Learning Launch

Challenges

I am from the user documentation/technical documentation team in a software company  and here is description of the problem our team faced.  Though we have made variety of documents available to end-users, there are considerable  amount of user awareness issues and inter-team dependencies that points at the need for  recurring trainings on product usage. Transition and attrition in the customer teams  contributes to the user awareness issues. Also, it is a known fact that end-users do not  prefer to go through long documents and search for information.   There are product demos created for training purpose, but as they are part of the document  set and not readily available with application UI restrict their usage. Tooltips on the UI  provide field descriptions and validations and do not help in guiding users about the  sequence to be followed.     To resolve these problems and enhance user assistance, we researched and found a new  tool. The tool is designed to create self-paced interactive guided tours or Self-help using  which users can complete a task on the software application user interface (UI) on their  own.     Alternatives available for Self-help:

Alternative 1  Recurring Trainings (Interactive)

An overall description of the  option

Conducting recurring face-to-face trainings at regular  intervals for internal teams and customers.

An analysis of the extent to  which the option could be  expected to achieve the key  outcomes

Ensures that users have the necessary knowledge to  handle the product.

The inherent strengths of  the option and the  opportunities which the  option might present to the  organisation

Face-to-face trainings are more effective.

The inherent weaknesses of  the option and any risks to  which the option would  expose the organisation

 Not practically possible to track the requirement

of training and conduct recurring trainings

 Increases resource and travel requirement

 Not cost-effective

 Might require approval from customers

The resourcing implications for the organisation, including:

The likely implementation  timescale

Large – as the solution is not of ‘one-time’ approach  and requires recurring efforts

Alternative 1  Recurring Trainings (Interactive)

The demand for  staff/volunteer involvement

High

The indicative external costs Travels to customer locations

The likely on-going  maintenance costs

Huge

Alternative 2  Trainings (Non-Interactive)

An overall description of the  option

Creating training videos for self learning and making  it available for users so that they can learn in their  own time.

The inherent strengths of  the option and the  opportunities which the  option might present to the  organisation

Training will be available on an on-demand basis.

The inherent weaknesses of  the option and any risks to  which the option would  expose the organisation

 Cannot track whether users have gone through

the training or understood

 Not effective compared to the interactive face-to-

face trainings

The resourcing implications for the organization, including:

The likely implementation  timescale

3 months and regular updates thereafter.

The demand for  staff/volunteer involvement

Requires thorough research followed by content  creation.

The indicative external costs Requires a host for making videos available all the

time.

Selection

Considering the limitation of all the available doc formats and alternatives, we decided to  experiment with Self Help using the new tool.  Our purpose was to enhance user assistance by providing Self Help guides to be embedded  on the GUI. These are pre-captured task flows with instructions that help the user to  complete a task. The flows are created by Tech Docs team members based on the use cases  given by different teams, such as PM, Dev, support and integrated with the application.  Users need to go through the list of task flows, select a flow, and run it in the ‘Live mode’.

As the tool to be used to create these Self Help guides is totally new in the market, we  neither had any background data for reference nor any idea on its behavior and  effectiveness. So we decided to go ahead with experimentation for a shorter period with a  small group of people with diverse backgrounds.    Application

We started the experimentation with the following steps:

 Prepared a list of task flows from Dev team, Product managers   Captured flows using the new tool   Did a group review and edited the flows   Shared with Dev team and Product managers, and gathered comments   Fine-tuned the flows and integrated with the application user interface   Shared with different teams, such as Support, Implementation, Dev, Product  validation, Bid management, Business analysis, and Product managers. These were  the teams that either directly interact with customers and know their needs very  well or know our product well.    We gathered feedback through one-on-one conversations and feedback form

Insight and approach

The learning launch helped in getting an insight on the following factors of the Self-Help  guides:

 Usefulness    Accessibility   Ease of use

It helped in understanding the pain points and limitations of the new tool within a short  time duration. The exercise also helped in arriving at the data required to make a purchase  decision. We got an overall assessment on the following:

 Financial impact: Budget required for implementation, and expected return on  investment   Cultural impact: Elimination of dependency on Dev team for training and knowledge  transfer (KT)   Capability: Can be taken up and implemented for multiple products simultaneously.  Also, integration with the product does not require much effort.

The other alternatives to this approach could have been the normal ‘develop-test-validate- launch’ route which takes more time, resources, efforts, and investment without any  guarantee on the positive outcome.

