of porn that was trying to persuade me first, that there was a virus, and second, that I should buy Advanced Cleaner, what the window graciously offered in order to get rid of it!

Fix the problem that they created? How sleazy is that?

The porn images were some sort of layer or .gif file and these makers of the virus probably get money off of paid click links that they send to adware security companies.

So if you download their recommended products, you take care of the adware/virus that they in fact put onto your system. How nice.

Wow. Somehow I’m not the only one who’s seen the blending and fusion of Technical Support and Technical Writing. Technical Support through Web 2.0 supplies a conversation to their users who are in desperate need of help.

Repurposing that conversation’s content provides a cornerstone for a savvy company’s knowledge base. An interesting concept for Technical Communicators to consider, along with figuring out the workflow to make life easier and not overwhelming.

Content, Technology, and Instruction – The User Assistance Triangle

I’ve always thought Technical Communication breaks into three distinct user assistance skill sets – Content, Technology, and Instruction.

Rarely have I seen those who master all three and it is difficult to imagine how many years Technical Communicators train, through independent writing along with formal college, eventually through the Masters degree level for most.

The frustration point seems to come for most in attempting to adapt to the technology that is changing much more rapidly than the English language does; providing the challenge in honing that side of the triangle.

Technology Consulting – Filling In The Knowledge Gap

Technical Communicators and Instructional Designers that I’ve had the pleasure to work with hire consultants (such as my company provides) for the Technology side. We in turn listen to what they need to accomplish and either train them directly in how to accomplish that, create the workflow for them, or do the tasks to get the job done.

Stateside Tech Support – Fashionable Yet Again

Career Technical Support technicians and engineers however, trend successfully into the Instruction and Technology elements. With a successful Knowledge Base and product usage demonstrations, the crossover into Content is complete.

A seasoned Technical Writer could easily reshape that Content and really make it shine even in is the age of wikipedia and Web 2.0 pushing Content out. 

From one man writes » Conversation V.I.P.s

I left a comment on the Cherryleaf blog, which I’ll expand on here, but the jist was that I think Technical Communicators are (can be, should be) the social web of the workplace…

…Whether we like it or not, our primary role SHOULD become information guardians. That will mean less writing, and more knowledge/information management and architecture.

It will mean a shifting of skill sets towards new areas, where there is no best practise only gut feel, and the embracing of openness.

Information will still need to be filtered, focussed and published, but once you’ve set it free, you’ll also need to nurture it as it develops. The delivery of information, naturally, becomes paramount.

We are the ONLY people (in the IT space) that can fill this role properly, and so getting a foot on the rung now will stand us in good stead.

Embracing Web 2.0, and thinking about content rather than documents is a small step but a vital one.

And my favorite part which reinforces the same threads of my entire site’s thesis:

Might the lines between technical support and technical authors start to cross over?
Yes. There are already signs that this is happening. Ultimately, a conversation friendly company won’t care WHO is doing the talking, as long as the conversation is taking place.

What we’re looking at is, in this writer/technician’s humble opinion, is the new requirement of the skill set of effective written communication within the ranks of Support Technicians. This is a change that is going to require stronger skills within the support ranks than merely answering phone calls, although that will always be part of their jobs.

Web 2.0: Making Elite Technical Support Compelling

This effective communication beyond the firewall is a competitive edge. The first-language English speaking population may actually make a comeback in Technical Support and keep their positions stateside if that edge is valid.

When it comes to your company’s Technical Support, those who can reach out with Web 2.0 and touch their audience will reap the rewards. Those elite Technician’s companies will flourish as their audience, the existing users along with the potential new customers of their services, comes to trust their judgement and in turn, trust the company who employs them.

They will become the heavy hitters among the front lines of a corporation’s marketing force simply through doing their job correctly and communicating effectively on a personal basis with those they support.

We’re seeing the beginning of a shift in thinking. Outsourcing technical support to those who cannot communicate effectively within Web 2.0’s framework doesn’t engender the same loyalty to a user community. Corporate Authenticity will play an even stronger role in customer loyalty because those who are not authentic aren’t going to play well with savvy consumers who don’t want to arbitrarily plunk down hard cash every year for ‘mandatory upgrades’. 

san diego,outsourcing,layoffs,la jolla,madcap flare,madcap feedback,madcap software,adobe robohelp,technical communication,technical writing,help authoring tools,hatt

MadCap Has Arrived: Blue Sky Ahead

This December 7th I had the opportunity to tour the new MadCap Software spaces located at 7777 Fay Avenue in downtown La Jolla.

