[svandamme]

in my experience (3rd line support hospital software and systems), a whole lot of people can't even explain or document a problem properly. They have "an" idea of what they are trying to fix.
But they get so stuck in their own train of thaught that well, forget about actually finding the problem.

It kinda works if it's a common basic problem that might happen more often.

But when you get down to the true exceptions and mistakes, they just run into a brick wall.

To me that says. There is nothing systematic or tactical about their approach. So it's not even a problem of poor execution of said tactics.

I joined my company 2,5 years ago, on hiring they asked me "how long do you think you'll need to be productive and effective" . I was like don't know, it's hard to predict since i'm coming from a completely different industry.. And i'm turning 40 so i guess i might slow down a little.
On previous jobs i was up and running and effective in 3 months .

They went, ohhh , well, we think it takes 12 to 18 months to be effective in this job..

I told 'm, well, "we will see bout that"

It was 3 months.

And why? Well, I'm a self learner , on the job.
put me in a class room and I'll space out, or fall a sleep or just get very , VERY annoyed.
But put load on my plate and i'll kick it in to high gear.

But how can I do 3rd line support in a company where everybody in 1st or 2nd line knows the products and systems for years ??

I think it's a Systematic approach of troubleshooting.
Asking the right questions
checking the right basics, like hard and software prerequisites
checking all the settings as per installation manual

My boss says at our level, our Superpower is "Comprehensive reading skills".
You know, good old RTFM

I think it's also the ability to define the scope of what you are trying to solve.
A Server that is down is easy to explain.
But a lot of people simply loose the plot when they have to explain a complicated workflow.
They just can't do it. And i'm talking app specialists here, that have been doing it for 10 years time. They are so used to working with the app, and expecting a certain behaviour.. That if and when they come up on a problem.. they just cannot explain it to you..

They will constrantly leave at crucial details , because in their head they know those details to be so obvious that, when they tell their problem, they obviously don't mention them.