Software Support and Operational Workarounds: Why they are Good and Bad

No software is perfect, there will always be issues with the products and services we sell. When customers contact us with issues we need to be able to do something for them while the root cause of the issue is fixed. Sometimes the fix is quick and workarounds are not needed, but for longer term issues, something needs to be done in the mean time.

Perform strategizing around software support workarounds to ensure you are able to meet the standards your customers expect.

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Workarounds: the Good

Workarounds do help out: if one is available for the issue you are working on, you can just solve the problem. An ideal customer contact situation is being able to solve the issue for the customer on the first contact. Having a known list of documented workarounds which are easy for support teams to reference can be a powerful tool for you.

Rigorously capture workaround for every item which will have more than a day or 2 before the fix is released. Train your team each day on the new issues and their temporary solutions. With these simple steps you will see the resolution times and number of customer contacts on your tickets go down.

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Workarounds: the Bad

It can appear to the organization that issues which can be worked around do not need immediate attention / resolution. Its easy to shift focus and go back to new product development and leave the burden of these workarounds on the support teams. While using workarounds it is critical to track the operational cost of these and keep that data in the eyes of management to ensure no one forgets the cost and priority of these issues.

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Don't let Workarounds get Ugly

Ugly workarounds are those manual and repetitive tasks which have lasted for years. They are commonly accepted as "just how things are", and are likely due to some fundamental architecture changes that are just too difficult or costly to address.

Don't ever give up on making sure these workarounds are tracked rigorously. No matter how far out the fix is, put the numbers about the time these tasks are taking front and center with every operational cost report. Use my method of tracking these if needed and track the time these issues have cost to the company going years back. Presenting this data you can instill a new culture of justifying operational improvements to solve workarounds before they ever get ugly.