Everybody loves La Jolla

With a great rock wall a few blocks down, my favorite secret snorkeling spot by the Cave House 3/4 of a mile away, and top surf within two miles all up and down the coast, most of the prior eHelp’ers I know are out taking advantage of the site location during their breaks or after work. Not to mention lunching at Sushi on the Rocks or fifty other four star spots.

Oh, and the La Jolla eye candy views and scenery is outstanding.

New Topic: Hey, check out the killer entry desk! Better even than at eHelp.

There’s an inside story on this furniture that’s pretty cool, but I’ll save that for another time.

Corporate Hat Trick: Happy employees, better furniture, bigger space

After getting a tour of the spaces I can honestly say that they have higher morale (if that were possible), plenty of room to grow, it didn’t break the bank, and great data connectivity. All are critical to a new company.

Moved yet actually saves money? Never play poker with Anthony O.

Rumor has it with everything acquired accounted for that the bottom line may actually have been affected POSITIVELY in this move. As I opined earlier, savvy timing by the big Three at MadCap might well have become their secret weapon.

Only Anthony (former eHelp CEO) Olivier could pull off making a dime into a quarter. I have to say I was impressed with his approach five years ago, the new office is a major coup.

That being said, it’s probably time for another San Diego Union-Tribune article on why that happened. I’m sure I couldn’t make it sound cool enough.

I was able to discuss a few things with some of the staff, both on the record and off the record.

PS: Don’t hold anything in my story against this guy, I don’t even know his name. He didn’t tell me anything. It’s just the only really decent pingpong table shot. Honest.

Well, here’s another pingpong shot of one of the Tech Support gurus. From outside the fishbowl glass. I didn’t ask him any questions either.

PS: Var, (MadCap’s Director of Technical Support) this pic was taken at lunchtime!

Adobe Lays Off Staff As MadCap Expands – Merry Christmas?!?

The big story of the day I visited MadCap I hadn’t heard until I arrived.

The San Diego Union-Tribune had just reported that Adobe was going to lay off an undetermined amount from their San Diego facility, obviously less than the last fifty employees.Talking with the MadCap staff about this new development was interesting.

Truly Bittersweet for the MadCap crew

Of course there was the professional rivalry and excitement about a competitor shedding employees, however to a person everyone I asked about it mentioned at one time or another that they were concerned about their friends who still worked there, and asked me if I knew if anyone we knew in common who was affected.

I was impressed about how they view their former eHelp’ers even as they compete with them. Everyone I spoke to was unanimous in expressing their concern for their friends and former colleagues so close to the holiday season having to now start looking for jobs.

Former eHelp’ers Scrooged

Raw Data from San Diego Union-Tribune, December 6 2007:

My thoughts:

That’s like… a reverse end of the year bonus? Of course I haven’t found out who was affected yet but ouch…

Dude, what heartless Grinch does that after an acclaimed 3rd quarter?!?

Writing’s on the wall when you have to attend midnight conference calls because the entire dev team for your product is based in Bangalore.

With gallows humor I jokingly predicted it back when the 3rd Quarter ADBE results were announced. From my analysis earlier this year:

If stock prices start slipping, where are they going to make their cuts? I am predicting that it’s now or never for RoboHelp; if they don’t perform by mid-2008, resources could be pulled off for other products that make a higher profit.

Well, I don’t know who was involved in this layoff cycle, but I do know that layoffs are great for the bottom line and Microsoft’s not releasing another Vista next year.

Even though they beat expectations by 21% a week after these layoffs, ADBE’s share price still fell. Had I been trading I would have sold the stock short and made money.

Maybe the SD office is the miner’s canary of the stock price at ADBE… Need more revenue just hatchet some more San Diegans.

This doesn’t mean that Adobe will lose money this upcoming quarter but they are tightening the belt for the next year. I’m not the only analyst (and certainly not a professional) who feels it’s going to be hard for ADBE.

