Simply Clarion - Supporting New Technologies

Posted June 1 1998

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Scenario

The following probably has never happened to you, but I'm sure you've read about it.

After receiving glowing reports about some new feature of a software product, you decide that this new feature is just what you want in the current system you've been working on. Since you're familiar with the older technologies, you decide to implement the older stuff first. Implementing the new technology will be the last step.

Unfortunately, it takes more time than originally estimated to get the old stuff working just the way the customer wants it. Pressure builds. The customer repeatedly calls, wondering when the project will be finished. You decide to be brave and give a guaranteed due date.

The only thing left is to insert the new technology. The reviews said it would be easy. However, something somewhere along the way just does not work. The project is due tomorrow. Time to get some technical assistance.

You contact a support person and frantically ask them for assistance. Help is not immediate. You grow irate blaming whomever is supporting you for the missed deadline. After all, there was nothing you could have done to approach this in a wiser way.

Or was there?

The teacher learns from the students

Many teachers will tell you the teacher learns more than the students do. This seems to be the case with me as I teach the Essentials and Mastery courses for TopSpeed. During the past several months I've had the opportunity of having a Team TopSpeed member and a TopSpeed employee who have both served in TopSpeed Technical Support attend my classes. I quizzed them about how class members could better use their service. Their responses follow, along with some suggestions of my own.

Team TopSpeed

Team TopSpeed consists of experienced Clarion developers who offer their services to the Clarion community. I often tell my classes that this level of expertise could not be purchased. Specific areas of expertise are covered depending on the products TopSpeed offers. Help can be obtained via CompuServe, or the Internet. Team TopSpeed members are not employees of TopSpeed. They are not paid to provide service, although they do receive free software, free DevCon registration (where they usually have a help desk), and free training. These "benefits" in no way come close to adequately compensating these people for the assistance they give.

Tips on using Team TopSpeed

Thanks to Brian Staff for the following tips for using Team TopSpeed. These steps are not only useful for working with Team TopSpeed, but also in solving problems yourself or working with others. The steps are in a suggested order (mine) so that doing earlier steps may solve the problem before the subsequent steps are needed.

• Read the manuals. Frequently the question asked is answered in the manuals. The manuals have been referred to as "world-class" quality. Much of the information contained within the manuals is also in online help.
• Isolate the problem. Rather than "something is wrong somewhere in this multiprocedure system," find out exactly where "something is wrong" and what "something" means.
• Provide a thin example. A thin example has one procedure (or very few), a dictionary with 1 file, and a small data file. The purpose of this thin example is to let Team TopSpeed members duplicate the problem on their own computers.
• Assume the Team TopSpeed person doesn't know your application. You have spent much time being immersed in your application and know much about it. The Team TopSpeed member does not have this knowledge. Include a brief summary of what the application is all about.
• Give some evidence that you've tried to solve the problem yourself. Rather than write in the spirit "I have a problem, you fix it!" write in the spirit of "Here's what I've already done-I need some additional help."
• If no help occurs immediately, sometimes rephrasing the problem helps. Sometimes people think Team TopSpeed is ignoring them, but if no help occurs immediately, it may because no one is aware of the answer. Rephrasing the problem may trigger an answer. Generally Team TopSpeed members have specific areas of expertise. However, questions which receive no answers within a specified time are monitored and assigned to specific Team TopSpeed members to research and answer.

Technical Support

TopSpeed Technical Support is a group of TopSpeed employees who answer your technical questions. They answer installation and other support questions which come in by telephone as well as providing technical support for training issues. For example, a customer needing some training in one specific area may purchase a few hours to have a support person bring them up to speed. While we are charged for some support calls, TopSpeed trys in all fairness to avoid gouging or charging for every minute. I have been impressed with the technical knowledge of the support people who have attended my class...even before they took the class!

Unfortunately, some callers get abusive.

Tips on Using Technical Support

The tips for using Team TopSpeed are also useful when preparing to useTopSpeed's Technical Support. Doreen Williamson, who spent two years in technical support, suggests the following, in addition:

Sometimes Technical Support cannot answer the question immediately. Several things, including the following, may cause this:

• Technical Support may not have the same hardware/Software configuration as you have. It is unrealistic for them to have every possible machine configuration. They may have to search for a TopSpeed employee or consultant with a similar configuration.
• The answer to your problem may only be answered by the software author. This may involve Technical Support contacting the appropriate people, then waiting to get an answer they may pass on to you.
• Technical Support may not have the expertise needed to answer your specific detailed question. When this happens, they go searching, just as you would. Even after having used the Clarion language for many years, I'm sure I don't know everything about all of its capabilities. But I keep learning, and seem to become more proficient over time. As new products are released I continually get to learn (and teach) new things. As new technical support personnel are added, they, too, must learn. If we burn them out (through our abuse) the cycle starts all over again. A wiser approach would be to take care of these people who help us.

I asked Doreen if people in general "thanked" Technical support. She said that this happens from time to time, and that "thanks" were really appreciated. Messages are posted on cubicle walls for all to see.

Thinking Thin

Rather than find ourselves in the predicament of the above scenario, it seems there are several things that could be done to more effectively manage deploying new technologies into our applications. Many involve exploiting thin examples. These include the following:

• Do not wait until the last moment to implement a new technology.
• Realize that "new technology" in the context I'm using it means any new technology you are not personally familiar with. This broad definition, then, means that if most other developers are using a certain thing, but I have never used it - for me, it is a new technology. I should treat is as such.
• Create a thin example to test out the technology. If the technology works just fine, you have not only the documentation to assist you, but also your thin example which will act as a model of how to implement it. If the technology does not seem to work, you already have a thin example to share with Team TopSpeed or with Technical Support. Over time, you will build a library of these thin examples. When a new programmer is added to your staff, or to your project, these thin examples also serve as training on how to do things "your" way.
• If a new version of Clarion is in beta test, use your thin examples to test the new release. If they don't work properly, provide feedback.
• For beta releases, provide thin examples of new features you may be interested in using. This will help the beta testing process and prepare you so that when the product is released (you do wait for final release, don't you) you are more prepared to implement the new features.

Summary

New technologies are not just something we sit back and receive with new versions. They are tools, which should be managed effectively. As we become active participants in beta cycles, we validate not only our existing tool set but also the new technologies to be released in the forthcoming product. Although we have valuable resources in Team TopSpeed and in TopSpeed Technical Support, there are effective and ineffective ways of using these resources.

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