The Zen of Research (Part 1)
This article will be the first in a multi-part series dealing with how to research issues using the internet, other mediums such as books or manuals, and other technicians. This particular article will focus mainly on using search engines as your first line of defense when faced with an issue that you may not be fully ready to tackle.
Inevitably, as a technician you are going to be asked a question that you don't immediately have the answer to. Whether that day is a week from now, or a year from now, someone will ask you about a technology that you just don't have a clue about and you will be forced to do some research.
The problem with research is that there are so many avenues you can take, yet it seems very few people know how to use the tools they have at their disposal effectively. Not to say that they aren't being used at all, but in my experience they aren't being used properly.
Now what do I mean what I say "they aren't being used properly?" Well for example, every technician I know understands that the internet is your best resource for 80-90% of any technical issue you're faced with; they know to load up Google or Yahoo! and that once they find their way around, they'll be able to find the documentation they're looking for. The problem is how they use these tools.
[NOTE]: For the remainder of this article, I will be using Google when I talk about search engines, simply because it is my personal favorite. These tips however are not limited to Google, and will work on the search engine of your choice.
The biggest problem I see with people using Google is the terms they use when they're trying to find documentation or any kind of information on it, really. For example, they know that a user is having printing problems, but they aren't quite sure what to enter in the magic text box that seems to taunt them on the Google home page.
Before we start searching, we need to get a few pieces of information:
- Have there been any changes since the problem first occurred?
This can be tricky as when you ask, you don't want to imply that they were the cause of the problem. A technician who was by their desk earlier who installed a simple word processing application may have inadvertently caused the issue.
- What hardware is involved in the problem?
If we use the broken printer example from above, this would include not only the model number of the printer, but also of the computer, how much ink is left, and how much paper is in the tray
- Are there any warnings or errors being presented?
This not only includes messages on the screen or display that might give you some insight as to the problem, but also any audible warnings (beeping, scraping, etc). Also, the lack of an error message in some cases, can be as useful as no message at all.
- How many people are affected by this issue?
This isn't as necessary in the research phase as it's more of a general troubleshooting question you should be asking, but it's good to have handy either way.
Once you've got the above information, you should be equipped enough to start doing some research into the problem.
How do you do that you ask? Plain English (or thereabouts). One thing a lot of people don't understand about search engines, is that they aren't incredibly intelligent devices. They give us the power to search the internet, but they don't really have any kind of intelligence. How does this affect you? Well, you have to understand that all a search engine does is go to millions (or billions) of webpages, and makes a list of every word found on that page, and then keeps track of where those words were found. It also keeps track of what words are grouped together more often. Knowing that, we can simply enter in keywords of what we know and it will search its own database for pages it found with the words you entered together.
Sounds simple, right? Well it is, but there is a bit of a catch. Search engines will typically only allow you to enter 10 real words (real words being any words other than common ones such as "it", "and", "to", etc.) so you need to be able to look at your problem and pick out at the very most 10 words than accurately describe the problem you're having.
Using the broken printer example above, let's say that there were no changes made to anything, it's a Dell Optiplex GX280 PC connected to an HP 3380 All-In-One printer via a USB cable, there is an error on the printer that says "Unable to Communicate with HP scanning software", and there is only one affected user.
Looking at that description, it can seem a bit intimidating but it really shouldn't be. My very first search on Google would be: "gx280 hp 3380 usb unable communicate" I'm sure the first thing you're asking is 'Why didn't you put the word "Dell" in front of GX280?' The reason is that 'GX280' is a fairly uncommon string and while adding the word Dell may remove a few non-Dell entries, it's not going to be significant enough to warrant it. 'GX280' is obviously a part/model number so it's pretty specific, however '3380' could apply to anything and as such, we want to make sure we're clearly defining it as an 'HP' product.
After running this search at Google, there are no results. Should this be surprising? Absolutely not; you won't always get the perfect search the first time. Now, you should start looking at your search string and figuring out what may too specific. My first removal would be the 'GX280'. At this point, I would be assuming that there are no known issues with those two devices and should be ready to accept that this is an accepted configuration.
After running a search of "hp 3380 usb unable communicate" on Google, the first reply is a forum post on the HP website with some troubleshooting steps and multiple possible fixes. This is a great starting point as forum posts are often frequented by users themselves, and while they may not be official support, they usually have some pretty helpful advice.
Being able to pick out only the most important words in a bunch of geekspeak may be difficult at first, it only gets easier with time. Just remember to keep as much detail about the problem in the search while not getting so specific that you end up excluding relevant documents from your search. Personally, I find it easier to run a search that's too specific and widen my search parameters from there.
In our next installment, I'll be speaking about how to use hard copy documentation to its maximum potential. I'll be explaining how to obtain documentation from the vendor, and how to use it without wasting anyone's time.