So my opinion about selling ADBE short is starting to look verifiable. They can’t sustain those 3rd quarter results short of cutting back tremendously.

On the other side, cutting their RoboHelp brain trust and subject matter experts down to zero gives them little internal resources to fight off MadCap and other competitors. Maybe it is easy to be publishing software people will buy when you’re that big. Maybe innovation is really something that isn’t so critical, as long as you can copy the true innovators and out-market them.

Q: Where will Adobe’s innovation come from for their future RoboHelp / Tech Comm Suite product line?

Personally, I think this goes back to (my opinion) the unconcious Adobe strategy to offshore all assets. Eventually everyone not performing 80 hour workweeks will lose their jobs in San Diego in favor of India based talent.

Hopefully for those RoboHelp users still left, their product will continue well without a brain trust. It has for the last cycle. Not particularly impressed with the features in the RoboHelp Server 7, however it did get a mention in the podcast RJ did earlier this month.

I wish the old eHelp’ers at Adobe well, especially in not getting laid off just before Christmas.

Back to the MadCap visit

With all that said… prepare for the podcast series coming soon. Mike Hamilton gave me forty-five minutes of time and I’m still doing the editing.

Some of the podcast highlights, in no specific order:

MadCap vs Word: Is MadCap competing with Microsoft?

Blaze. Bigger than…?

MadCap’s User Community: What did you put into their food?

DITA.

Wikis in Corporations – (my viewpoint is well known).

Web 2.0 in Technical Communication.

History of 7777 Fay Avenue, the “new” (?) MadCap location.

Roadmap of what’s ahead.

More on workflow concepts & how they figure into product design.

How MadCap’s design process specifically supports their innovation (!!!)

And Mike H. puts on record MadCap’s goal of supporting Microsoft releases (such as Vista):

“Support the (Microsoft) product within thirty days of (its) release.”

“…if there’s a planned full version release it will be included in that release, otherwise existing users get a point release to support the new Microsoft version (…of Word, Vista, even Internet Explorer).”

Adobe can try to match that competitive advantage, but I doubt they will be able to withall the brains either getting canned or worrying about getting canned.

RJ Jacquez just keeps on rolling though. I’m going to start calling that guy Teflon; nothing sticks to him.

Good on ya, RJ. Glad your neck wasn’t on the block this time. According to my interview with Mike Hamilton, you and RoboHelp may have immunity from being voted off the island for quite some time.

I’m going to have to make a dinner bet with Mike about RoboHelp though. However, he’s the expert.

equities analysis,technical communication,adobe robohelp,madcap flare,San Diego

My Analysis Background

My main exposure to corporate analysis is informal and only from about ten years experience – four years in investigating property crimes and white collar crime in the late 1990s in New Mexico as a private investigator, one year working for Linsco/Private Ledger, a San Diego company which is the largest stateside independent broker-dealer and does its own in-house equities analysis. This is where I started studying for the series 7 brokerage license and my first paper trading portfolio earned 67% over nine months in 1999.

The other five years comes from direct exposure to the Help Authoring Tool field, specifically in working for two years within eHelp Corporation, and also testing competitor’s products partly within that time and also after I left eHelp. I’ve also made technical communication part of my portfolio of skills that I use to make a living.

I also had the opportunity in 2005 to work on a project with The Diffusion Group (TDG) , a direct market analysis company located in the Dallas / Fort Worth area. While TDG specializes in consumer electronics I was fortunate enough to be able to observe how market analysis is completed.

Ever wonder where Marketing gets those nifty projections and numbers from in your company? Companies like TDG provide them with it. It’s a hot field and falls into the Bleeding Edge, right past the Leading Edge of adoptable technology. They are the future-tellers, and accuracy is their game.

Bleeding Edge: Defined

As my old Novatel Wireless boss said once, you know what the bleeding edge is? It’s where you get cut up for going past the leading edge. That boss was Brad Weinert, back in 1999 when he was just a Product Manager / Tech Support department head. He’s now the CEO of Novatel Wireless and one of the most honest men I’ve worked for.

During the timespan from 1999 until the present (nine years) I’ve also maintained close ties within Blue Sky Software (BSS) until it became eHelp, then after eHelp was purchased by Macromedia, within Macromedia and Adobe. Some stayed with Adobe, some left.

