I've been in tech 10 years now, and it never ceases to amaze me how bad even professional techies are at asking for help or reporting a problem.
How many times have you reached out to someone, or been reached out by someone else, something like this? (to be clear, I'm guilty as charged of this)
"I can't do x"
"y is broken"
"there is something wrong with z"
"can I ask something about x"
This is an incredibly non-productive, frustrating way to ask for help or report a problem!
Best case, there will now have to be a bunch of back and forth to clarify what exactly is even being asked or reported. Worst case, someone will completely misunderstand and solve or give a response for a completely different question or problem, or just flat out ignore the whole thing.
The thing is, asking for help or reporting a problem... is a solved problem! And it has been for decades! Just follow the incredibly simple, widely known and used formula:
1. Steps to reproduce
2. Expected result
3. Actual result
This ensures the request is SPECIFIC, COMPLETE and ACTIONABLE, not vague, incomplete and non-actionable.
Very often, simply preparing to reach out using the above formula will reveal something such that there's no longer even a need to ask for help or report a problem!
And if there's still a need to ask for help or report a problem, whoever receives the request can IMMEDIATELY understand, action and hopefully figure it out and give a helpful response in return.
I don't understand why this isn't a 100% enforced standard way of communicating in our industry. I honestly believe that any organization that simply strictly enforces this method for asking for help or report a problem will save immeasurable frustration, countless employee hours and millions of dollars every year.