I deal with end users a lot. I'm fond of many of them, but most drive me mad. And their behaviour seems to be getting worse. I must emphasise that this catalogue of the worst aspects of user behaviour is designed to help us laugh at some of the follies we encounter daily. I haven't drafted it because I think people are horrible. In fact, I usually enjoy my dealings with them.
1. Take control of remote sessions
I do a lot of remote support, using either LogMeIn or TeamViewer. In the course of using that software I inevitably run into clients who constantly want to show me what's going on, and take over the mouse to point out something or even start using their machine for something else — such as replying to an email that could wait. Apart from annoying support people, this behaviour does one thing — it extends the length of time needed to do a job.
Sometimes, it seems end users don't appreciate that others may be waiting for my help. They think they can take up as much of my time as they want. But as well as wasting time, this type of behaviour often leads to mistrust, where techs feel the client does not trust their work. No one wants to work under these circumstances.
Photo credit: slworking2/Flickr
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