This is what I called, in one post, the ‘beer and wings’ connection.

Summing up, it takes a bit of investigation, some good human intelligence, and the ability to read SEC filings to do your job right in analysis. I’m fortunate enough to have all of these plus good sources within the Technical Communication space.

I’ve been shadowing MadCap’s tech support online to check out how well Web 2.0 focused Tech Support works.

First, part one of my MadCap Feedback Server review actually has some of the Web 2.0 implementation within their own company. See the parts about eating their own dog food and unexpectedly, a bit of humor with the Internet Explorer title bar named appropriately for the holidays matching the pumpkin orange web color change in the Knowledge Base.

Also, check out Richard Ferrell’s forums post on the HATT listing feature requests right out there in the open for Flare. This is extremely confident and transparent. Excellent use of Web 2.0 along with Cluetrain principles.

I can’t keep up. MadCap Vice President and Help Authoring Guru Mike Hamilton trumps Richard Ferrell’s Tech Support posts on the HATT forums with his index / search hack for WebHelp generated from Flare.

For those of you not on the HATT, basically it’s a freebie hack given away contradicting the normal marketing viewpoint of not giving anything away for free. Particularly if it may compete with your own product.

Here’s my incredulous post in reply:

Dude. Way to trick the webhelp ranking system!
If anyone is wondering about the highwater mark for corporate
transparency online from a software vendor, this is it. This is a
killer hack for their product that enhances the searchability…

…posted by one of the executive staff right as they launch their
Feedback Server which is supposed to do the same thing.

Talk about calling the shot right out of the ballpark. Mike, you must
be pretty confident about how much BETTER than the recommended hack the
Flare output search works with the Feedback Server enabled.

A true example of Corporate Authenticity and high marks for your usage
of Web 2.0. Obviously it’s very Cluetrain of you also…
http://charlesjeter.com/category/corporate-authenticity/

Thanks. I’ve been working on a Tech Support employment of Web 2.0
tools. This will go down on your permanent record.

Quoted from Key Pointe: Information Architect, Content Strategist, Vancouver BC » Flare and AuthorIt:

Onto Flare and AuthorIt… They’re both pretty much the same in terms of feature sets, but AuthorIt imports multiple projects into one help project much more seamlessly. AuthorIt is good, solid, all there, but with Flare I get a sense of excitement: it’s easier to use, the product is evolving, the company is excited, their response times are great. AuthorIt’s customer service is good, too, but not as good as Madcap’s.

…But what put me over the edge towards Flare was the possibilities of what else can be done with a product that is great already and is only 2 years old, and the customer service.

Update 04/24/2008: MadCap Software wins 2008 ASP Online awards. See Web 2.0 Tech Support: Part 4 for the link.

Related Articles:

• Does Tech Support Count? Can Good Service Sell in the 21st Century?
• Web 2.0 Tech Support: Part 4
• Web 2.0 Tech Support: Part 3
• Web 2.0 Tech Support Usage On HATT Re: flare evaluation
• MadCap Software’s New Digs | More Adobe Layoffs
• Adobe and MadCap’s Cold War: Who’s the Superpower Today?
• Another Satisfied Adobe Customer…
• Company blogging 101

online collaboration,workflow collaboration,madcap feedback,madcap flare,web 2.0,technical support,technical writing,technical communication

First impressions: MadCap Feedback Service

Continuing with the Web 2.0 MadCap Feedback review, I opened up the small, 17meg download for the Feedback Server today and scanned through the help file and the Getting Started Guide (PDF). Seemed pretty simple so I decided to jump right into it.

Simple workflow diagram which explains how it works conceptually. What really grabbed my attention was the External and Internal Feedback models. I’m going to have to check out how this works in detail… The Getting Started Guide has a matrix / section I’ll analyze later.

Where’s the Web 2.0?

How about how to moderate comments? How easy is this for say… the Technical Writer to use? Well, if you’re used to the original Flare interface, it’s pretty intuitive.

A link from within the Feedback Explorer from File | Help | Comments (Recent or Topic) brings up the Comments Explorer (my term).

Still pretty intuitive. I like how it was underneath Help – as I was hitting the high spots of the software it jumped at me.

