A Developer's Guide to Customer Service

While many developers dream of spending all day, every day heads down in code, the reality usually is that programming is only one of our many responsibilities. As knowledge workers, each of us is expected to effectively answer questions, help confused coworkers, and investigate issues. We are asked to respond quickly, positively, and knowledgeably, without losing progress on our current projects.

The ability to provide excellent "customer service" to your coworkers, bosses, and clients is crucial for any developer who wants to increase their value and impact within their organization. Unfortunately we usually receive these communication expectations without any clear instruction of how to meet them!

During this talk, I will walk through a number of common mistakes developers make while providing customer service, and share the strategies and values you can leverage to become an indispensable communicator within your team and organization.

Transcript

1. FOR DEVELOPERS CUSTOMER SERVICE CHRIS POWERS GROUPON @CHRISJPOWERS HTTP://CHRISJPOWERS.COM
2. …IN YOUR JOB AND CAREER WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!
3. We’re not code monkeys. OUR JOB
4. We are knowledge workers. OUR JOB
5. We gather data, synthesize it, and provide it to the broader organization for consumption. OUR JOB
6. We are building trust, and using that trust to build knowledge. OUR JOB
7. What is your “personal API?” “SLA?” What “interfaces” do you support? OUR JOB
8. How do we decide what level of service to provide? We need a moral system. OUR JOB
9. A BRIEF HISTORY THE GOLDEN RULE
10. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” CODE OF HAMMURABI 1780 BC: BABYLON
11. “One should never do that to another which one regards as injurious to one’s own self. This, in brief, is the rule of dharma.” MAHABHARATA 900-800 BC: INDIA
12. “What one word can we live by?” “Reciprocity. Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.” CONFUCIUS 600-500 BC: CHINA
13. “Do not do to others that which angers you when they do it to you.” - Isocrates “Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing.” - Thales GREEK PHILOSOPHY 600-400 BC: GREECE
14. “Do unto others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets.” JESUS OF NAZARETH 30 AD: JUDEA
15. Treating people right requires (and builds) strong leadership skills.
16. Love > Reciprocation Love changes lives.
17. NOW HOW DO WE GET THERE? WE KNOW THE GOAL…
18. Once we have the goal, we need strategy and tactics to succeed. TACTICS
19. Hi, I would like to get the 30 day NOR report for North America from last November. How can I do that? No problem — just SSH into the bastion host, update your keys for Data Warehouse access, then queue a SQL query request with the job manager for prioritization. Ummm… so I need to talk to my job’s manager? I have a PC, is this a Mac thing?
20. Communicate at their technical level. 01. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE Be empathetic. 02. Keep the tone positive. 03. Thank them for going through the right channels. 04. Leave them feeling energized by the interaction. 05.
21. Hello, I’d like to use our tracking library to track clicks inside of 3rd party advertisements. I wired it up, but I’m not seeing any clicks coming through the pipe. Sorry, I don’t know anything about our 3rd party advertisement system, so I can’t really help. Those ads are loaded in iframes, which are terrible. Tracking in iframes won’t work, it’s a technical limitation. OR
22. Answer the question, but go further. 01. GO THE EXTRA MILE Act like the domain expert (you probably are). 02. Treat use cases as valid until proven otherwise. 03. Provide alternative ideas. 04. Offer additional resources and context. 05.
23. Hello, we need some help with XYZ widget, it doesn’t seem to be acting how we expect. Can you please assist us? Ping, can you give us an assist? Hey guys, we really need some help here…
24. Define your “API” and “SLA”, set expectations. 01. DON’T DROP THE BALL Clarify the question/request, get the big picture. 02. Define the action items, owners and outcomes. 03. If you hand off work to another person or team, stick with the thread until you’re confident the transition is successful. 04.
25. Hello, we need some help with XYZ widget, it doesn’t seem to be acting how we expect. Can you please assist us? Certainly! Here’s a link to the XYZ widget documentation. For additional help, you can talk to Sharon on the XYZ team (cc’d). Great response! You gave them a clear path with resources and looped in the appropriate contact. Solid customer service.
26. Ask your manager and peers to review your communications outside your team. 01. GET FEEDBACK, GIVE FEEDBACK Give your direct reports, colleagues and manager positive feedback on good communication. 02. Talk about expectations as a team. 03. Tie redirecting feedback to team conversations. 04.
27. Invest in each other. Invest in yourself.
28. THANK YOU. CHRIS POWERS GROUPON @CHRISJPOWERS HTTP://CHRISJPOWERS.COM