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EngFlow support

We're here to support you with our product.

To help us to help you, we have set up different support channels so that you get to the right place in the shortest amount of time.

Work in progress Q1 2023

Based on feedback we've received, we're running a project to define the channels. We've started with "page us" and "day-to-day non-urgent support".

Product is suffering an outage / degradation

Some feature of the product is broken (or degraded), preventing meaningful use for all (or a significant subset of) normal regular users.

Refer to how to: page us (for urgent support).

Examples
  • "(majority of) builds are running slowly / failing compared to x ago"
  • "can't see (majority of) invocations being added to the UI"
  • "no-one can log in to the UI"
  • "no-one can authenticate suddenly"
  • "cluster is completely unresponsive"

Page us mentioning security in the subject-line.

Product (including client) usage-questions

Some feature of the product is not clear how to use, but nothing is on fire.

Refer to how to: get day-to-day support (for not-urgent support).

Examples
  • "how do I use the UI to figure out why my build failed?"
  • "how do I onboard new people to remote execution?"
  • "how do I get bazel to {...}?"

Except...

Some interaction between our product and a build client (bazel, goma, etc) is slower than you'd prefer.

This is a "it depends" type of question; we do not have eyeball-access to your source-code or build implementation from our side, so answering these kinds of questions is hard.

To set expectations - we might be able to help immediately. We might need to escalate / consult with experts. We might not be able to help.

Refer to how to: get day-to-day support (for not-urgent support).

Examples
  • "Please could I get a bit of help with figuring out why my build has such a long critical path?"
  • "We just started using bazel rules_amazing, and we're having a bit of difficulty getting it to do what we expect; can you help?"

Product feedback (enhancements / fixes)

It would be nice if ...

Refer to how to: get day-to-day support (for not-urgent support).

Product large-scale changes

If would be amazing if ...

Refer to how to: get day-to-day support (for not-urgent support).

Complaints

We're having a repeated problem with ... and haven't been able to get the outcome we need.

Refer to how to: get day-to-day support (for not-urgent support).

Some anti-patterns we ask you to avoid

We are a remote-first organization that spans the globe - we have no offices, central or otherwise. This means we have to load-balance who helps you between our people such that you may not have contact with the same person between issues.

To that end, we ask that you use the support channels above. Our SLAs apply only to the support channels above.

We ask especially that you do not reach out via out-of-band ways for product support like

  • private chats with individuals or groups; instead, message in the channel
  • emailing individuals; instead, email the list
  • phone calls

... because:

  • this hot-spots those individuals, placing them under pressure and incurring risk on your side (if the individual is asleep, on holiday, sick; there is no response guarantee) of not having the response-time you expect.
  • this becomes untracked - our SLAs are offered only for the support channels above - and bypassing our channels prevents us both from knowing how we're doing meeting your expectations.
  • this silos knowledge; the responder must then duplicate your communication into our channels, slowing down the service you receive.
  • this removes the possibility of opportunistic support; if you ask a question in a channel, chances are higher someone who's not on-rota right then might opportunistically engage. We're a helpful bunch!