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Subject:Re: Online vs paper From:Claudia Allen <Claudia -at- CPC -dot- ORG> Date:Wed, 21 Sep 1994 12:47:00 PDT
Steve Christensen said:
>Here's the frustrating part---[part deleted]---users will spend
>more time searching for a "guru" or looking for the one manual than
>searching in the online documentation.
>Has anyone else seen this problem? If so, what are your solutions?
My nonprofit did this very thing. Installed a wonderful high-tech network,
lots of great software (which potential users were to help select even
though many hadn't used a PC before). The purse-string holders sent one or
two people to a formal class for each application and then expected them to
teach the others and be the on-site experts. That was a year ago. It worked
so well that the rule now is, if you need a class, the company will pay for
it with very few questions asked; everyone gets an aftermarket book for the
software chosen by someone who uses the application regularly. There are
still gurus on board by virtue of using a particular application more than
anyone else does. It was an experiment in cheapness that just didn't work.
(By the way, my husband teaches some of the software in question and refused
to teach me when I asked. He said, "If they want you to know how to use it,
they can hire me.")
