Use the Right Metrics

Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.

Bill Gates

When reviewing your success rates, or progress towards the goals you are trying to achieve, you should be looking at what you are actually reviewing to ensure it is relevant in the first place… or, in other words, does it really what matters?

My thoughts on this are more or less to the point of looking at how well a customer care person addressed the concern brought to their attention. This is the end result metric to be considered over most any other indicator.

This does not mean volumes should not be taken into consideration only that it is likely more relevant to look at the volume in the context of how it relates specifically to the concern at hand. The more concerns being brought forward for the same problem would point to something upstream that may need to be addressed in general such as a software bug or a process that is inefficient or poorly explained.

Also to be taken into consideration with the above is the length of the conversation. Providing a suggested solution and explaining it clearly in a language the customer can understand and take action with is ideally done with the first response although in some cases more details and context are needed to provide the most correct solution idea. A relevant benchmark for the number of back and forth responses should be set but does not need to be explicitly held to a specific number that cannot be exceeded.

Keeping the conversation on point and to an ideal minimum will ultimately provide the best customer care. Ensuring these two ideals will generally address any other metrics you may want to consider provided when you take those measurements you know exactly what you are looking at and why you need to know them.

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

Understanding

Life’s under no obligation to give us what we expect.

Margaret Mitchell

Much like Baden Powell and the Boy Scouts promote, always be prepared especially when dealing with others. Although one might think they know what to expect it is often times something else causing the issue or concern.

It is important to remember that to find common ground in your communication to ensure you are able to explain the idea you are trying to present. This may mean reducing your vocabulary to more common, every-day words and phrases or being more precise in the technical description of the problem at hand. Each instance will be based on the overall context of the conversation.

Do not expect everyone will be able to immediately understand what you are saying, and in the same vein, you should not always expect to be immediately understood. Sometimes the communication gap needs to be bridged otherwise you might have the gist of the idea get lost in translation.

Always take the time to understand what is expected rather than simply moving forward believing you know, without doubt, those expectations.

Walk Through Open Doors

Life opens up opportunities to you, and you either take them or you stay afraid of taking them.

Jim Carrey

There may be times when a door appears to have closed in front of you and perhaps that opportunity has passed you by? Have you ever considered that the door is only closed, it’s not locked.

Opportunity may have knocked on your door and you did not answer although there is nothing to say you cannot walk up to opportunity’s door and knock on it yourself.

If you are not willing to take that chance, be bold, step up, then you may be missing those opportunities in your life that will change it forever.

Sometimes you may have to make those opportunities for yourself and other times they will be just there for you to seize upon but no matter the case you still have to not be afraid of taking that chance and adventuring out into the unknown.

Find that opportunity to grow, to share, to learn!

Also keep in mind, when looking or finding these opportunities, do you want to look back and ask yourself… what if?

Open Your Own Doors

If someone offers you an amazing opportunity and you’re not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later.

Richard Branson

Always be learning and you will always be growing. Be ready to reach for the stars and take your imagination to new heights. What wonders will you see if you just open your eyes to their opportunities?

The excitement of a new journey is not so much in the destination as it is learning how to get there and seeing what comes along the way while traveling its path. Every opportunity leads to a possibility of adventure – you just have to say yes.

Carpe Deum

There are no such things as mistakes just happy accidents.

Bob Ross

Every mistake will always have the potential to be a learning experience. It may be an opportunity to try something new or see something from a different perspective.

The chance to learn a new direction or take a different path moving forward and benefit from the “mistake” should be seized much the same as an obvious golden opportunity. Every mistake can be a key to a new solution, perhaps one that no one knew was needed to begin with.

Even Angry Customers Offer Benefits

The eyes of a vengeful man miss few details he can turn to advantage.

“Robinton” in the novel Dragonquest by Anne McCaffery

Angry and disgruntled customers are often times the most observant and critical. Ideally, you can take what they are saying and make use of their feedback to recognize and fix issues they are reporting. Aside from correcting problems and concerns these updates may also turn the tide in the customer’s view of your product offering.

Focus

Do one thing at a time. Do it well. Move on to the next.

There are many proponents of “multitasking” which I find is better described as the skill of focusing on one thing at a time with the ability to seamlessly shift that focus to other things as needed without losing a beat. By expanding and enhancing this skill you will find you are handling multiple tasks at the “same time” whenever the need arises.

A key concept to take into consideration here is documentation. Make notes of your progress and steps taken so you can easily return to the task at hand and know where you were; or, when in a team environment, allow another to pick up where you left off.

Working to improve recall and other similar memory functions will also help to make these shifts in focus much more seamless as well and remember to always use what works best for the environment you find yourself in.

Moving Forward

Never stop growing, there will always be a bigger role to fill.

Being complacent in your work or your life will eventually lead to stagnation. You should always be looking forward to possibilities and potential as they will always be in front of you no matter the path you take.

Passion

Skills are cheap. Passion is priceless.

Gary Vaynerchuk

Instilling a passion into a person, whether it be to help or by helping, will be your greatest achievement in providing support. You cannot buy passion for a product, it must be earned by the quality of the product and the company providing it.

Recognition

A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected.

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Letting someone know they are doing a good job is sometimes all you need to do to give them the incentive to continue to improve on the work they are already doing.