broken pencil“It’s broke”. Have you ever said that to someone? Has anyone ever said it to you?

It certainly conveys that something isn’t working and help is needed. But it begs more questions in order for someone to fix whatever is broke.

“It’s broke” begs more questions in order for someone to fix whatever is broke.

The first step in fixing a problem is to clearly define what that problem is. Your physician does the same thing. Harvard graduation and doctor Andrew Weil said “As any doctor can tell you, the most crucial step toward healing is having the right diagnosis.”

When talking, or emailing, with your website developer, the more detailed you can be about the problem the better. He/she will likely have questions to clarify the issue. Providing the steps to recreate the problem is extremely valuable. Problems that happen only sometimes and there are no steps to re-create the problem are notoriously difficult to solve. It’s like the noise in your car engine that only happens once in awhile. If your mechanic cannot hear the noise, they cannot diagnose the cause so will not be able to fix the problem.

  • If it’s a problem with an order, provide the order number.
  • If a form isn’t working, which form is it and what exactly isn’t working.
  • If a website page is broken, what page is it and what exactly on that page is not correct.

In many cases, you will know your website better than your website developer. Even if they built it, it could have been months or years ago. Help them to help you by providing details about what isn’t right on a page. Is padding or spacing is wrong, that might not be obvious to someone who’s not familiar with the page and how it used to look.

You might be surprised to know how helpful you can be in getting your “It’s broke” problem fixed. Remember these three steps:

  1. What isn’t working correctly?
  2. Where is it happening?
  3. How can the problem be reproduced.

With this information in had, you will have a proper diagnosis of the problem. As Dr. Weil said, that is the most crucial step toward healing, or in this case, fixing your “It’s broke” problem.

Contact us to learn how we can help you to be more successful.

* image used under license from Unsplash.