Next we’ll look into how to link this into an existing project. I’m working on a real world review of a client’s file (confidential of course) but I’m going to try and plan on implementing Feedback Service to help me in my Workflow Collaboration for the review process and see how this works.

** Note: This is if it will work in my specific limited case of Apache Server with root level password access. I’m not sure the security layer will allow Feedback Service to work with it in this version. OF course if this is true it will give me a chance to put in a request with MadCap to add accessibility as a feature.

By the way, according to the Forums there are several people using the Feedback Service rather than the Server for supporting Apache.

Additionally, there is a firewall mod for those using it through a corporate firewall.

Update: As I was looking through the Feedback Service user to user support forums I found this icon, giving me a valuable clue to the KB skinner’s identity.

Seems like the mystery of who reskinned the Knowledge Base is well afoot! Or solved.

technical support,technical writing,technical communication,madcap software,adobe robohelp,high tech awards

Future Customer Support Tactics

The trend seems clear that MadCap is going towards the Tech Support angle for their business model. It’s an interesting angle of attack for smaller companies to chip away at the market dominance of large public corporations by using a cost center to do so.

Quoted from MadCap Software Selected as Finalist in 14th Annual AeA High Tech Awards: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance

…said Kevin Carroll, executive director, AeA San Diego Council. “Not only has MadCap built a top-flight engineering team to deliver ground-breaking advances in content authoring software; it also has bucked the outsourcing trend and instead established a local technical support team to provide the superior service that fosters customer adoption and loyalty."

The question is, will this create a better user experience, and therefore, a better product? MadCap’s CEO thinks so:

“We’ve made it our mission to deliver the ultimate customer experience through next-generation content solutions and a locally based, highly experienced support team that understands our users’ needs. It is a great honor to be recognized as a 2007 AeA High Tech Award finalist for our success in delivering on that goal,” said Anthony Olivier, MadCap CEO.

In my previous article, I’ve been posting about what feeds this situation. Well crafted communication cuts down on direct support calls, yet there are methods that creative technical support engineers can use to multipy their efforts.

Sarah said it best in her Information Age article, and I really could not improve on her concept in my quote of her:

I think it’s helpful to look at communication dimensions:

• Traditional technical writing is one-to-many. One person/team writes, many people consume it.
• Wikis are many-to-many. Many people write; many people use the information.
• Mailing lists are many-to-one. Many people respond to one persons’ question
• Technical support is one-to-one. One person calls; one person responds.

Technical support is the most expensive option; it’s also often the most relevant. Technical writing is more efficient (because the answer to the question is provided just once), but also less personal and therefore less relevant.

I think it could also be expressed as another hierarchy:

Technical Writing using Web 2.0

One to many, results returned allow focus on trouble spots.

Tech Support using Web 2.0 – one to many, many to many (peer)

This could be expressed as dedicated tech support within forums, independent tech projects seeking out troublespots, beta testing, etc.

It could also include a dynamic of the technical support reviewing the feedback from the Web 2.0 technical writing effort and problem solving ‘live’ updates to the documentation which are pushed out to the product.

Having docs updated live as a call reduction method for Tech Support as the product rolled out would be optimal. This was the concept of having both a server-based help file and ‘Airplane Help’ at eHelp during the X3 to X5 stage.

Tech Support moderated / monitored Peer Support

HATT, Adobe ACE users, MadCap Forums – many to many (peer).

I’m not sure what level of tech support involvement occurs with other companies outside of MadCap (I see them posting on the HATT regularly) but a lot of corporate policy forbids posting on user groups without specific necessity.

Here’s a Cluetrain real-world example of how positive this can be:

If you could hook up a meter to the forum and measure good will, the needle reading for Shuttle By United at take-off was way over on the negative side. Luggage was being lost (three times for one passenger). Passenger loading was chaotic. Customers were unhappy.

Then one United worker (one of those “owners” United’s ads talked about so much at the time) jumped in and simply started to help out. The response was remarkable. Here are a few examples:

“Good to see someone at United interested!” (etc etc etc 6 more example quotes)

This kind of conversation moved the meter all the way over to the positive side, just because one company guy took on the burden of talking with customers and trying to solve their problems. One guy.

Can providing better service actually win customers over?

