Ask HN: How do you "replay" a costly user mistake in your internal software?
6 comments
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With Ruby on Rails one can use https://github.com/paper-trail-gem/paper_trail which will keep a record of every database change. Similarly one could record every database query on the database server.
Looking at clicks sounds like recording the screen of the user. Too many privacy issues IMHO even for an internal tool.
Looking at clicks sounds like recording the screen of the user. Too many privacy issues IMHO even for an internal tool.
You've nailed the core tension: privacy vs. visibility. It's the key challenge.
While tools like Paper Trail show the final data change, how do you capture the "struggle" that leads to it? For example, how do you know if a task took an employee 2 minutes or 10 minutes of confused clicking to complete, if the final data looks correct? Is that "workflow friction" something you try to measure?
While tools like Paper Trail show the final data change, how do you capture the "struggle" that leads to it? For example, how do you know if a task took an employee 2 minutes or 10 minutes of confused clicking to complete, if the final data looks correct? Is that "workflow friction" something you try to measure?
My approach has always been to just ask the person who made the mistake to replicate it on the test system. That's generally (but not always) clarified what the issue is.
For actions that involve finance, it might be better to have a peer approval. This slows the process but manages risk better than an individual sign off.
Most tools have audit logs. Currently, we put the logs to LLMs and understand. It is not perfect, but at least it gives a direction to us right now.
I'm trying to solve a problem that seems to exist in many companies. A team member makes a costly error while using an internal tool (like your CRM, claims software, etc.).
You know the outcome—money was lost, a customer is angry—but you have no way to see exactly what they did. You can't "replay the tape" to understand the sequence of clicks and decisions that led to the mistake.
This makes it incredibly difficult to do a real post-mortem, train people effectively, or fix broken processes.
So, how do you handle this now?
When a user error happens, what's your process for finding out what went wrong?
Do you have any tools that give you visibility into these user workflows?
Have you ever wished you could just watch a recording of what a user did to cause an issue?
I'd be fascinated to hear your stories or frustrations with this.