James Glazebrook at Support Driven Expo Europe 2019

Key takeaways

Dedicated resources and clear ownership are essential to successful support initiatives.
Align support programs with your company's core values and mission.
Empower employees to do work that leverages their skills and interests beyond just answering support tickets.
Regularly share successes and customer insights to build momentum and reinforce the importance of support.
Listening carefully to feedback from both employees and customers helps identify and fix issues effectively.
Involving everyone in support creates a culture of empathy and enhances overall company culture.

Summary

Introduction to Everyone on Support at Basecamp

This section introduces the concept of 'Everyone on Support' (EOS), a monthly initiative where all employees at Basecamp dedicate a day to answering customer emails. The goal is to give every team member firsthand experience with customer issues, fostering ideas for improvement, bug fixes, and a deeper understanding of customer needs. It highlights the importance of direct customer contact and how the initiative was naturally accepted due to the company's remote, well-communicative culture.

Challenges and Frustrations in the EOS Program

Initially, the program faced problems: employees felt undertrained, disinterested, and overwhelmed. The support workload increased dramatically during peak times, leading to burnout and a lack of meaningful engagement. Employees like Aaron, Jason, and Chris expressed feelings of inadequacy and boredom, which pointed to the need for a re-evaluation of the program’s structure and purpose.

Redesigning and Reinforcing the EOS Initiative

James Glazebrook took steps to address these issues by creating clearer expectations, better training, and more meaningful involvement. He emphasized that employees shouldn't replicate support staff's job but leverage their own skills to help customers in more impactful ways. This included collaborating on product improvements, gathering customer insights, and supporting emergency responses. The re-launched EOS focused on empowerment, learning, and connecting customer feedback directly to product development.

Impact and Outcomes of the Reformulated EOS Program

The redesigned EOS led to significant positive outcomes: employees learned more about the product, contributed to innovations, and gained a sense of purpose and connection within the company. Employees started noticing customer needs more acutely, suggested improvements leading to hundreds of product updates, and felt more engaged and empathetic. The program also fostered collaboration between support and other teams, strengthening company culture and values.

Lessons Learned and Key Takeaways

The talk concludes with lessons about the importance of dedicated resources, clear goals, aligning initiatives with company values, and listening to employees and customers. Celebrating wins, tracking results, and maintaining open communication are crucial for sustaining an effective support-focused culture. The concept of 'infecting' the entire company with empathy highlights the cultural benefits of involving everyone in customer support.

Show notes

In April, Basecamp Support team member James Glazebrook gave a talk at Support Driven Expo Europe about Everyone On Support. It's an all-hands program where Basecamp employees rotate through a day of working in customer service. James noticed the system—while well-intentioned—wasn't working properly, and set out to fix it. And that, as James himself might say, is pretty metal.