It’s too early to tell, however the tactical advantage lies immediately with the larger company holding more resources; if they have an unlimited budget it would be a simple thing to just start pouring money into the technical support division.

That’s where the public part of the public corporation comes into conflict with the strategic part. If a product is not seen as core content to the public corporation, resources are scarce. The effect on the working managers themselves is to husband those resources carefully, showing the best bang for the buck and becoming risk averse to new technology adoption.

In a nutshell, public companies have an inherent talent for carving their costs with Technical Support being the most popular area to reduce through outsourcing. This leads to Cluetrain-predicted results, as burned users vent online and even go unanswered in the corporation’s own forums.

Theory – Risk averse behavior leads to less innovation

This could show its face in features – take a risk on new features which are complex, and you’ll have to support them if they don’t work out just right. Keeping things simple and maintaining a status quo gives resource managers a mark of safety; risk too much and you could lose your job if the strategy fails.

roboengine,robohelp server,cluetrain manifesto,cluetrain,adobe robohelp,madcap flare,madcap feedback server,adobe robohelp server,technical communication,web 2.0,online collaboration,workflow collaboration

What I’ve heard from my clients interested in search technology is that while Natural Language Search (NLS) is desirable, Web 2.0 capabilities trump the NLS requirement, behind the firewall particularly. This also fits well into my Workflow Collaboration research.

MadCap Feedback Server Review Coming Soon

I’ll review MadCap’s Feedback Server this month. As I mentioned earlier this year I’ve got a couple large clients this Web 2.0 concept may work for so we’ll see what we can discover.

For those of you who in the HATT list who are asking why I don’t look at other HAT tools, this should satisfy that request. Alternatively, I am sure it will bring cries of ‘See, I told you so – he’s one of those MADCAP supporters’.

Read more about my focus and hopefully it will put those issues to rest. I hope it answers the skepticism. In any case, please feel free to comment.

Feedback Server Contender: RoboHelp Server

I may not get around to reviewing this anytime soon since there has not been much new capacity added to this tool, merely bugs fixed and necessary browser and Vista related updates.

Besides, I already know the main beef with RE was the installation and maintenance and killing the Natural Language Search capability fixes this. But… without the NLS, RoboEngine / RoboHelp Server becomes just about as useful as ZoomSearch, a $300 tool.

From MonkeyPi’s RoboHelp Server 6 and NLS issues?:

Many have upgraded only to find that the legacy Natural Language Search functionality has not been included. Synonym search is gone, too. Apparently, Adobe has simply not included the NLS DLL file with the software.

What’s odd is that the functionality apparently hasn’t been disabled in the UI or the help. From the developer’s perspective, the feature just isn’t working. In other words, the features “appear” to be there, but aren’t. Users aren’t aware of the disabled functionality until they try to use it. Even the software’s help topics on NLS are apparently still present.

By the way, when RoboHelp Server / RoboEngine (RE) came out in 2001 it was ridiculously underpriced. A $20k server for $2k. That was innovative.

Without the NLS, RoboHelp Server is beaten by Peter Grainge’s recommendation for a free / sub-$500 solution called ZoomSearch.

Beer and Wings Segment

When Macromedia laid off everyone RoboHelp in 2005, I investigated the feasibility of becoming the third party support resource. David Black was the primary engineer tasked with supporting the RoboEngine, and depending on the circumstance he might be a great person to contact with existing configuration.

For those who are not willing to lose the NLS resources in your version of RoboEngine by upgrading, contact me or David and we can see what might be done.

Fair and Balanced RoboHelp Server Resource

For further raw data from Adobe, check out Vivek’s post on his blog last week.

I would review Adobe RoboHelp’s Server, however since they detuned the Natural Language Search (NLS) capability out of it earlier this year and spun the facts on it, I’m not interested. I used to support RoboHelp Server while at eHelp five years ago, and if it’s not been changed and had new functionality added since then, it’s outlived it’s innovation as a market leader.

Ironically, that improvement within RoboEngine was due to the NLS which was axed in this version. Too bad they didn’t initially tell people that. As evidenced by MonkeyPi’s post and my comments.

Cluetrain Segment

To be fair at the time that MonkeyPi’s post came out I did email the then-PM of RoboHelp and attempted to post a comment on his blog. No reply to either. Well, an initial out of office email, but that was all. I’ll post the raw data on that if anyone cares to ask for it.

