Pro tip: People keep asking questions that are way too broad to get good answers

I help run a local help desk and see this all the time. Someone will come in and just say 'my computer is slow' without any other details. Last week, a user said exactly that, and it took 15 minutes of asking to find out they were trying to run new video editing software on a 6-year-old laptop. If you start with the specific task and what happens, you get a real fix way faster. What's the most vague question you've had to untangle?

3 comments

3 Comments

felixlane11d ago

You ever get the classic "my car won't start"? That could be a dead battery, an empty gas tank, or you left the lights on for a week. Where do you even begin with that?

ward.anna11d ago

Wait, an empty gas tank makes a car not start? I thought it would crank but just not fire up. Usually if it's the battery you get that clicking sound or nothing at all, but the engine still tries to turn over.

fiona_kim9711d ago

My cousin once called me in a panic because her car was dead at the grocery store. After twenty minutes of troubleshooting, we realized she just never turned the key all the way to start it. She was just sitting there with the radio on. I always check for that now before I even think about jumper cables.