Justin Smith
nexxai@gmail.com
Inevitably, as a technician you are going to be asked a question that you don't immediately have the answer to. Whether that day is a week from now, or a year from now, someone will ask you about a technology that you just don't have a clue about and you will be forced to do some research.
The problem with research is that there are so many avenues you can take, yet it seems very few people know how to use the tools they have at their disposal effectively. Not to say that they aren't being used at all, but in my experience they aren't being used properly.
Now what do I mean what I say "they aren't being used properly?" Well for example, every technician I know understands that the internet is your best resource for 80-90% of any technical issue you're faced with; they know to load up Google or Yahoo! and that once they find their way around, they'll be able to find the documentation they're looking for. The problem is how they use these tools.
[NOTE]: For the remainder of this article, I will be using Google when I talk about search engines, simply because it is my personal favorite. These tips however are not limited to Google, and will work on the search engine of your choice.
The biggest problem I see with people using Google is the terms they use when they're trying to find documentation or any kind of information on it, really. For example, they know that a user is having printing problems, but they aren't quite sure what to enter in the magic text box that seems to taunt them on the Google home page.
Before we start searching, we need to get a few pieces of information:
- Have there been any changes since the problem first occurred?
This can be tricky as when you ask, you don't want to imply that they were the cause of the problem. A technician who was by their desk earlier who installed a simple word processing application may have inadvertently caused the issue.
- What hardware is involved in the problem?
If we use the broken printer example from above, this would include not only the model number of the printer, but also of the computer, how much ink is left, and how much paper is in the tray
- Are there any warnings or errors being presented?
This not only includes messages on the screen or display that might give you some insight as to the problem, but also any audible warnings (beeping, scraping, etc). Also, the lack of an error message in some cases, can be as useful as no message at all.
- How many people are affected by this issue?
This isn't as necessary in the research phase as it's more of a general troubleshooting question you should be asking, but it's good to have handy either way.
Once you've got the above information, you should be equipped enough to start doing some research into the problem.
How do you do that you ask? Plain English (or thereabouts). One thing a lot of people don't understand about search engines, is that they aren't incredibly intelligent devices. They give us the power to search the internet, but they don't really have any kind of intelligence. How does this affect you? Well, you have to understand that all a search engine does is go to millions (or billions) of webpages, and makes a list of every word found on that page, and then keeps track of where those words were found. It also keeps track of what words are grouped together more often. Knowing that, we can simply enter in keywords of what we know and it will search its own database for pages it found with the words you entered together.
Sounds simple, right? Well it is, but there is a bit of a catch. Search engines will typically only allow you to enter 10 real words (real words being any words other than common ones such as "it", "and", "to", etc.) so you need to be able to look at your problem and pick out at the very most 10 words than accurately describe the problem you're having.
Using the broken printer example above, let's say that there were no changes made to anything, it's a Dell Optiplex GX280 PC connected to an HP 3380 All-In-One printer via a USB cable, there is an error on the printer that says "Unable to Communicate with HP scanning software", and there is only one affected user.
Looking at that description, it can seem a bit intimidating but it really shouldn't be. My very first search on Google would be: "gx280 hp 3380 usb unable communicate" I'm sure the first thing you're asking is 'Why didn't you put the word "Dell" in front of GX280?' The reason is that 'GX280' is a fairly uncommon string and while adding the word Dell may remove a few non-Dell entries, it's not going to be significant enough to warrant it. 'GX280' is obviously a part/model number so it's pretty specific, however '3380' could apply to anything and as such, we want to make sure we're clearly defining it as an 'HP' product.
After running this search at Google, there are no results. Should this be surprising? Absolutely not; you won't always get the perfect search the first time. Now, you should start looking at your search string and figuring out what may too specific. My first removal would be the 'GX280'. At this point, I would be assuming that there are no known issues with those two devices and should be ready to accept that this is an accepted configuration.
After running a search of "hp 3380 usb unable communicate" on Google, the first reply is a forum post on the HP website with some troubleshooting steps and multiple possible fixes. This is a great starting point as forum posts are often frequented by users themselves, and while they may not be official support, they usually have some pretty helpful advice.
Being able to pick out only the most important words in a bunch of geekspeak may be difficult at first, it only gets easier with time. Just remember to keep as much detail about the problem in the search while not getting so specific that you end up excluding relevant documents from your search. Personally, I find it easier to run a search that's too specific and widen my search parameters from there.
In our next installment, I'll be speaking about how to use hard copy documentation to its maximum potential. I'll be explaining how to obtain documentation from the vendor, and how to use it without wasting anyone's time.
Justin Smith
nexxai@gmail.com
posted by Justin Smith @ 2:37 PM
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