RTFM!
Whose time is really being wasted?

I was driving back to Dallas one afternoon last week from a client site in Las Colinas. It was mid-afternoon, and as I swung on to the freeway, I was buzzed by an alien. [Err. Aren't you the Alien in these here parts? Ed.] The alien had big hair, a black rockers T-Shirt, a pale complexion and was driving a Honda Civic, pre-97 3-Door model. The Civic had been lowered and stiffened, the wheel arches flared to accommodate the wider tyres, the paint work had been re-done a sparkling multi-coat metallic giving it a tinsel glow. The back shelf was attired with Bose speakers, no doubt blasting out a piercing thud which otherwise couldn't be heard above the drone of the Janspeed exhaust. The license plate holder declared the owner to be an Alumni of a local Texan university. Finally, what really caught my eye were the 6 inch high, letters RTFM home cut from vinyl proudly sitting top right on the rear window. A little private joke. Well it made me smile.

As the Honda disappeared slowly into the distance, I thought, "Huh, Tech. Support, poor guy! It probably gets to him after a while." Much of what I knew about software and customer problems and technical support started to mull over in my mind as the car inched back along the Linden B. Johnston Freeway. I got to wondering, just whose time is being wasted, anyway?

The Techie's Point of View

RTFM! The cry of the beleaguered Techie who has just had yet another thick headed customer on the telephone. Will these people never learn? Gee, Users! Who needs them? The only thing worse than Users is No Users at all. Right? Wrong!

The Techie believes that his time was wasted by the customer who should have read the manual.

RTFM! Is the cry of an industry which remains in denial about what it continues to fail to do properly. That failure isn't a failure in support. No. God love those guys who spend their lives answering the telephones. No. That failure is in Design.

The Customer's Point of View

The Customer had a problem to be solved, or a Goal to achieve, or just a pure unbridled interest in new technology. The Customer shelled out his hard earned cash to your company - not someone else's company - YOUR company. He chose YOUR product. She believed that YOU were her friend and that in exchange for a fair sum of money. YOU were going to deliver.

Imagine the Customer's disappointment when that new software let her down. She just couldn't figure out how to use it at all. It didn't deliver. So, she lifts the phone and calls for help.

The Customer's Point of View is that it's her money, it's her time, and it's her right to get a result as fast as possible. YOU, the software vendor or website service vendor, are wasting her time with your inferior offering.

So, is it fair that she should have to read the manual too?

It's a Question of Character

I am forever grateful that the world is made up of a mixture of people. Different colours, different types, creeds, cultures, religions, personalities. It would be sadly dull if there were only two or three designs and we were all cloned from that.

There is a type of person who is studied, careful, attentive and particular. I married one! My wife thinks my ineptitude with software packages is frankly inexcusable. In her former life, as a PA to the boss of a large multinational she was quite a whiz with Lotus Notes, Excel, Word etc. etc. She is great with the Fax machine, the answer phone, the programmable voice phone with voice mail, the VCR, the CD Player, the iMac. The list goes on and on. She never starts anything new without reading the manual first. By typical Technical Support standards she is the model user. Why can't there be a whole world full of users like that?

Frankly, it's not possible! The people with the disposition to read manuals are often not those who will have the ideas which push your business forward. The reality is that the majority of users have neither the disposition or patience to read manuals. There are a number of personality types and in a well balanced team they will all be present. Perhaps only a couple of those personality types are manual readers. The others are not.

What makes someone read the manual?

Well, first we have to consider whether some characteristics of these products. The domestic ones such as the phone, fax, VCR and CD Player are frankly completely compelling. Life around the Anderson household would be impossible without them.

As for the software packages, these were absolutely essential for proper execution of working tasks. Formal training from IT was given in each one. Sure enough a manual was provided and read when required.

However, outside these formal packages which were essential for the job used only at work, my wife has mastered nothing else. Despite free access to several HTML editors and other applications software. She shows no interest. Her husband is expected to maintain the family web pages.

There is a simple explanation. Software is simply too difficult to learn. The effort required is too much to justify when a softer option - nagging the husband is available.

In my wife's case, there had to be a compelling reason to learn the software, read the manual, otherwise she simply shows no interest.

There are times that I will read a manual. Particularly when I have invested a large sum. I recently read the manual for my new car - partly because it was All-Wheel-Drive and I have never had such a car before. I would never ever read the manual for a rental car before driving off. Luckily cars are pretty easy to use. The variations are minimal. I would never consider calling Ford technical support to say, "Hey I just got into the new 2000 Taurus and it's raining, can you tell me how to start and stop the rear window wiper?"

I would consider calling support on a single-usage piece of software. In fact on several websites recently I've had to do just such a thing.

Trying to Force RTFM

Good support costs. Big companies have found this out the hard way. Try asking anyone from Aldus (the Pagemaker company, now part of Adobe). In order to save money and keep the headline price of the product down, is it not fair to ask the User to read the manual? No!

Recently, I've found that firms are increasingly aware of the spiraling costs of technical support. Several clients recently have asked me to "ensure that the technical support phone number is very hard to find. Force the user through the FAQ, then the on-line help, then the e-mail support and if all else fails then let them call an operator."

Frankly, this appalls me! The client is willing to risk destroying the customer's respect for them, their website or their product. They will risk their brand simply because they aren't willing to pay for good quality design upfront.

Designing out Problems is better than RTFM

When I designed products at MDi Systems, I was often out doing pre-sales, evangelising the product. Several potential clients would say to me, "What are you doing about technical support?" My reply was simple. "We design it out." I would expand on this. "My job, out here in the field, is to understand what you need our product to do. If I get that right, then the product will do it for you. You won't need support. You asked me earlier why our product was cheaper than some of our competitors. Well, frankly, there is an easy answer to this. We spend less on support costs and we pass that saving on to you. With our competitors you're paying for all that technical support hassle upfront as part of the price."

What price a good Interaction Designer

How much do you need to pay a good Interaction Designer? Probably twice to four times the number you first think of.

What is the value of a good Interaction Designer

Anecdotal evidence from my past at firms like Rombo and MDi Systems has shown me that improved Interaction Design will cut technical support calls by at least 50%. What price a good Interaction Designer now?

The Customer's Time

Remember, it's always the customer's time that is being wasted. It's also his blood pressure that is high and his frustration that is important. Not YOURS! Unfortunately, too few companies force the engineers who build the software to also answer the telephones, but the real baddies in all this are the managers. It is imperative that any new software, whether product or website service, be properly designed by an experienced Interaction Designer. Relieve your Technical Support People and put the cry of RTFM in the bin. Design out Technical Support through improved Interaction!