Remember
- The first 80% of the questions are "big" problems and can solved by reading the manual (RTFM)
- Prepare good, simple and readable manuals
- Use wiki-like tools to enable users to add their own descriptions and manuals for their work processes. .
- Let users know that they are important and that their comments are welcome and appreciated. .
- Use project management
- Keep all your correspondence with all partners involved in the project
- Use e-mail or regular mail for correspondence, avoid telephone arrangements, even if they are made during a telephone conversation, write them down and forward them to all involved parties
User's Point of View
Users play a very important part in this kind of projects.
Please remember that we need satisfied users if we want to talk about success.
In practice, we know that there are different types of users and we can group them according to their assumed roles with in a company.
Types of End-users
Positive
- Innovators: These users look forward to new things, new solutions. They know that the new implementation can bring them some profit. They are not afraid of new thing. They are willing to work a little bit more and expect some public recognition and sometimes also financial reward in return. They want to be at least a month in front of your project work.
- Good workers: They are good at what they do, can accept new things, expect clear and simple orders and are quick learners.
- Hard workers: They do know they have problems with new applications, but are willing to learn. They need good user manuals, some more help from the IT staff, but will learn in few weeks. Usually they do not ask many questions.
Use these three types of end-users to promote your work and your project, and keep them satisfied with the results of the implementation. Be sure you take time to listen to their comments and suggestions. Usually, their comments have some value.
Negative
- Regular workers: From 8 to16 is their timing; they do not want to think a minute more. It does not mean that they are not good workers. It just means that they do not want to spend any extra time thinking about their job.
- Complainers: They just need to complain; they think this is the way to get important. But in many cases it is only to distress the IT staff, because by complaining these users only want to hide their own problems, incompetence, unfinished work or plans... These users are quick with complains but are not wiling to read manuals or search the web.
These two types of users can be "a hand break" for a project. They do not want to invest any of their time to learn, they just need to complain. In the case such users also have some power influence over their superiors, this is definitely not a good combination. Don't give up!
Kindness
No matter what type of users you have to deal with, please remember:
Always Be Friendly to a User
Reality
There is always a lot of work and effort involved in a project like this - from all the involved parties. Usually there are also high expectations and short deadlines.
What Should We Know or Be Aware of?
- Vendors would like to close a deal as soon as possible
- We would like to have a perfect solution for our business
- There is a lot of pressure involved from all involved parties
- User trainings are usually short and reduced to few full days (1-2)
- There is a lot of remodelling during the implementation
How to Deal with That?
It depends on a business process that we are dealing with. It also depends on the IS solution we are trying to implement.
But let us suppose that you are implementing your IS step by step in a single OU in a company.
- Take your time to prepare a good implementation plan. .
- Involve "power user" from the OU from the very beginning. In that way you can have quality feedback.
After months of work you are definitely prepared for the new product, new look, new way of operation etc...
Are Your Users Prepared for That as Well?
Let us assume that you have spent the last 14 days working on a data export-import or any other transformation that was needed. In reality, no user actually cares about that, it is not their job to think about that.
The following day you and your users have to start working with a new programme. This is probably the most stressful part of a project and it lasts for about the first 10 working days. The pressure is still going to rise and the job is not done yet…
Facing short deadlines is something usual, so this is not the real problem.
