But at least with a doctor visit, the doctor can start lobbing mortar shells, and you have the ability to help walk the doc on target. I feel like this analogy is very apt, because to better troubleshoot, developers/IT can try to help testers/clients/customers walk the issue on target.
"I feel like absolute crap, and I really don't know how to describe it. It's a headache, but it doesn't feel like a normal headache."
"Can you give me location? Front of the head? All over? Back of the head? Near the neck?"
"Front of the head I guess."
"Can you describe the pain?"
"It hurts intensely."
"Alright. For the average headache, can you give me a rating on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain you've ever felt?"
"Maybe a 6?"
"Can you describe it? Does it feel like a constant pressure? Is it a sharp stabbing pain? Does it feel like a dull stimulus that creeps over you?"
Here, a patient is walking the doctor on target. And with bugs:
"The application broke."
"Can you tell me what you were doing?"
"Nothing. I just used it like normal. I wasn't trying to break anything."
"What portion of the application were you on when it stopped working? And can you show me in the application exactly what you were doing right before it stopped?"
And here, we are walking the user on target.
Of course, it would be great if we could skip the whole rigmarole if the user somehow realized that we are going to ask the exact same questions every time.
It's not always this straightforwards. To talk of my own situation:
> "Can you give me location? Front of the head? All over? Back of the head? Near the neck?"
worse in some places, but I get it everywhere
> "Can you describe the pain?"
it's not pain
I don't know how to describe it.
> "Can you describe it? Does it feel like a constant pressure? Is it a sharp stabbing pain? Does it feel like a dull stimulus that creeps over you?"
No. I can't.
.
I've been dealing with this for well over 30 years.
Only in the last year have I had a bit of an explanation of why it is indescribable.
It seems likely the issue is a nerve issue, and when the nerve signals to the brain go wrong, the brain doesn't know quite how to interpret them, so you get sensations that are indescribable.
In my experience, basically everyone assumes that if there's a real problem then of course you can explain what it's like. That if you can't then that's your fault.
I didn't mean this to minimize other peoples' experiences. That example was a dramatized version from my own life when I started having daily migraines. The symptoms I initially gave to the neurologist were all correct, but they were broad. In addition, there were a few related symptoms that I had not realized were connected until I was probed about them.
"I feel like absolute crap, and I really don't know how to describe it. It's a headache, but it doesn't feel like a normal headache."
"Can you give me location? Front of the head? All over? Back of the head? Near the neck?"
"Front of the head I guess."
"Can you describe the pain?"
"It hurts intensely."
"Alright. For the average headache, can you give me a rating on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain you've ever felt?"
"Maybe a 6?"
"Can you describe it? Does it feel like a constant pressure? Is it a sharp stabbing pain? Does it feel like a dull stimulus that creeps over you?"
Here, a patient is walking the doctor on target. And with bugs:
"The application broke."
"Can you tell me what you were doing?"
"Nothing. I just used it like normal. I wasn't trying to break anything."
"What portion of the application were you on when it stopped working? And can you show me in the application exactly what you were doing right before it stopped?"
And here, we are walking the user on target.
Of course, it would be great if we could skip the whole rigmarole if the user somehow realized that we are going to ask the exact same questions every time.