Coming Home

Hi Reader, You'd think that after starting umpteen newsletters with some version of "not sure where I'm going with this this week, BUT..." I'd get a handle on things. Or at least learn to pretend like I know where I'm going. Or at the VERY least just edit my first paragraph after finishing the email. BUT... ...nah. Here's what I DO think I know that I think I know: I need to work this tech support thing back up to a set of specific recommendations at some point. As in, actionable steps tech...

Hi Reader, I've hit a bit of an obstacle with this project. I'm not sure how to proceed, so I'm feeling my way forward. I thought I was clear, but some wonderful feedback from readers like you has helped me see some wrinkles. I doubt I'll be able to iron them all out, so I'm acknowledging that here and will keep trying to move forward. This is where I wanted to go next: Any problem that someone contacts tech support about isn't a real problem. It's a symptom. I don't say that to dismiss the...

Hi Reader, In last week's email, I tried to set up the first part of a two-part argument where I was moving from the data-backed "empathy problem" in tech support (part one of the argument) to what seems to underlie that problem (part two, which was going to be what this week's email was about). As I was sending last week's email I was thinking it wasn't as clear as I would have liked. But, you know. Deadlines. So off it went to your inbox. I got a lot of replies from you about that email....

Hi Reader, Last week we left off on this "empathy" thread. I mentioned how, in my experience, encouraging my teammates to respond with empathy seems to have produced only more-frequent apologies. "I'm so sorry to hear you're having issues." "Really sorry about that." "I'm very sorry about such-and-such." "I'm so sorry to hear that blahblahblah." And that's what it feels like to me. Just blahblahblah. Empathy is NOT blahblahblah. Wouldn't you agree? During the week, I got one message from a...

Hi Reader, So I gathered the data, and there's no problem there. I didn't exactly want to frontload this email with a bunch of numbers, though. That's dull. I'll roll it up for you. Customers have always wanted quick resolutions and 24/7 support, and that hasn't changed. I doubt that's a surprise to you. What IS changing is that customers increasingly want three additional things: Support on multiple channels, especially on apps like Whatsapp Proactive support (which I understand to mean...

Hi Reader, About ten years ago I was tutoring SAT and ACT. (Oh, interesting; this newsletter marks the first time I've combined all three things I do: tutoring, writing, and tech support.) Anyway, I was done with my tutoring for the day when I was asked to stay late to help a student who came in for an unscheduled session. She was very determined to get a high score. I had worked with her on the English, reading, and science sections, but she wanted help with math. Now, I'm no expert in math,...

Hi Reader, I mentioned that tech support project last week, but I changed my mind today because there's something else I want to write about. I know I want to write about it because I'm afraid to write about it. So I grew up with faith. Maybe you know that about me. And then in college I did some thinking and discovered that all the stuff my faith was based on didn't make sense. I see now that this was only true for me. That it only made no sense for me and me alone. Because, you know, there...

Hi Reader, I've taken on a little project to write a whitepaper, Bringing Humanity to Tech Support. But when am I going to write this thing? The only real time I have to write is when I sit down to write to you every week. So... I'm going to do it here. I realize tech support doesn't seem like what I usually write about. The reason for that is because it totally isn't what I usually write about. Well, sort of. As with so many things I write about, there's some nuance here. If you take a peek...

Hi Reader, When I set out to write my book, I had lots of different motivations. Some were positive, let's say, while others we might call negative. This seems very ordinary. We all do things for good and bad reasons (or at least what we judge as such). I was examining my reasons and saw something new I wanted to share with you. I didn't realize it at the time, but a big motivation for writing my book was that I was uncomfortable with people who saw the world as black and white. We might...

Hi Reader, My calling is: people experience the deep peace of coming home to themselves right this moment, whatever the circumstances. Back when I was workshopping that language (actually that work is ongoing) one of the things I started with before landing on "coming home" was "belonging." I don't remember why that got dropped, but it visited me again this morning and I want to look at it from a few perspectives that increase in ridiculousness as we go. First, the one I couldn't do on my...