6.4 Objective 4: Provide User Support

If you have spent any time working support calls on a help desk, then you already know you're an unsung hero. Within every help desk phone call received or help ticket dispatched, a problem of unknown origin and complexity awaits. Problems large and small, self-inflicted and accidental, technical and personal, will all be presented. You'll be expected to handle each of these situations with finesse, and of course deliver a timely, friendly, and helpful response even if you're given misleading information.

User support in any computing environment requires patience, perseverance, reliability, a genuine desire to help, and above all, tact. Tact is of utmost importance because, though the topic is computers, we're dealing with people in need who just want to get their job done. Often they're frustrated or even embarrassed to make a help desk call -- it's the last thing they really want to do. Once they do contact you, individuals have a unique set of expectations for your help desk performance. Corporate executives will expect kid-glove treatment even if their problems are trivial and of little importance. Uninformed users may expect immediate fixes to new and perplexing problems. Highly technical users may know a great deal about what they're asking and expect detailed responses to detailed questions. Many users will simply want to dump their problems on you so they can move on to other tasks. Despite the attendant frustrations involved with staffing a help desk, the work you encounter responding to this diversity, particularly in large enterprises, will yield an excellent education on the systems you support.