CCSM- 205

M A NA GING BUGS,
FEA TURE REQUESTS
& W ORKA ROUNDS
Slid e Ha nd outs
 Managing Bugs, Feature Requests &
Workarounds

Module Goals

Understand the difference between

bugs, feature requests and workarounds.

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 Be able to build a compelling internal
business case for change.

Learn the role of workarounds and how

to leverage them fully.

Understand the importance of closing

the loop, internally and with customers.

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 • Bug or Feature Request?
TOPICS IN THIS • Understanding Customer Impact
MODULE • Building The Business Case
• Leveraging Workarounds
• Communicating Progress & Tracking
Outcomes

Bug Or Feature Request?

Let’s start with some definitions.

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 A bug is an error, flaw, failure or fault
that causes software to produce an
incorrect or unexpected result, or to
behave in unintended ways.

A feature request is an improvement to

the software that would improve
existing functionality, or introduce new
expanded functionality.

Simple, right?

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 Actually, it’s never this black and
white. There is a lot of gray space.

Whether something is perceived

as a bug or a feature request is
somewhat subjective and
depends on your perspective.

Our advice is to spend less time

worrying about classification and more
time on understanding
the actual impact.

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Prioritization of ‘fixes’ should be based
on a benefit / cost / risk type analysis,
regardless of classification.

So, what do we do while we’re waiting

for a fix?

A workaround is a method, usually

temporary, for overcoming a problem
or limitation in a program or system,
with respect to a specific use case.

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Workarounds help to mitigate impact,
or unblock a use case, and can typically
be deployed without any engineering
resource.

Workarounds get customers

moving again.

Understanding Customer Impact

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 The first thing that happens is that a
gap is identified between what a
customer wants to do with your
product and what is actually possible.

The gap could be bought to your

attention by a customer, or by an
internal team member.

Once you’ve identified a gap exists, it’s

your responsibility to fully understand
how it impacts
affected customers.

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This is where many CSMs don’t ask the
right questions.

Investing effort here will reduce effort

later on, and improve the quality of
internal decision-making.

Here are some sample questions for

defining customer impact.

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 What is the customer trying to
accomplish?

Why is this important to the customer?

What is the expected behavior?

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 What is the actual behavior?

What is the impact on the customer if

nothing changes?

What alternative approaches

(workarounds) exist?

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How effective are these workarounds?

Include direct customer quotes to

provide additional weight to your
summarization of each answer.

Building The Business Case

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 Your role is to help Product prioritize
the backlog and build the things that
will have the biggest impact.

Once you’ve understood the impact on

an individual customer (depth), your
next goal is to define impact on your
overall customer base (breadth).

Here are some sample questions for

defining company impact.

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 What percentage of our customers
are impacted?

What is the potential revenue impact?

either downside (risk) or upside (opportunity)

What incremental costs do we incur

if we do nothing?

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 Document the answers to these
questions in a format that your Product
Team can easily consume.

Be prepared to justify any of your

answers with evidence, if asked.

The Product team will then add to your

answers their estimate of the cost of
closing the gap.

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 All the above information enables a
clear benefit / risk / cost analysis…

… which in turn enables the effective

prioritization of which gaps to close
(either by fixing bugs, or enhancing features).

Leveraging Workarounds

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 In almost every case, there will be a
period of time between when a gap is
identified and when the gap is closed.

During this period, look for ways to

reduce impact on customers
by using workarounds.

Workarounds may require

additional customer effort.

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Sometimes workarounds will be needed
indefinitely, if it is deemed
that a gap will never be closed.

Document workarounds clearly, both to

help customers apply them, but also to
help internal knowledge-sharing.

Documenting workarounds helps

customers know you are listening.

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Workarounds bring customers back to
your knowledgebase.

Documented workarounds
reduce support.

Popularity of workarounds can aid

development prioritization.

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 Consider how to learn what
workarounds are being created
by your customers.

Invite customers to share creative

workarounds on forums.

Encourage your support agents to

proactively document workarounds they
hear about or develop themselves.

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 Workarounds are an asset
if managed correctly.

Communicating Progress
& Tracking Outcomes

A robust process for handling bugs and

feature requests will include clear
guidelines for keeping customers
informed of progress and outcomes.

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 Failure to proactively communicate
what you’ve heard and are doing will
lead to customer resentment and
reduced willingness to cooperate.

Tracking outcomes and validating

assumptions will increase your
credibility and improve future
decision-making.

Again, try to use direct positive

customer quotes to help validate
your Product team’s decision.

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Wrap Up

Understand the difference

between bugs, feature Be able to build a
requests and compelling internal
business case for change.
workarounds.

Understand the
Learn the role of
importance of closing the
workarounds and how to
loop, internally and with
leverage them fully.
customers.

customersuccess.community
successcoaching.co

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