Three Actions When You Hit a Tech Snag

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin




It happens to me daily and sometimes several times a day: I hit
some snag with a technical issue. I don't like it when this happens to
me. Sometimes getting through the tech issue can consume hours of time and
energy.  Yet it is a reality of our world and culture—whether we like it or not.
In this article, I want to give you several illustrations of tech snags and then
several actions to take when it happens.




This coming week for several days I'm attending a bootcamp (an
intensive conference). As a part of the preparation, the leaders asked us to
survey our target market with a specific question. I crafted my question but
then needed to figure out which online tool to use for collecting the input. I
know about several of these tools but each tool I tried, I ran into technical
snags where when testing it, I could not get it to work properly. It
was frustrating and time consuming to resolve. To resolve it, I reached out to
one of the leaders of this bootcamp and asked for help. In a short time, I got a
response and worked through the issue and made my survey.




One of my relatives struggles with technology issues—like when I
want to send this person some photos from my phone. Each time when I speak with
her, she claims, “I'm dumb with _____.” When I hear these types of statements, I
explain to her that everyone struggles with these issues and it has nothing to
do with being dumb or smart. It is a part of our world and culture. I hope my
explanation helped her work through the tech snag. My caution to you is not to
speak such things to yourself because they become self-fulfilling. There is a
solution to whatever issue you are facing, you just need to persevere and find
it.



This week I found a charging device for my phone. I had
purchased this device months ago but never used it and the charge had worn out
so it wasn't working. As I looked at this device, I could not figure out how to
charge it. I was inclined to throw it away—yes that frustrated with it.
Eventually my wife found a connection on the device (which was not immediately
obvious to me). This connection was different from anything I had seen before.
Instead ot throwing it away, I looked to see where I could possibly plug this
connection. With a couple of attempts, I found a place to start recharging this
device and got it to where it is a useable tool again. I'm glad I didn't throw
it away.




My hope is you learned some insights with each of these three
recent tech snags. The overriding principle I want to emphasize is: there is an
answer to your tech snag. You have to use different resources and persist to
resolve it. Here's three possible actions when you hit a tech snag:



1. Ask Google to help you. Yes this one is
obvious but many of us forget to use the obvious tool called Google with tons
of technical help for you.   



2. Go to YouTube and search for videos that
will help give you the answer. Whether basic or advanced, there are often
resources here to help you with your tech issue. 



3. Ask someone for help.  Is there an online
help tool? Can you fill out an online form and write support to resolve it? Is
there a friend you can email or call and ask for help? I pay an annual fee to
the Geek Squad and don't use them often but when I need them, they readily come
to my help on some technical issues. Also use inexpensive tools like
Fiverr.com.  I have a designer with a good rating that I use for some small
design issues occasionally. Maybe Fiverr would be a route to help you through
your technical issue.



4. (Bonus Action) Keep working at it until you
find the solution. It may not be something you can resolve in a day or two, but
keep chipping away at it and you will find the answer. You can't be the only
person who is having such an issue that needs resolution. You have to be
persistent with these tech snags to get them resolved. 



These tech issues are going to continue. We live in a technology
driven world. Do you have another resource or maybe another action item? Let me
know in the comments below. 



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What actions do you take when you hit a tech snag? Get ideas and insights from this prolific editor and writer. (ClickToTweet)