If you've worked in software tech. support, the thought of receiving a bug report (for three separate bugs) via a brief email forwarded by your main client contact probably makes your toes curl, yes?
It was actually pretty awesome. Insofar as learning about three bugs from a customer can be, anyway. Here's why. In each case, the reporter noted which web page she'd visited, what'd she'd been expecting to see vs. what she actually did see.
A little poke at the database, a couple prods of the web application itself, and I shortly had three answers: 1.) User error, 2.) You need to keep your data up-to-date, and 3.) Someone else needs to keep their data up-to-date. But not having to scramble to actually "fix" anything was merely the proverbial cherry on top. So when I replied to my contact, I asked her to pass along my thanks. I know I'm spoiled--when the folks I usually work with let me know about a bug, they typically include screenshots. But that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate it.
I've probably said this before in other ways, but it never, ever ceases to blow my mind how many intelligent, articulate and socially clever folks still expect mind-reading when they open a bug ticket.You can probably imagine the resulting hours squandered trying to debug the wrong problems. Simply put: If you don't have time to provide the context of your problem, you don't have time to have it solved.
