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items/2023-06-22_long_troubleshooting-asking-the-right-questions.md

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+# Troubleshooting Asking The Right Questions
+
+# Asking the right question
+
+In this post, I want to present some simple questions on how to start any troubleshooting session. The **main goal** is to gather enough information to narrow down the root cause of the problem, let you grasp the impact of this incident and set a priority, and decide what the next steps of the actual troubleshooting work will look like. 
+
+It should be clear that not all questions are needed for every session, but it can give you some ideas, and you can modify them to your needs. I bet I forgot some essential questions, so please let me know, and I'd be happy to add them to the post.
+
+The primary motivation for this post is work-related. I've just celebrated the 100th ticket with `"It doesn't work"` with no further information that was forwarded to me, and I decided to write this post as a reference for the minimum of information any ticket should contain before it gets sent to the next level (besides restarting the device or checking DNS).
+
+# 'W'-Questions
+
+From my experience, you can sort many questions into categories of 'w'-questions:
+
+- What?
+- Where?
+- Who?
+- When?
+
+To provide you with a quick example with one follow-up question each.
+
+```markdown
+What is the issue?
+    Do you see any error messages?
+    
+From where are you working right now?
+    Have you encountered this issue at other locations too?
+    
+Who is this issue affecting besides you?
+    Only the colleagues in the office or those working from home too?
+    
+When did it start?
+    Does the issue occur consistently or intermittently?
+```
+    
+This is a basic example, but it can already provide enough information for your next steps. As mentioned before, there won't be a perfect template, the order of questions can be changed at any point, and the questions should be based on the already known information. Quick example: if the whole location can't access an internal service all of a sudden, you might not need to ask for the current version of the application of this single device. 
+    
+The following questions are examples and can serve as a basis for your pool of questions. I've decided not to explain to them since those are fairly self-explanatory.
+
+**Side note:** Some questions could be in multiple categories, but I've listed them once.
+
+# WHAT / ISSUE & IMPACT
+
+- What is the issue? What are you trying to do? What are you trying to accomplish?
+- Has it ever worked before? Is this a new issue for you? 
+- Are there any error messages? Could you please provide us with a screenshot?
+- Is it reproducible, or is it random?
+- How does the issue affect your work? Can you continue at all? Is there a workaround available?
+
+# WHERE / ENVIRONMENT
+
+- Where are you working right now? Home office, location, office, etc.
+- Has anything changed before the issue? Location? Network Updates? Hardware/Software?
+- How are your devices connected to the network? Wifi/Cable? Guest network? Hotspot?
+
+# WHEN / TIMELINE
+
+- Since when exists the problem? Is it the first occurrence?
+- Does the issue occur consistently or intermittently?
+- Does the issue occur sporadically or at a specific time?
+
+**Side note:** Timezones are your friend, please remember them. Please.
+
+# WHO / IMPACT
+
+- Is this issue affecting anyone else besides you? Are the involved at the same or different locations?
+
+# Remarks
+
+- Try to **avoid assumptions** and instead ask if you are not sure. This can save you some headaches later on.
+- **Document along** the session and share your findings with the team.