No, not really you, unless you work at Lakeview. Then, maybe. I recently added a custom field to our HelpSpot helpdesk application that’s very simple: it’s a checkbox. When I’m working on a request and a user solves their own problem, is extra helpful, or makes a brilliant observation (the details boil down to “I’ll know it when I see it!”), I check the Gold Star box for that request. Later, I can run a report that shows the requests whose users have gotten Gold Stars.

I haven’t yet figured out what to do with this information, if anything, but I had a few really good user experiences recently and thought this would be a good way to track those over time. As much as the helpdesk system tracks problems, I figure this is one way to track positive results. I’ve only given out two or three Gold Stars in the last month or so since I implemented the program. And no, I don’t tell the users (well, I jokingly told one but didn’t mention that I actually am tracking it), it’s just an internal IT thing. But such data could prove useful in the future, so I’m curious to see how it turns out over a bit longer period of time!

Shhh…don’t tell anyone…