This approach was effective in our case and is ideal where we don’t have any kind of data to  support the new idea that we have come up with.


Learning Launch Challenges I am from the user documentation / technical documentation team in a software company and here is description of the problem our team faced . Though we have made variety of documents available to end - users , there are considerable amount of user awareness issues and inter - team dependencies that points at the need for recurring trainings on product usage . Transition and attrition in the customer teams contributes to the user awareness issues . Also , it is a known fact that end - users do not prefer to go through long documents and search for information . There are product demos created for training purpose , but as they are part of the document set and not readily available with application UI restrict their usage . Tooltips on the UI provide field descriptions and validations and do not help in guiding users about the sequence to be followed . To resolve these problems and enhance user assistance , we researched and found a new tool . The tool is designed to create self - paced interactive guided tours or Self - help using which users can complete a task on the software application user interface ( UI ) on their own . Alternatives available for Self - help : Alternative 1 Recurring Trainings ( Interactive ) An overall description of the option Conducting recurring face - to - face trainings at regular intervals for internal teams and customers . An analysis of the extent to which the option could be expected to achieve the key outcomes Ensures that users have the necessary knowledge to handle the product . The inherent strengths of the option and the opportunities which the option might present to the organisation Face - to - face trainings are more effective . The inherent weaknesses of the option and any risks to which the option would expose the organisation  Not practically possible to track the requirement of training and conduct recurring trainings  Increases resource and travel requirement  Not cost - effective  Might require approval from customers The resourcing implications for the organisation , including : The likely implementation timescale Large – as the solution is not of ‘ one - time ’ approach and requires recurring efforts Alternative 1 Recurring Trainings ( Interactive ) The demand for staff / volunteer involvement High The indicative external costs Travels to customer locations The likely on - going maintenance costs Huge Alternative 2 Trainings ( Non - Interactive ) An overall description of the option Creating training videos for self learning and making it available for users so that they can learn in their own time . The inherent strengths of the option and the opportunities which the option might present to the organisation Training will be available on an on - demand basis . The inherent weaknesses of the option and any risks to which the option would expose the organisation  Can not track whether users have gone through the training or understood  Not effective compared to the interactive face - to- face trainings The resourcing implications for the organization , including : The likely implementation timescale 3 months and regular updates thereafter . The demand for staff / volunteer involvement Requires thorough research followed by content creation . The indicative external costs Requires a host for making videos available all the time . Selection Considering the limitation of all the available doc formats and alternatives , we decided to experiment with Self Help using the new tool . Our purpose was to enhance user assistance by providing Self Help guides to be embedded on the GUI . These are pre - captured task flows with instructions that help the user to complete a task . The flows are created by Tech Docs team members based on the use cases given by different teams , such as PM , Dev , support and integrated with the application . Users need to go through the list of task flows , select a flow , and run it in the ‘ Live mode ’ . As the tool to be used to create these Self Help guides is totally new in the market , we neither had any background data for reference nor any idea on its behavior and effectiveness . So we decided to go ahead with experimentation for a shorter period with a small group of people with diverse backgrounds . Application We started the experimentation with the following steps :  Prepared a list of task flows from Dev team , Product managers  Captured flows using the new tool  Did a group review and edited the flows  Shared with Dev team and Product managers , and gathered comments  Fine - tuned the flows and integrated with the application user interface  Shared with different teams , such as Support , Implementation , Dev , Product validation , Bid management , Business analysis , and Product managers . These were the teams that either directly interact with customers and know their needs very well or know our product well .  We gathered feedback through one - on - one conversations and feedback form Insight and approach The learning launch helped in getting an insight on the following factors of the Self - Help guides :  Usefulness  Accessibility  Ease of use It helped in understanding the pain points and limitations of the new tool within a short time duration . The exercise also helped in arriving at the data required to make a purchase decision . We got an overall assessment on the following :  Financial impact : Budget required for implementation , and expected return on investment  Cultural impact : Elimination of dependency on Dev team for training and knowledge transfer ( KT )  Capability : Can be taken up and implemented for multiple products simultaneously . Also , integration with the product does not require much effort . The other alternatives to this approach could have been the normal ‘ develop - test - validate- launch ’ route which takes more time , resources , efforts , and investment without any guarantee on the positive outcome . This approach was effective in our case and is ideal where we do n’t have any kind of data to support the new idea that we have come up with .