New user tech training

• idea stems from taking employees at food bank severely out of comfort zone after 10 years of no new tech--no new software, OS, etc
• to a techie, seems like everything new will save time, make things more efficient, but the idea of changing everything is scary to users.
• there's an amazing amount of resistance that a techie might feel unprepared for; taking the time to recognize that people's personal investmetns in thier job, the work thye do that they're the best at is so important for them; introducming new tech shakes that, makes people question their own value to their organization, to their world.
• tech might seem neutral, useful, more efficient, but that change can feel like a violence to someone; techies need to account for that.
• need to enter into a project from the outset from a point of compassion, coming to implementation not as someone who knows all the answers but someone who wants to work through solutions with people.
• recent approach that's working really well: sit with people, talk about solutions without the solution in mind already. Talk about what the problem is, what needs to be done. Rather than starting with the tool (e.g. a database), start with the problems or needs, talk through those. Engages other people in the conversation so that when the best solution is a new tech tool, it's a collaborative decision, rather than some techie outside force imposing technology on people.
• Engaging people in the process is a way for techies to respect and trust the expertise and knowledge of the folks you're working with.
• Working with people on technology over the long haul--maybe not quality time all the time, but quantity time--can be the key to opening up these conversations and opportunities.
• User-led vs management led adoption is important; people can quit jobs over not being included in the adoption of new software or tech solutions.
• Database problem! Hard to get people to track their data; instructors don't take attendance, aren't used to that sort of thing. Even though there's a system that everyone needs to use, even if it's something so easy as a Google Form. How do you get people to procedurally do these things?
• What you need at the end of the day is a list of who was there; problem is getting everyone to actually collect that data. Choose the method that has highest probability of full adoption. Is it better for you to collect info have to type that info into a system at the end of the day than not having the info at all?
• Give people real reasons that they can get down with for going through the process, using the tools. Need to understand what you can really get out of it.
• Sometimes there's a resistance to implementing new pieces of technology within an existing job.
• Ongoing relationships with folks can really help build a knowledge and trust that can help you give good feedback.
• Telling someone that the tech will save them time can sometimes implicitly be an insult--"you've been wasting time all these months/years!"
• Focus on the benefits of saving time, not the time being wasted--people can spend more time on program development, having time for the things they always wish they had time from at the end of the week.
• There's a "new technology gets people fired" fear.
• Feels like the techie's responsibility to come up with procedures for people to adopt something new.
• Example: difficulty of getting people to use a new project management tool. No one was using it, but people DO use email, so they connected the project management tool and email, but people are still not using it.
• Sometimes you can put more tech solutions in that make the process of using new tech transparent, like it's not even there, e.g. emailing into a project management system.
• Sometimes you have to take a hard line on things to get people to use it. Sometimes you need a special situation to push that hard line!