I’ve been working as Support for two years — while it’s might be not much, compared to many veterans out there — there is one term that I usually avoid when communicating with users.
“Oh, it’s easy!”
“You can just simply…”
(OK, maybe two terms?)
“Simple” or “easy” signify that the thing we are working on should be just work. It doesn’t need any additional interference, and let the whole system taking care of it. A simple click then done.
And this is not the case with frustrated users. Folks that might have tried and tried and tried and things still refused. to. work.
It’s not easy, it’s not simple. And what’s more, when somebody tell you that — “oh, you have been working on this issue for five days straight?! It’s actually really easy!” — it implies you are the fool and hopeless.
It’s never easy for first-timers. It’s never simple for folks who just learned the wonders of technology. When they need assurance that clicking a button won’t destroy their website.
Hell, it’s not easy for me too. More often than not, there’s always bugs lurking or something new to learn. You can find me half-crying half-laughing hysterically whenever I have to file a bug report for the developers to check.
For some, we are lucky to learn new things ahead from lots of folks out there. For some, this is an entirely new thing, uncharted territory to explore.
“I found it’s really difficult to add image on this blog post. How do I do that?”
“I hear you. Adding image is one of the fun parts of blog post! To add an image on your blog post, click the “Add Media” button and you can either use the images from your website’s Media Library, or upload it from your computer.”