Vivek, thanks for finally answering the content of my questions from earlier this year last week in your blog post.

My response:

Cluetrain. Markets are conversations. Straight up Vivek, as far as RoboHelp is concerned you don’t know your market and, by the single post on HATT appear to only be able to speak in PR or Marketing blurbs, and not engage in true dialogue.

That dialogue might have actually ended up teaching you about your market if you had taken advantage of it.

Vivek and all Adobe PMs: I care about you learning about your market, because if you learn about your market, you become stronger as a competitor to MadCap’s Flare. That makes things better for everyone who buys HAT technology.

ZoomSearch: Recommended on the HATT

When I posted up earlier this year, I got a great response from Peter Grainge for a sub $300 search engine. Unfortunately my clients were looking for something more web 2.0, hence my evaluation of the MadCap Feedback Server.

The link will take you to Peter’s writeup about ZoomSearch.

— In HATT@yahoogroups.com, “Peter Grainge” wrote:
>
> I wonder whether ZoomSearch would fit the bill for you. There’s a
> topic on my site about it and the search there uses it. It’s very
> configurable, easy to use, inexpensive and the support is excellent.
>
> http://www.grainge.org

web 2.0,technical writing,communication dimensions,technical communication,technical support,o’reilly

Killer analysis from Sarah at Palimpset about whether or not the Information Age is dead with the advent of wikis and other web 2.0 information delivery.

Read on: Palimpsest – The Age of… Expertise?

In the comments, Tim O’Reilly points out that the real change is in how information is gathered and distributed with “the rise of new forms of computer mediated aggregators and new forms of collective curation and communication.”

I believe that we are still firmly in the Information Age because information has not yet become a commodity product. There is, however, clearly a shift happening in how information is created and delivered.

This is important. After all, how accurate is a wiki compared to an encyclopedia? It depends on the contributors. Information cannot become a commodity until there are so many Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) that the cost ratio becomes negligible.

Technical Writer to Technical Support

I really like what Sarah said about the spread between Technical Writing and Technical Support. This gets right into the Workflow Collaboration / Online Collaboration / Web 2.0 space I’m looking into. Again from Palimpsest – The Age of… Expertise?

I think it’s helpful to look at communication dimensions:

• Traditional technical writing is one-to-many. One person/team writes, many people consume it.
• Wikis are many-to-many. Many people write; many people use the information.
• Mailing lists are many-to-one. Many people respond to one persons’ question
• Technical support is one-to-one. One person calls; one person responds.

Technical support is the most expensive option; it’s also often the most relevant. Technical writing is more efficient (because the answer to the question is provided just once), but also less personal and therefore less relevant.

I’m so… going to grab those bullet points for my next ‘online help’ customer meeting, Sarah. My Corporate Wiki article might be relevant to this spread in the Workflow Collaboration sense.

There’s a sweet spot in there that reduces customer call volume, and actually increases consumer confidence in the product. Somewhere, the majority of the people will find the answers the majority of the time and mentally rate the support system a success.

Again from Palimpsest – The Age of… Expertise?

Furthermore, the fact that people are turning to Google to find information says something deeply unflattering about product documentation, online help, and other user assistance. Why is a Google search more compelling than looking in the help?

There’s a balance that support needs to strike. A sweet spot between cost efficiency and content delivery. ASP Online has a great Technical Support Award that examines the balance found in support web sites. I’ve written in detail about previous winners of that award previously.

Adobe,Adobe Support,technical support,product support,adobe premiere,Adobe Flash,flash,user support

Adobe Support Fails Corporate Authenticity

Adobe clients who are furious with their product issues have no method of receiving help. Again and again I’ve seen them write that after weeks of being ignored, they post into the user forums hoping for an escalation.

In software, core compentency must be combined with quality product support, or as these angry customers point out, they’ll go elsewhere. And not only will they leave, they’ll also scorch you online. My previous post about Corporate Authenticity talks about this in detail.

End User Support is NOT a Cost Center

As users become collectively disenfranchised (to steal a term) other options become more attractive. Simply purchasing a maintenance agreement year after year reinforces the level of support that you receive. Product support should be a heavy factor in purchasing software from any vendor.

