Is vb5 almost there now

Actually no, the reason for the link to the source is so the next level (devs, management) can go to the source, should they have questions or need more information. They should talk directly to the customer, when necessary. The support person is, in that situation, actually just the owner and manager of the issue resolution, where the next level staff member is his or her assistant (even the manager). I agree completely, being the middleman for communication is terrible and actually a big waste of time.

The support person is, when the problem is not solvable though his or her own means, only the instigator to the escalation. The resolution to the escalation itself is carried out by others and the support person sits back and watches and only supports the resolution, when needed.

Scott

 

The problem is that JIRA doesn't work that way, so the best solution is for the customer to log issues in some circumstances. This also can have the benefit of making the customer feel they have some level of input into the process, not everyone dislikes the system.

Now I realise you will say JIRA needs replacing but again that is not an option so the best has to be made of what is there.

 

Why do you keep saying what you think I'll say? Please stop it, thank you.

Why do you say Jira doesn't work that way? How Jira works has absolutely nothing to do with the process of reporting into it.

Scott

 

Customers should not be allowed in jira only read only the can respond in the forums or report there. That way Jira stays clean and customers can talk about it in the comford of the forum. Discussion about issues and new features is at an all time low, before Jira there where lots of discussions about new features or issues.

 

I do understand the point - but then someone needs to be paid to keep adding these to the tracker and feeding the responses back and to. How much extra will people be prepared to pay for licenses and/or support, in order to cover those costs? My guess would be - not a great deal. I certainly wouldn't.

The key to this is how customers are asked to log stuff...I generally provide a direct link to a ready-populated "new bug" (or whatever) screen...which is pre-populated with the major version as well...and ask the customer to simply complete the title (summary) and description boxes. Just those two fields. The staff will do the rest, nothing else is needed, though customers are welcome to fill in other bits if they wish.

 

Doesn't work what way. I've been reporting bugs on phpBB tracker that uses JIRA and have been talking with devs on it.

Here you go as an example: https://tracker.phpbb.com/browse/PHPBB3-12517?filter=-2

 

Todays posts and new threads is another massive bug
Looking through todays posts, you have to go through all pages, because they are all over the place

They might have to employ a magician to make a lot of the bug disappear

 

Well if the developers would do a good job in the first place you would not need a dedicated person to fill jira with bugs. Feature or improvement requests you can set in jira if you know it will be added else it would be a waste of space in jira.

 

Mark, how much work is it to keep track of all the duplicates and to have someone constantly scan the new Jiras and have them prioritize them? Isn't that a cost too?

Jira also has a "watch" and a "vote" function. If you add the Jira and tell the customer about your helping them by adding the Jira, all they need to know is how the vote and watch functions work. You ask them politely to vote for their Jira or watch it and they'll get automatic updates. Problem solved on the updating. Again, you aren't supposed to be a middleman, just the instigator and manager. It is this layered thinking on working with customers, which causes companies to lose sight of their customers. IB is terribly afflicted with this sickness.

The key is not to ask the customer to log anything other than their initial ticket or thread. Once you tell the customer to go do something else to have them get rid of their problem, you are missing a chance to practice excellent customer service. What you are doing is what is known as the proverbial "Runaround".

That is poor customer service and worse case, as is the situation with vB too often, the issue doesn't even get resolved or it takes forever until it is resolved, which adds more frustration to the customer's situation. Let customer service at least not be a form of frustration for the customer, which IB's handling of issues and Jira reports is!

Scott

 

Pop the bit in bold into google translate from 'IB speech' into 'English' and it comes up with - 'basically ignores'.

 

If the customer is unsure what to put in a field, the teams will fill them in, or get in touch via the report and ask for what they need.

The idea behind this is to prevent the customer being bamboozled and put off by all the different fields and options within Jira. Just fill in two fields - subject and description. Just like a forum post. vB staff will do the rest.

 

The no additional cost solution would be to give you this job. You get paid for doing nothing anyway, might as well put you to work for a change and it won't cost any extras. Might even make you more productive.

 

Mc Donalds Mark (cool nickname I have given the poor sod ) has a vb 5.1.2 alpha test set up which people can play with according to his post on the Vbulletin support forums

http://www.talknewsuk.com/testvb/

The style used is one of the new styles included in vb 5.1.2 alpha

 

That took a lot of creative color coding. How old was the dev that did this 6? 8?

 

I would never add anything to jira, especially when I saw how members were "Told" to add to jira and not asked if they would.

 

Yup, another golden rule to great customers service is never use the word "must". A customer must never do anything.

Scott

 

Me too. Specially if nobody changes ANYTHING there for years!

I've reported http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBIV-15116 more then 2 years ago!!!!!!!!
And on tuestday!!!! i got an automatic mail with following update:

 

Playing with Marks test forum, it looks like the random order of todays posts has been sorted out
See what happens when they get the main VB forums onto 5.1.2
So far, the alpha looks like its starting to take shape