Why do dick and jane learn differently?- Challenges in implementing today's GIS/IT systems
– Tom Gavula, Director, AM/FM/GIS Project
Southern Union Co. – New England Division
Follow a field crew with a camera to see what they do some day. Then, design a
computer system that will allow office people to duplicate that process on the computer.
What an insight this provides; especially how simple it is compared to our normal asset
management of things. This requires graphical based input rather than textual input.
“Field crews think graphically and are not good at translating the data into textual forms.”
– Dave Kruse
Portland General Electric
“TXU usually tries to gauge the competency of the audience during introductions and
tailor the presentation accordingly. We (TXU) also keep two trainers in the room, one
instructor, and the other to observe and help anyone who gets stuck.”
"you have to realize the difference between instruction and training. Instruction is the
ACT of presenting the material. Training is the ART of assuring that the audience gets it.
This is through repetition and observation as opposed to merely presenting the material.”
- Present topics in the order they are done back in the office (field) i.e. create work request
design, then work request approve, etc.
- When there is confusion stop everyone and have them watch me do it on the screen
- Draw examples and pictures on the dry erase board.
- Give as many handouts as possible depending on subject of class.
- Give examples of things that relate to how it is done in the field.
- Go slow, not all clients are familiar with the system.
- Repeat the command more than once. This gives the client time to read the menus, and
still keep up in class.
- Ask questions, does everyone understand before moving on to the next task. This creates
group participation and also “keeps them awake”.
- If any questions come up, be sure all questions are answered fully, this tends to lead to
discussions, which helps all understand.
- Read prompts when going through the commands and stress the importance to students of
reading the prompts.
– John McCoy (and training staff) , TXU
So how do we train dick & jane?
The realities of today’s “hurry up and get it in!” mindset goes right against what we know as
real issues being faced by our employees and their respective understanding of new
technology tools and information. While most of us have done cost / benefit analysis where
labor costs and savings are part of the equation, little has been done to quantify the time,
money and schedule costs that occur when we do not implement systems effectively the first
time, or ever for that matter. As the adage goes “We don’t have money to do it right the first
time but we always have money to do it again” holds so true for those of us who are trying to
implement major systems that affect many employees. The companies mentioned above have
attacked many valid issues and have given all of us some great advice on designing systems
via “prototyping”, how to conduct training classes, the benefits of resistance, building
customized products / tools for individuals or groups, etc. As John McCoy, TXU, is quoted as
saying ... “Training is the ART of assuring that the audience gets it”. Most, if not all of us,
have been taught in a class room with one course guide, one general set of instructions, and
one tool / system to use. As this paper has emphasized, we come to a new system from
several different perspectives.
All of our fellow employees have not been involved with the design of a GIS/IT system nor
can they given the work of the enterprise. Those of us that are part of design and
implementation teams need to keep the differences of individuals in mind as we design and
implement systems. Perhaps getting support from Human Resources is a means to getting
support of upper management to try some other methods of training. Prototyping in the field,
more thoroughly analyzing actual work processes and improvements with innovative
employee “change agents”, helping those employees who prefer “hands on” experience verses
classroom, going to the employees by geographic location, etc., are examples of shifting the
paradigm from our traditional ways. In a competitive world, how competently we use the
tools we have will help us excel in the market place.
Conclusion
“Dick and Jane” will always learn differently. That is the way we were made. What we as IT
tool developers, change agents, implementers and trainers need to do is look at is the way we
develop and implement the new software and hardware tools within our respective
organizations. Training is an “ART”. We need to find ways to optimize our implementation
of systems whereby Dick and Jane embrace the “ART” and they, in turn, make our new
GIS/IT solutions successful. By the way ... has anyone seen Spot?
References
Gardner,Howard,Seven Intelligences of Howard Gardner,
www.tier.net/schools/stw/seven.htm
The Kolbe Concept®, from the following websites:
www.gcisolutions.com/gcisolutionskolbe.html
www.kipawa.com/kolbe/david.htm
Pangan, Daniel A., GITA Annual Conference Proceedings, 2000, Managing Change in a
Business Environment
Weber, Stan P., GITA Annual Conference Proceedings, 2000, The Last Frontier for GIS Data
Weber, Stan P., GITA Annual Conference Proceedings, 2001, Getting Difficult People to
Successfully Deploy Difficult Technology