Simply put, there is no common sense in supporting poor customer service and poor technical support.

How Much Does Adobe Spend | How Does Tech Support Spending Rank?

ASP Online has a Technical Support Cost Ratios survey worth a glance:

Overall, software companies currently spend a little over 8% (median) of their revenues on tech support, almost exactly the number we reported in our 1997 survey. Not surprisingly, several variables impact this ratio.

Small companies typically spend more on support (20% of revenues), in part because their support staffs spend a good deal of time on such non-support tasks as software testing, customer service, documentation, training, and internal MIS functions.

I’m currently researching Adobe’s revenue spending on tech support. Note that the small company ratio is roughly two and a half times what the average spending is.

Update: After reviewing Adobe’s 10-K SEC filing, it turns out their support revenue spending is 3% of the total budget.

Again, Adobe Misses The Cluetrain

The issues we spoke about previously regarding Adobe RoboHelp pale in comparison. This is just pure poor handling and, as cluetrain.org states, these users have a voice.

From Cluetrain.org – Talk is Cheap:

“Customer loyalty” is not a commodity a company owns. Where it exists at all — and the cases in which it does are rare — loyalty to a company is based on respect. And that respect is based on how the company has conducted itself in conversations with the market.

Not conversing, participating, is not an option. If we don’t engage people inside and outside our organization in conversation, someone else will.

Start talking.

Check out this thread on Adobe’s forums. If they take it down, click here for the .pdf of the text. The core related to how the sales promotion wasn’t able to be taken advantage of by a consumer.
cj0nes posts in response:

Let’s recap the situation – try to absorb some of what I’ve written this time – and see if I am still a “whiny jerk”. Adobe’s promotion stated that if I get Premiere Pro 2 before August 28, I am eligible to receive a free CS3 upgrade. It is not unreasonable to assume that this means that Premiere Pro 2 will be available up until August 28.

I emailed with several questions about this, and didn’t receive a reply until 5 WEEKS LATER. The reply did not even answer a single one of my questions.

The first of July passed, and suddenly Premiere 2 became unavailable. Their free upgrade offer also, suddenly, disappeared from their site, even though it is still in effect. Questionable ethical conduct, don’t you think?

Personally, I would have to take the view of either this customer completely fell through the cracks (unacceptable) or he was victim of a bait and switch (also unacceptable). Where is the knowledgable customer support manager?

In a prior life at eHelp, Var Galpchian handled these issues directly – all day long – while I worked there. That’s how they won awards in their product support category. She was the central nexus between Customer Care and Technical Support.

Another thread titled ‘Adobe Support Sucks‘ says it all, this time concerning Adobe Flash. Here’s the .pdf of this thread in case it gets removed.

Am beginning to HATE Adobe!!! Spent 5 hours on the phone today (mostly on hold) – being given BAD information. Tried to get through to a manager to report the situation, was repeatedly put on hold – only to be recycled thru the Help Desk again. Have been a LOYAL ADOBE CUSTOMER for over 15 years, and am currently running CS2 and Studio 8 (Macromedia) on a PC.

Had a Flash Prof. 8 problem and all Adobe Tech Support could recommend was for me to upgrade (again) – which I did in Feb 07. Am totally frustrated…you simply cannot penetrate that wall of incompetence to get thru to anyone who can really help.

The East Indians are nice enough, but I seriously cannot understand what they’re saying half the time, and end up just saying ‘yeah’ to keep the conversation moving along.

It should be noted, that at the time Macromedia was absorbed into Adobe, according to their final SEC 10-K filing, MACR included their stateside employee count:

At March 31, 2005, we had 1,445 full-time employees worldwide with 1,151 of these employees located in the United States.

The user’s Adobe support failure rant continues:

Adobe’s support for LEGITIMATE REGISTERED PAYING CUSTOMERS is worse than Microsoft…and even DELL!!!

Maybe I’ll start doing all my flash work in SwishMax…at least you can reach those people – and they’re in Australia! Absolutely no reason from Adobe to snub their customer base.

There is accountability within the web. For Adobe customers ‘cheezed off’ by the corporation, please first Contact Adobe Support. If your product issue is not resolved, feel free to post away within the Comments section below.