How to run a help centre squad

A help-centre mission runs as a closed loop on the Customer Support Squad. You draw the path in the mission goals: which solved tickets, how many articles, and the rule that steps come from those tickets. The Mission Commander works inside that path and assigns the articles to Docs. Steering is the approval step. Docs does not publish the article.

The squad you import

The template is the Customer Support Squad, on /squads. Docs, Help Writer, writes short, task-based articles with steps, keeps the articles consistent, and removes advice that the tickets no longer support.

Sage gets a card only if this mission also triages a live queue. Lens gets a card only if you want the five questions chosen from a cause count rather than from a list you already wrote. The template has no required connection.

You do this in the xSquads desktop app, on a folder of your own files. Mac now, with Windows coming soon. The product page is xSquads for Work.

How the mission runs

Step 1. Import the Customer Support Squad

Open the squad templates and import the Customer Support Squad onto the mission. Keep Docs. Remove Sage if the live queue is not part of this mission. Keep Lens only if the goals include picking the questions from a counted list of causes.

Step 2. Leave the connector list empty

This template has no required connection. Do not connect treg or Vapi. Put the solved tickets, and the current articles if you have them, in the mission folder.

Step 3. Create the mission and set the goals

Create the mission and write the goals in plain language. Those goals are the path: which questions, which tickets they come from, and what stale line to remove. Point the mission at the local folder. The commander does not get to widen that path. A goal you can start from, as written on the squad page: write help articles for our five most common questions. Name the five questions in the goals if you already know them, so Docs does not pick a sixth.

Step 4. Let the Mission Commander assign the work

Save the mission. The Mission Commander creates tasks on the task board and assigns them only inside the goals you wrote. Docs takes one short article per question, with steps. Sage should not draft a customer reply unless that goal is present. An article that adds a step the tickets do not show is the wrong card.

Step 5. Add a task, steer, and approve before an article is published

Steering is the approval step. Add a task on the board, or correct the Mission Commander in the group chat, when a step is not in the tickets. A useful task to add yourself: delete the password step on article two, the tickets reset it from the billing page. Docs does not publish. Start by approving every article.

How much to review

Start by approving everything. Autonomy is a dial, not a switch you flip because the steps look tidy.

Always sign off the question list and the source tickets yourself. Raise the dial only when articles stop adding steps. Stale advice comes out when the tickets no longer support it. xSquads does not publish the help centre.

What the goals have to name

The questions. Five is the squad-page starting point. Write them out if you do not want Docs to choose.
The solved tickets each question comes from.
The shape: short, task-based, steps in order.
Stale lines to remove, if a current article is in the folder.
Publishing stays with you. A live reply to a customer is Sage's mission, not this one.

xSquads for Work is free. Join the waitlist for the download.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who writes the help articles?

Docs, on the Customer Support Squad. The squad-page mission is articles for the five most common questions.

Where do the questions come from?

From the goals, if you name them, or from the solved tickets in the folder. Lens can count causes first, but only if that goal is in the mission.

Does Docs publish them?

No. Articles wait in Review. You publish. The squad drafts and does not send.

What does a finished draft look like?

A short article with steps, tied to the tickets. Docs does not invent a step the tickets do not show.

How do I get a stale article out?

Put the current article in the folder and name the stale line in the goals. Docs's job includes removing advice the tickets no longer support. You still approve the change.