“This Report Stopped Working”
I work on several projects and often receive a vague complaint, a photo, or several voice messages. The problem has been reported, but starting an investigation still takes a few rounds of questions. Here are some examples.
“It Stopped Working”
This report stopped working.
Which report? Does it fail to open, or are the numbers wrong? When did it start? One sentence turns into a back-and-forth before I can look into anything.
A couple more sentences give me something concrete:
In the daily sales report, I select October 14 and click Export. The Excel file has only column headings. The page shows 28 records, and earlier exports included the details. I've attached the file and a screenshot of the page.
Now I know which page to open, which filter to use, and what kind of failure to look for.
A Photo of a Failed Payment
[A photo of a screen showing “Payment failed”]
What's going on?
The photo shows the error but no time, device ID, or order number. I could check the logs, but I don't know which transaction to start with.
A short message next to the photo changes that. These identifiers are just examples:
Today at 14:32, checkout device D-017, order DEMO-001, CNY 28, WeChat Pay. The device says the payment failed, but the customer's phone shows a charge. Here are screenshots from both sides. Could you check this transaction?
A Video with Spoken Commentary
[recording.mp4]
That's roughly what happens. Have a look.
The recording moves through several pages, and halfway through the explanation the person goes back and tries again. After watching, I'm still unsure which step went wrong. Sometimes I can't even tell what “this bit is wrong” refers to.
A few lines make the same video much easier to use:
Inventory → Product list → search for “paper cups” → click Next page. The search filter gets cleared. I expected the next page to still show only paper cups. You can see it at 00:23 in the video.
I can also pass those steps straight to a Coding Agent without first turning all the commentary into notes.
Several Long Voice Messages
[Voice message]
[Voice message]
[Voice message]
It makes sense while I'm listening. Later, when I need the order number, I have to listen again. Other topics may be mixed in, and I can't skim the messages the way I can skim text.
Even after sending the audio, a short written follow-up helps:
The voice messages were about the membership system. Member DEMO-008 had 3 coupons yesterday, but sees 0 after logging in today. There are no redemptions in the history either. I'd like to find out what happened to those 3 coupons.
The identifier is easy to copy, and the message can go straight to whoever handles that project.
A Phone Call
I told you about it on the phone.
They did. But after working across several projects in a day, I can't reliably remember every detail of a call. Handing it over to someone else means reconstructing the conversation from memory.
A message afterward gives both people something to return to:
As we confirmed on the call, the daily sales export is missing the detail rows. I've attached the file here. You'll investigate and let me know when it's fixed; I'll try again with the October 14 data.
A Word Document or Excel Workbook
[problem-report.xlsx]
Have a look. All the issues are in there.
Inside, screenshots, notes, and merged cells are crowded together. Some cells are red, with no explanation. I have to reorganize the file before I can work through it.
The file is easier to read when the message points to the relevant places:
In the Excel workbook, cell F18 on “Sales details” totals 280, but adding the rows above gives 260. I've marked the relevant cells. There's another issue on page 2 of the Word document: after export, the column headings wrap and the last column moves onto the next page.
When the problem involves formatting or formulas, the original file is useful. If it contains a dozen issues, numbering them also makes it easier to reply with “Issue 3 is fixed.”
When these reports arrive, I usually need to find three things first: which event, what went wrong, and what help is needed. A few lines in the message, with attachments for the details, save a lot of follow-up questions.