March 2007 - Posts

• Profiling managed .Net framework plugins

  One of the applications I support is called ANTS Profiler which provides performance and memory profiling for managed code. A few times recently I have had customers ask about profiling plugins and although I knew it was possible I wasn't entirely sure how easy it was or what was involved. So, I asked one of our developers about it and he pointed me at the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Automation Samples and he told to install one of them into Visual Studio 2005 and point ANTS Profiler at it. I gave it a try and sure enough it really was that simple. ANTS Profiler did come up with a warning telling me that Visual Studio wasn't a managed application but I just clicked on OK and as soon as the managed addin was loaded I was able to profile it. So, I now know that ANTS Profiler can profile managed plugins but I also know what is involved. The discovery of the automation samples have been an additional bonus as I hadn't realized they had existed but could have done with them in the past. Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Mar 27 2007, 05:54 PM by Dave Mellors with 1 comment(s) Filed under: .NET, software, Red Gate Software, Technical Support

• The ten things ten years of professional software development has taught me

  Andrés Taylor has written an insightful list of the "Top ten things ten years of professional software development has taught me" but don't be fooled this is a very good list with relevant items for anyone working in IT and not just developers. I particularly like the fact that Andrés has recognized the importance of communication even for developers. Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Mar 26 2007, 07:52 AM by Dave Mellors with no comments Filed under: Technical Support

• The IT Technical Support essential software list

  Whenever I move to a new PC these items of software tend to move with me. Take a look at the list and let me know if there are any others I should have in my software toolbox. The IT Technical Support essential software list  Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Mar 25 2007, 11:01 PM by Dave Mellors with no comments Filed under: software, Technical Support

• The art of communication

  Yesterday, I remembered an old blog entry that helps to emphasise the importance of communication in Technical Support. Sometimes you're on the phone with somebody and you suspect that the problem is something as simple as forgetting to plug it in, or that the cable was plugged into the wrong port. This is easy to do with those PS/2 connectors that fit both a keyboard and a mouse plug, or with network cables that can fit both into the upstream and downstream ports on a router. Here's the trick: Don't ask "Are you sure it's plugged in correctly?" If you do this, they will get all insulted and say indignantly, "Of course it is! Do I look like an idiot?" without actually checking. Instead, say "Okay, sometimes the connection gets a little dusty and the connection gets weak. Could you unplug the connector, blow into it to get the dust out, then plug it back in?" It is simple really, but you really have to be quite smart to recognize these opportunities and be quick enough to react so that your response still seems natural. Excellent communication can turn that ranting miserable old git of a customer into your best friend and makes the customer happier and your job fair more enjoyable. The full blog entry can be found at Raymond Chens "Blow the dust out of the connector" entry on The Old New Thing blog. Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Mar 25 2007, 10:06 AM by Dave Mellors with no comments Filed under: Technical Support

• Technical Support Training

  Some people might consider the most important attribute for a technical support person is that they must be very technical. However, I don't agree and the last week really bought that home to me. It's all gone Pete Tong! Recently I was asked to migrate a web site that the company had just acquired and migrate it from a US based server to a UK based server. There wasn't much to it and it just involved getting a new server sorted out, transferring the files and sorting out the DNS etc. Unfortunately, it was a complete mess from start to finish and although I could blame things various things, if I had got the communication right, none of those things would have mattered too much and this project would have gone more smoothly and could have been more satisfying. Note to self: No matter how small the project, always get the communication right! That's the way to do it! I really enjoy doing support and the thing that gives me a buzz is when a customer says "Thank you!" typically this is in an email or over the phone and it's my favourite part of the job. This week someone posted on a public forum that they were very pleased with the support they had received from us and it was really nice that someone had gone to the effort of doing this. Funny enough my technical skills were hardly involved at all because someone else within the company handled the technical stuff. However, I was involved in was the handling of communication between the customer and our developers and I like to think that this played a good part in the customers experience. Note to self: Getting the communication right can get results and feels good! There you go, for me the most important attribute for a support person is that they must be able to communicate really well. No matter how technical you are, without those communication skills your projects will fail and your customers (and your boss) aren't likely to appreciate your technical skills as they won't understand what's going on. Perhaps, the next time you start thinking about what training you need, you ought to consider something related to improving your communication skills - you might be surprised at the difference it makes. Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Mar 24 2007, 07:37 PM by Dave Mellors with no comments Filed under: Technical Support

• Shopping on the Internet - why is it so frustrating?

