Support Model

A support model defines how teams get help, report issues, request changes, and escalate incidents. Without it, platform teams become an interrupt-driven help desk.

Support channels

Define channels for:

Questions and office hours.
Production incidents.
Feature requests.
Access requests.
Bug reports.
Security or compliance issues.
Vendor support escalation.

Triage rules

Every support intake should capture:

Requester and team.
Service or platform affected.
Environment.
Impact and urgency.
Links to errors, dashboards, or logs.
Desired outcome.

Support flow

Service levels

Set expectations for response and resolution by request type. Production incidents, onboarding questions, and enhancement requests should not share the same queue or urgency.

Continuous improvement

Review support themes regularly. Repeated questions should become docs, automation, templates, or product fixes. If support volume grows with adoption, the platform is not self-service enough.

Watchouts

Private messages hide demand and decisions.
Untriaged support queues destroy platform focus.
Support without product feedback loops repeats forever.
Escalation paths must work outside business hours when production support requires it.