Our experience with training
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| mecrider Nov 03, 2005 6:51 PM EDT |
We moved the two secretaries in our organization to OpenOffice.org 1.1 with no training whatsoever. Both were not particularly cooperative because they were sure nothing could be as good as MS Office, which they had been using for six years. For several months I spent quite a bit of time showing them how to do things. Finally we persuaded management to allow some time for training. I spent twelve hours in dedicated training. However, having listened to their questions and watched the way they did things, I spent a very small percentage of the training time on differences between MS and OOo. Most of the time was spent on what they really needed - showing them how to make use of a word processor. They were still trying to do things the way they did for years prior to MS, when all they had was a typewriter! |
| dcparris Nov 03, 2005 8:05 PM EDT |
Your point is dead on. Sometimes, a little training can go a long way toward overcoming the emotional barriers to change. The emotional strain of change is perhaps the biggest challenge any advocate needs to overcome. I know of one SUSE consultant who migrated a fairly small shop to SUSE on the desktop. When faced with two resisting employees, he pointed out that their jobs depended on their ability to make the change. Suddenly, they were thrilled to learn the new system. Everyone else had already willingly migrated. That side of it can be tough, and I'm sure there are better ways to encourage your staff than this guy's approach. I think it would be great to hear how others overcome the emotional barriers. |
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