  Shopping on the Internet can be such a frustrating experience and having done web development for a few years it always amazes me that companies just don't seem to understand why carts are being abandoned and visitors lost. My top 5 things I hate when shopping on the Internet  Unable to click on basket items You put an item in your cart and then later you decide you just want to go back and check on something like the size or colour. I click on view basket and expect to be able to click on the item and be taken back to the items web page but far too many sites don't allow me to do that so I end up hunting through the site. Out of stock Too many web sites contain lots of products but then when you click on them or try to order them you are told they are out of stock! Either take the product out of your online store or at least make it obvious without having to click on lots of links that its out of stock! Session timeouts Why are sessions set to timeout after 20 minutes. Honestly! I've just spent 20 minutes putting things in the basket, the phone rings or the call of nature intervenes and when you return to your PC that basket contents have disappeared. Do they honestly think I'm going to spend another 20 minutes adding things to my cart? Categories Sometimes when I visit a web site I just want to have a browse. Maybe I'm looking for ideas for a gift for someone or just have some spare cash burning a hole in my pocket that I need to spend. So, the sites helpfully categorize the contents into things like Mens Clothes or Womens Clothes which in turn become Trousers, Jackets, Shoes and so on. What I really get cheesed off with is that sometimes I can't view everything in the Mens Clothes section or worse still I can't see all the Trousers instead I have to select a brand or something. Come on sort it out! Broken links and just plain doesn't work Seriously, this really happens. The companies spends huge amounts of money on advertising and buying in stock and yet when I come to order the goods the site either just doesn't work at all, doesn't work with my browser or is full of broken links. I'm not just talking small companies I sometimes across major sites with this problem - I think some of the Insurance sites are particularly bad! That reminds me I need to write about Amazon soon whilst I think they have done a good job in the past I just feel they are heading into self destruction. Remind me to tell you about what I mean and where I think they are goind wrong. Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Mar 21 2007, 11:00 AM by Dave Mellors with no comments Filed under: web development

• Good customer service from Micro Direct

  I have been a customer of Micro Direct for a number of years but I don't actually order things that often and I have never had to return anything. Today I phoned the customer service phone number to return a PSU that I incorrectly ordered (completely my fault!). The call to customer services was on a 0870 number (not a good start!) and the call entered the queuing system and I was warned that they are experiencing a high number of calls. Even so, my call was answered within a reasonable amount of time by someone (sorry, forgot your name) who seemed knowledgeable, friendly and efficient. The thing that really impressed me was that they went beyond the standard script based stuff that you might normally get when you phone a customer service phone number and actually offered good advice and explained things really well!!! To actually deal with a company that has a good range of products, competitive prices AND good customer support is so rare I thought I really ought to give them a mention. WELL DONE MICRO DIRECT!!!! In future, even if I find somewhere cheaper I think I will always check Micro Direct to see if I can get it from them. Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Mar 21 2007, 10:15 AM by Dave Mellors with no comments

• Moving my blog from webhost4life to another host

  I have been meaning to move my community server blog and bits and pieces from WebHost4Life (fed up with the downtime!) to another hosting company for quite some time but never really got around to it mainly because I didn't want the hassle of moving my SQL databases. Yesterday I finally decided to migrate my site and decided to use some software called SQL Packager written by the company I work for. Now, I support this software as part of my job at Red Gate but I have only really ever used it to recreate customer problems and have little experience of using it in anger and certainly not on my own data! First step was to point SQL Packager at my existing SQL database and tell it to package up my database. In my case this pretty much meant just accepting all the defaults and off it went. At the end of it I had my schema and data all wrapped up in a executable file on my hard disk. Next I created a new SQL database on my new host server and ran the executable that I had just created. I provided my new database details and off it went... until it fell over with a collation error. As SQL Packager provided me with details of what the original database collation was it was easy to change the settings on my new database to match it and I re-ran the executable. Hurrah! In less than 15 minutes I had migrated my SQL databases from my old host to my new one and it all worked - THAT WAS EASY!!! I just wish copying the files across from my old site to the new one was as easy. For some reason some of the files didn't get copied across and I spent ages messing around trying to work out what had gone wrong. So, I know now that moving my databases is going to be easy but now moving the files has become the point of pain. To solve this, I thnk I'm going to have to put in a request in at work for a new product - Red Gate Web Site Packager BTW. Just to make it clear, I do work for Red Gate Software who make the SQL Packager software but this blog is mine and this entry is not intended as an advert or anything!! Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! Posted Mar 19 2007, 05:58 AM by Dave Mellors with no comments Filed under: community server, blog, Red Gate Software