(Becky Roberts, TechRepublic) Grumbling and whining about various aspects of our jobs, especially our users, is all too easy to do. Everyone does it, and it can have some therapeutic and entertainment value, but perhaps our energies would be better spent devising solutions to our problems instead of persistently complaining about them.

1: Users who insist on giving you their diagnosis of a problem rather than a neutral description of the symptoms
As with many user-type problems, a little education can go a long way. Is it really reasonable of us to expect the average user to automatically know how to report a computer problem? One simple method of training our users to accurately report problems is by asking them appropriate questions, just like a good car mechanic or doctor: “Can you show me where it hurts?”; “How would you describe the noise it was making?”; “Does it happen when you’re coasting or only when you have your foot on the gas?” Instead of becoming impatient with the user, we can use appropriate questions to coach them and elicit the information we need to solve their problem.

Consider the following interaction:

• User: “The e-mail server is down.”
• Tech: “Hmm, I’m so sorry you’re having a problem accessing your e-mail. What exactly is happening that makes you think that the e-mail server is down? Are you receiving an error message when you try to log in? Are you able to access other applications on the network?”

In just a few seconds, the tech is able to validate the user’s concern, extract the information needed to resolve the problem, and start the process of training the user to accurately report computer problems.

2: Users who hover around while you are troubleshooting, asking questions-and worse, making suggestions
Again, taking the time to train users may help with this situation, but if you’re trying to troubleshoot a particularly intractable problem and being constantly interrupted, you could consider one of the following approaches: (1) take the computer back to your office to work on it in private; (2) troubleshoot remotely; (3) involve users by assigning them a role in the troubleshooting process. For example, ask them to try to reproduce the problem on someone else’s computer or to make notes on what you’re doing; this will either actually be beneficial to you or they will suddenly remember something else they had to do.