Book description
Technical Support Essentials delivers 101 short and concise pieces of advice with actual examples that readers can use immediately to improve their technical support career.
Table of contents
- Copyright
- About the Author
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- Introduction
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1. Advice for Dealing with Yourself and Your Work
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1. Your Work Ethic
- 1.1. The Value of Technical Support Work
- 1.2. A Dynamic Career: Moving Up Laterally, and Even Down When Necessary
- 1.3. Keep Your Job
- 1.4. Yeah, It's a Job, But Make It More
- 1.5. Look Out for Your Company
- 1.6. Tell It Like It Is
- 1.7. You Either Have It or You Don't—Troubleshooting
- 1.8. Leave the Work Where It Belongs
- 1.9. Make a Difference in Every Call
- 1.10. Success is Up to You
- 1.11. Take the Initiative
- 1.12. Specialize in Something
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2. Intricacies of the Field
- 2.1. The Status of the Profession
- 2.2. The Curse of the One-Eyed Man
- 2.3. The Paradox of the Solo-Solver
- 2.4. Technical/Mechanical Support Style Theory
- 2.5. The Avit Phenomenon
- 2.6. Support Demand Function
- 2.7. The Multidisciplinary Field
- 2.8. The Vernacular of the Profession
- 2.9. The Expert Proletariat
- 2.10. One Last Note About Science
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3. Your Work Practices
- 3.1. Write Down Anything New Immediately After You Learn It
- 3.2. The Above-Average Performer
- 3.3. The Resource Collector
- 3.4. Work Smarter, Not Harder
- 3.5. Following the Watson Way
- 3.6. Don't Be Afraid of the Tough Issues
- 3.7. Find Your Zebra
- 3.8. The Knowledge Seeker
- 3.9. Reinventing the Wheel
- 3.10. The Technology Contributor
- 3.11. Recognizing Opportunities
- 3.12. The Approachable Expert
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1. Your Work Ethic
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2. Working with Others
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4. The Technical Support Group
- 4.1. Group or Team: Which Is It?
- 4.2. Informal Groups
- 4.3. What's So Good About Groups Anyway?
- 4.4. Groups: What's In It for the Individual?
- 4.5. The Vision of a Group
- 4.6. Group Communication
- 4.7. The Involved Group
- 4.8. The Open Group
- 4.9. The Group Crisis
- 4.10. The Constructive Group
- 4.11. Support Group Development Cycle
- 4.12. The Successful Group: An Inventory
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5. The Technical Support Colleague
- 5.1. Work on Trust
- 5.2. Respect Among Colleagues
- 5.3. Coworker Solidarity
- 5.4. Teach Them How to Fish
- 5.5. Personal Conflict
- 5.6. The Power of Criticism
- 5.7. Comforting the Demoralized Colleague
- 5.8. Understanding Your Colleagues' Behaviors
- 5.9. The Customer Within
- 5.10. The High Performer Vs. the High Producer
- 5.11. The Self-Sustaining Colleagues
- 5.12. Dealing with the Impossible Coworker
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6. Leadership in Support
- 6.1. What Is a Leader?
- 6.2. The Leader: Made or Born?
- 6.3. The Major Leadership Models
- 6.4. The Pragmatic Leader
- 6.5. The Linda Effect
- 6.6. Characteristics of a Support Leader
- 6.7. Leadership Development
- 6.8. The Situational Support Leader
- 6.9. Leading by Involving Others
- 6.10. Cultivating Leaders Within the Support Group
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4. The Technical Support Group
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3. The Support Organization
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7. Support Roles and Behaviors
- 7.1. Your Excess Value
- 7.2. The Contributor Role in Regard to Management
- 7.3. The Role of the Support Manager
- 7.4. The Nature of Management
- 7.5. Systems Theory in Support
- 7.6. Managing Behaviors
- 7.7. The Davila Cycle
- 7.8. The Price of Recognition
- 7.9. The Management Support Structure
- 7.10. The Fallible Manager
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8. Structures and Tiers
- 8.1. The Structure Dilemma
- 8.2. The Tiered Approach
- 8.3. Technology vs. Skill
- 8.4. The Service-Oriented Structure
- 8.5. The Meaningful Support Structure
- 8.6. The Reactive/Proactive Tiered Approach
- 8.7. The Performance-Driven Structure
- 8.8. Common Mistakes from the Upper Tiers
- 8.9. Wiping Off the Tiers: The Flat Structure
- 8.10. The Hybrid Support Structure
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9. Process and Practice
- 9.1. What's a Process?
- 9.2. Discretionary Process Principle
- 9.3. The Reasons Behind Process Changes
- 9.4. The Support Practice: A Definition
- 9.5. Group Process Evolution
- 9.6. Process and Maturity
- 9.7. Practice and Incompetence
- 9.8. The Process Map: Friend or Foe?
- 9.9. Problem Solving: A Waste of Time
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7. Support Roles and Behaviors
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4. Working with Customers
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10. Customer Service
- 10.1. Customer Service: A Dimensional Explanation
- 10.2. Customer Reality
- 10.3. The Customer's Iceberg
- 10.4. All About the Behaviors
- 10.5. The Open Mind Approach
- 10.6. Problematic Interactions and Coping Strategies
- 10.7. Customer Service: The Hierarchical Approach
- 10.8. The People Business
- 10.9. Talk Is Not Cheap
- 11. Communications
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12. Perspectives
- 12.1. What the Future Holds
- 12.2. The Renaissance Professional
- 12.3. The Preventive Support Model
- 12.4. No More Training Down the Drain
- 12.5. The Support Contractor
- 12.6. Opportunities in Global Labor Dynamics
- 12.7. The Need for Uniformity
- 12.8. Going Customerless
- 12.9. The Extra Mile
- 12.10. Where to Now?
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10. Customer Service
Product information
- Title: Technical Support Essentials: Advice You Can Use to Succeed in Technical Support
- Author(s):
- Release date: January 2009
- Publisher(s): Apress
- ISBN: 9781430225478
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