The single-most important personal attribute

March 28, 2006

In my opinion, the single-most important personal attribute that you can have if you are working in any field of tech support (this includes web designers who interact directly with clients) is approachability.

ap·proach·a·ble:

  1. Possible to approach; accessible.
  2. Easy to talk to or deal with; friendly.

I can’t stress this belief of mine enough. I remember what it’s like asking for help and being made to feel so small and stupid and useless because someone more knowledgable than me talked down to me and couldn’t be bothered pointing me in the right direction - even if they didn’t have time to explain everything in detail. I also remember what it’s like having burning questions but feeling too afraid to ask someone for help. People have enough barriers to getting going with technology (their own personal fears, inexperience, lack of knowledge) without people in tech support adding to them in any way.

I was thinking about this today because I read Smiley Cat’s experience of being flamed on a forum when asking for help. Unfortunately this experience is far too common.

One of my personal aims is to work hard on being an approachable web designer. I’m not saying I get it right all the time - I’m human - sometimes I answer queries when I’m tired and should probably wait until morning. Sometimes I misunderstand the question. Sometimes I don’t know the answer to the question. Sometimes I get frustrated and let it show in my communications. But I try and remember to remember what it’s like when you’re the one needing help.

A friendly (short) helpful reply or pointer to a site of help can go a long way.

See also
Comments

  1. Everything you’ve just said is my personal mantra as well when it comes to anything techie.

    — Nate, March 28, 2006

  2. I think your philosphy is one of the reasons I’ve used you as a designer and recommended you to others.

    A designer has to be able to listen, and acting busy or distracted with a client doesn’t help the client.

    I’ve never heard anyone I’ve recommended cre8e-design to have a complaint which is a testament to your goals for your clients.:^)

    — Bene Diction, March 28, 2006

  3. I must say that you have been quite helpfull to me with a few of my questions these past months since I discovered your site. You’ve always responded and pointed me in the right director. Thank you again.

    — Justin, March 28, 2006

  4. totally agree with this. I’d also add that another pretty important thing is being accessible. Perhaps it’s really a given if you’re approachable but I know of a few people who come across as very approachable who actually make themselves quite difficult to make contact with.

    I think they go hand in hand

    — Darren, March 28, 2006

  5. Totally agree Darren - actually part of the definition of approachable (see the first point) is accessible :)

    — Rachel, March 28, 2006

  6. Thanks BD and Justin for your kind words!

    — Rachel, March 28, 2006

  7. i completely agree. I think you can extend this, really, to dealings that you have in virtual spaces as well as with clients…

    there are some forums that I’ve found really helpful, but that I’m tempted to leave (and may well do so) because some personalities there turn everything into an ego driven battlefield…

    the result being that the quality of conversation is lessened because people are afraid to say anything that may put them at risk of an attack.

    it’s a shame, isn’t it?

    — leisa, March 28, 2006

  8. you mean you expect me to read every word of your posts? ;-)

    — Darren, March 28, 2006

  9. Maybe I should re-read how to write for busy people? :D

    — Rachel, March 28, 2006

  10. Rachel is the most “approachable” web designer I ever met, and that includes people I work with since 5 years (and exclude my wife which is a web designer herself :-))
    I take part in a few opensource sw and I’ve to admit that sometimes people do asks for very dumb and silly questions…
    for example, in line 1 of the read me I wrote “you must configure this and that bla bla”
    30% of the questions regarding that sw is: “how do I install it?”, “it does not work”, “your sw is s*it because I can’t install it”…
    my answer: “did u read the read me file” (which is the only file in the doc folder)
    thier typical answer “no, but I can’t install it”…

    where is the border between being “approachable” and spending all your spare time answering silly questions instead of improving the software?

    — Simone, March 29, 2006

  11. >Rachel is the most “approachable� web designer I ever met

    Ups.. I forgot…. and cute webdesigner I ever met :-)

    — Simone, March 29, 2006

  12. Rachel

    Being a ‘non techie’ I appreciate your input and help.
    Whenever I learn new things I try my best to share my new knowledge with others.
    Thank you

    Serge
    Biz:
    http://www.njconcierges.com
    Blog:
    http://sergetheconcierge.com

    — Serge Lescouarnec, March 29, 2006

  13. Approachability is something that I have at times struggled with as the workload grows and my time seems to vanish. It is a great post though, so thank you.

    (I would have done a trackback to this from my own post, but I guess you dont’ have trackbacks on.)

    — Bill Hutchison, March 29, 2006

  14. rachel, I’d agree and it’s something that I need to work on everyday because some days I can have the personality of an, erm…. pregnant badger…

    — Aaron Brazell, April 2, 2006

  15. [...] April 16, 2006 at 10:24 pm · Filed under Uncategorized, Pastor’s Tech, Pastoral Role, Communicating The single-most important personal attribute that you can have if you are working in any field of tech support (this includes web designers who interact directly with clients) is approachability.[…] I remember what it’s like asking for help and being made to feel so small and stupid and useless because someone more knowledgeable than me talked down to me and couldn’t be bothered pointing me in the right direction - even if they didn’t have time to explain everything in detail. I also remember what it’s like having burning questions but feeling too afraid to ask someone for help. People have enough barriers to getting going with technology (their own personal fears, inexperience, lack of knowledge) without people in tech support adding to them in any way. (source:cre8d-design) [...]

    — Just Pastors » Approachability: A Two-way Tip for Tech-savvy Pastors, April 17, 2006

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