Trial: Escalation focus Support Engineer in AMER
Trial: Escalation focus Support Engineer in AMER
Need
A Support Engineer to take point on customer escalations during AMER regional hours. This person will collaborate on regional handovers and work alongside the Customer Success Manager to coordinate the proper technical resources.
Approach
A Support Engineer with the escalation focus will take point on customer escalations during their regional hours. They will coordinate with Sales, Product, other Support Engineers, and Support Managers to ensure that the ticket is progressing and ensure that the proper technical resources are available.
This Support Engineer may also ask another Support Engineer (likely the one assigned to the ticket) to pair with them on each escalation. When we have concurrent customer escalations, the Support Engineer with the escalation focus will coordinate with the Support Managers to ensure we have proper representation from Support on all escalations.
The Support Engineer with an escalation focus will also open merge request(s) to more clearly define the workflow in the Support Handbook.
Benefit
One Support Engineer taking point on customer escalations will aid Support Managers in having a first point of contact when customer escalations are raised. It will also help to better define the Customer Escalation workflow in the Support Handbook. The Support Engineer with an escalation focus will also act as a mentor to other Support Engineers on handling customer escalations.
Competition / Alternatives
Current Approach: Support Managers either ping Support Engineers directly or ask widely in a Slack channel to work on the customer escalation.
Alternatives:
- No change
Results/Artifacts
Smooth regional handovers
- Artifacts:
- Handbook page outlining workflow
- Issue template in new internal GitLab project
escalated-customers
Responsibilities and expectations for Support Engineers when handling escalated customers
- Artifact:
- Handbook page
- Collaborate with Support Manager and other parties to perform a retro
- Artifact:
- Handbook page: See A Support Engineering Manager guide to account escalations.
- Collaborate with Support Engineers and other parties to perform a retro: See Step 6: Retrospective.
Trial timeframe
Run the trial through 2022-10-31. Have check-ins every 2 weeks with the Support Manager DRI and optionally the regional Director of Support to reassess the escalation.
Designated escalations-focused engineer(s) for this trial:
- @dstanley - Main point of technical contact (Lead Support Engineer)
- @bocarbonell - Main point of technical contact (Lead Support Engineer)
- @jgaughan - Secondary point of technical contact (Lead or Secondary Engineer Apprentice)
- @izzyfee - Main Manager point of contact
- @abuerer - Secondary Manager point of contact
Trial in Practice
We will start by trialing this in AMER with @dstanley and @bocarbonell taking on the escalation focus. When a customer escalation comes in, the Support Managers can ping Diana on the thread. Diana will ask another Support Engineer from AMER (the assignee of the ticket) to assist with each customer escalation. This will act to help get more Support Engineers exposure to handling customer escalations and act as a time off buffer.
If there are concurrent escalations, Diana will determine if she would like to continue working on the current escalation or take on the new escalation.
- If Diana is currently working on an escalation, the Support Manager will work to find another Support Engineer to lead. Please loop Diana in while identifying another lead engineer for the escalation.
-If continuing to work on the current escalation, Diana will work with Support Managers to find another Support Engineer to take lead on the new escalation.
- If taking on the new escalation, Diana will coordinate with the Support Engineer in AMER that she has been working with to ensure a smooth handoff. She will also let the involved parties know that she is moving to a new escalation and to contact the other Support Engineer.