Best First Question 🤔

Watercooler
1

What’s your best

First Question

re troubleshooting a user’s Cameras connectivity?

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Hello. IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again?

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This is my standard post I copy/paste for connectivity issues:

Expand this for instructions to clear Cache/Memory-Leak Variables:
  • CLEAR THE APP CACHE:
    1. At a minimum, in the app go to the Account Tab
      âžś Select App Settings
      âžś Go down to where it says Cache File Size
      âžś select Clear on the right side.
    2. If using Android, Go back to your phone’s home screen and Long-press on the Wyze app’s launcher icon (or wherever you tap to initially open the app)
      âžś Select App info in the pop-up menu.
      âžś Select Storage and Cache
      âžś Tap Clear cache (and consider tapping on Clear storage too) on the Storage screen.
      âžś Just to be thorough, tap Force stop on the App info screen (may need to tap OK to confirm).
  • Restart your phone.
  • Restart your router (and modem)
  • Restart the Wyze device (unplug the power cord and plug it back in)
  • Now try it again with everything pulling fresh and no potential memory leaks, etc.

Also, make sure you aren’t using a long 3rd-party USB cord or adapter as those are known to cause intermittent issues due to weak power received during times when the camera needs to draw more power.

That resolves most issues.

Then I might tell them to get a real router or stop using a junk ISP, etc.

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I was being mildly facetious with my response, but I do typically ask about restarts/resets. If a user starts a topic primarily with a vague rant and little-to-no detail about the actual issue, then a variation of this is a question I tend to ask a lot: “What troubleshooting steps have you tried so far?”

I generally try to give thoughtful responses to requests for assistance, unlike what often seems to happen with the Wyze Wizards, unfortunately. I say that not to get in a dig on Support but because I don’t want to suggest a bunch of steps that a user has already tried (which also often happens with Support’s scripts), so I want to ascertain what’s been tried already but hasn’t worked. I think that also can give a sense of a user’s understanding of a problem, so that can guide further responses.

Having said that, I also sometimes ask something like this: “What has Support said when you submitted a log and opened a ticket?”

Because I’m seeking detail that might help me to understand a problem, I strive to avoid asking closed-end questions if I have other options. Asking something that can be answered with “yes” or “no” is seldom useful in establishing productive dialog, so I try to phrase queries in a way that the other person will have to formulate a better answer.

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Those are great starting questions for any situation!

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Can you step away from the ledge?

It is not as bad as it seems.

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Thanks! I’ve done a fair amount of problem-solving work and find that getting a user’s assessment of a situation is important, so I try to start broad—give the person some space to fill—rather than just trying to attack what I think a problem is because of whatever my preconceived notion is, because I believe an important (and often overlooked) part of solving another person’s problem (or at least assisting with finding a solution) is helping the person to feel understood. Sometimes solving a technical problem as I identify it is relatively easy, but the user’s experience of the problem—and the way that problem affects the user—may be a different thing entirely, so I often try to use a problem-solving opportunity to understand and educate, if I can.

“Just…just a little more. I think the signal might be stronger if you can just stre-e-etch….” :grin:

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That was my job for many years before the new owner moved me up front as service manager. I found the more information I can get, the faster and cheaper the job will be. Some people think the more they say the more it will cost.

The old owner gave me a ticket on a 1990s Ford pickup that was towed in because it wouldn’t start. No other information. Everything on the scanner looked great. Injector ms is good, spark is good, fuel pressure is good, compression is good. All you need to start an ICE is suck, squeeze, wow, and bang. I could start it on ether, and once it was running, it wasn’t bad. Stunk a little.

I stumbled across the problem when disconnecting the fuel pressure gauge. The gas felt slimy and didn’t evaporate on my hand like gas does. I took a sample and found out the old man had dumped about 5 gallons of kerosene in the tank to clean the injectors.

So to keep on topic, my first question was “what has been done to the vehicle recently?”

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