diff --git a/wiki/src/contribute/working_together/roles/help_desk.mdwn b/wiki/src/contribute/working_together/roles/help_desk.mdwn index 81a761c79c2998236e9596a9a5e1f15ab1497b6f..88b96ec77a1c613bc14b1933ebd5a5732b46c905 100644 --- a/wiki/src/contribute/working_together/roles/help_desk.mdwn +++ b/wiki/src/contribute/working_together/roles/help_desk.mdwn @@ -1,52 +1,169 @@ [[!meta title="Help Desk"]] -[[!toc]] +[[!toc levels=3]] Main purpose ============ -Help Desk is handling individual support requests with two primary -goals: +The end-goal of Help Desk, when handling individual support requests, is to +**help improve Tails for a broad range of users** — as opposed to merely helping +one individual user solve the immediate problem they're facing, which does not +scale and does not help anyone else. -1. Gather qualitative and quantitative user data, that can be used: +The output of Help Desk work is then used: - - by the Foundations Team and UX people to prioritize their own - work; - - by our broader community, to improve our understanding of who our - current users are, feed our thought process about our vision for - Tails in the future, and help us build a relevant roadmap. + - by the Foundations Team, Technical writers, and UX designers, + to prioritize their own work; -2. Help the bug reporter resolve the problem they are facing. + - by the broader Tails community, to feed the thought process about our vision + for Tails in the future, and help us build a relevant roadmap. -User support -============ +Duties +====== + +Triaging user support requests +------------------------------ + +Help Desk receives and triages user support requests by email: + + - WhisperBack reports + - private user support requests received on + [[tails-support-private@boum.org|about/contact#tails-support-private]] + +Additionally, if Help Desk members feel like it, once the email part has been +dealt with, they may triage user support requests on other communication +platforms, such as XMPP or Reddit. + +### Information we are looking for + +To achieve its main purpose, Help Desk treats WhisperBack reports and support +requests as a source of information that can teach the project something that we +don't know yet. In particular, we're looking for: + + - problems that affect many users: + + - software bugs + - UX problems + - feature requests + + - hardware support regressions that affect a broad range of hardware + + - workarounds for hardware support problems + +Once the [[!tails_ticket 17935 description="auto-reply"]] is in place, we'll +stop manually answering support requests that don't serve the main purpose of +Help Desk. + +### Relaying information to the relevant teams + +If you have spotted new information that you think can be used to improve Tails, +relay it to the relevant teams: + +1. Gather information about the context in which the problem + occurs, how important it is, what known workarounds exist. + +2. Forward the WhisperBack report over email. + + In order to point the Foundations Team's "frontdesk" to a report, instead + reply to it on , adding the `[FT]` tag in the subject. + +3. If the problem is big enough to warrant tracking it in GitLab, + file a GitLab issue assigned to the relevant team, referencing the + WhisperBack report ID. + + If possible, provide statistics about how many people are impacted. + +The relevant team will take a look and decide what to do about the problem. + +### GitLab issue description = the source of truth + +We use the description of GitLab issues that are relevant to Help Desk's work +to share and maintain this information: + + - standard reply by Help Desk to affected users + + - list of information that we need users to provide + +For example, see [[!tails_ticket 13576#we-need-your-feedback]]. + +Then: + + - Help Desk points the current bug reporter and future ones to the GitLab issue. + + This avoids having to write essentially the same answer multiple times, + which lowers the workload of the Help Desk. + + This also ensures the affected users get up-to-date information. + + - Some users will find the information themselves on GitLab. + + This lowers the workload of the Help Desk. + + - Technical writers can improve the phrasing. + + This increases the chances affected users can workaround the problem or + provide the information we need. + + - Developers can update the technical information. + + For example: + + - To ask affected users to test a nightly built image that may fix the problem. + - To request more technical information from affected users. + +### Sometimes, it's OK to stop answering users + +It's OK to stop answering users once we have done either one of: + + - gathered the information we will need to improve Tails + - realized that we won't realistically be able to improve Tails in this respect + - determined that the affected use case is low on our list of priorities + +### Hardware support problems + +In general, our resources don't allow us to solve hardware support problems. +This is why, in this area, we limit our ambitions to: + + - Identifying recently introduced regressions that affect a broad range of hardware. + - Documenting workarounds our users have discovered themselves and reported to us. + +Standard operating procedure: [[standard reply to hardware support reports for +which we can't do anything|support/hardware]] + +Stay up-to-date regarding Tails changes +--------------------------------------- + +In order to triage user support requests, Help Desk needs to remain continuously +aware of changes that affect Tails users: + +- Read Tails [[news]]. + + In particular, when a new Tails was published, carefully read the + release notes. + +- Scan the detailed [[!tails_gitweb debian/changelog desc="changelog"]] + entry when a new Tails was released. + +Mailing list moderation +----------------------- + +Administer and moderate our general purpose public mailing lists: + + - [tails-dev@boum.org](https://www.autistici.org/mailman/admin/tails-dev) + - [tails-l10n@boum.org](https://www.autistici.org/mailman/admin/tails-l10n) + - [tails-testers@boum.org](https://www.autistici.org/mailman/admin/tails-testers) + +Work organization +================= + +- When Help Desk resources don't allow covering every shift, it's OK to: + + - Skip some shifts entirely + + - Do some shifts in read-only mode: no answers, only skim over reports, + looking for major new issues to report them back to the project. + + - Ask for help outside of the current Help Desk team. - - Do user support by email: - - Reply to bug reports received on (empty reports might - be silently ignored). - - Reply to private user support requests received on - [[tails-support-private@boum.org|about/contact#tails-support-private]]. - - Act as a proxy between issues reported by users and the rest of - the project. Don't spend too much time investigating every such - issue, in particular for hardware support problems. Instead, - forward this information to the Foundations Team: - 1. Gather information about the context in which the problem - occurs, how important it is, what known workarounds exist. - 2. Forward the WhisperBack report over email. - 3. File an issue assigned to a Foundation Team member, referencing - the WhisperBack report ID. - 4. Ideally, provide statistics about how many people are impacted. - 5. The Foundations Team will take a look and decide what to do - (e.g. addressing root cause of the problem, or asking Technical - Writers to document the problem and workarounds, or dismissing - it). - - Follow-up on communications even when not on shift. - - Do user support on XMPP if you feel like it. - -General communication watchdog -============================== - - - Administer and moderate our general purpose public mailing lists: - - [tails-dev@boum.org](https://www.autistici.org/mailman/admin/tails-dev) - - [tails-l10n@boum.org](https://www.autistici.org/mailman/admin/tails-l10n) - - [tails-testers@boum.org](https://www.autistici.org/mailman/admin/tails-testers) +- Help Desk members are expected to follow-up on communications even when not + on shift.