PC Training a "Living Hell"


Has your boss block-booked you into a computer training class next week? Feel sick to the stomach and thinking of taking time off?

Fear not. Because, like extra-terrestrial lifeforms and Michael Jackson: you are not alone.

Marc Fisher in the Washington Post writes how never the twain shall meet between IT workplace trainers and employees. A gulf has developed that's becoming impossible bridge between the "Techies" and the "Clueless".

Academic research supports this as well. The Post article cites a study that tech trainers "need both technical and interpersonal skills." One wide-ranging study covering a mind-boggling 8,000 tech projects found a success rate of only 16%. The reason? The 'techs' v. the 'end-user'.

One of Fisher's workmates has become so demoralized, she's described thus: "One of my most intellectually keen colleagues was reduced during this latest round of training to incoherent babbling on the screen, culminating in a pathetic plea to be allowed outside for recess."

Fisher argues that "advances" in technology do not necessarily make things better for the vast mass of the population who are forced to sit in front of flickering CRTs (mostly) for the best part of their working life. 22 years ago, he says, his computer manual was 2 pages. Now it's 53.

Analysis: Remember your first Mac? How long did it take you to figure out how to use it? No time, we bet. Desktop metaphor. Hard drive filing cabinet. Point. Click. Open. Write. Thankfully, with OS X, things are still mostly the same.

I've got to admit, I'm hopeless with Windows. Oh, sure, I can do basic things, but my exposure to 2000 and XP is minimal. Certainly I can't make hardware 'just work', especially peripherals. People who ask me questions are told (politely) "I don't do Windows."

We agree that much of the blame for poor computer training can be put down to the inability of many techs to teach, to expound their knowledge with clarity to the end-user. There are good teacher-techs out there, but they're few and far between. User competence levels, which vary widely, are also to blame. It's difficult to train a group of people whose confidence and skills range from newbie to old hand.

More importantly, this issue raises all sorts of questions about tech. It's absurd to expect technology to stop - akin to shouting 'stop the world, I want to get off!'. But a quick glance at the Office v.X Bible shows how complex applications have become. We would surely all agree that applications - not just MS's - suffer feature bloat which makes training for advanced use almost mandatory. And, let's face it, when you signed up to learn Word, you didn't anticipate almost Quark-like complexity.

I've found offices have become divided between end-users who are tech-savvy and non-tech. Unfortunately, the non-techs (depending on their seniority) can refuse point-blank to learn something. Actually, even some more junior employees refuse to learn mail merge in Word.

This wouldn't be a problem, except that the tech-savvy end up doing more work (actually, the work of IT staff, who are either (a) too busy training people or (b) eating doughnuts). Savvy end-users wind up fixing other people's problems and generally falling behind in their own work. Not good.

Then again, I work in an all-PC department, with only two Macs in use, including my PowerBook. The other Mac guy is non-tech, so I'm on his speed dial (but only 'cause I sold him my Wallstreet). The PCs flake consistently and there's rarely anyone to fix them. Not on the same day, anyway.

The Macs? They chug on...and on...and on. No help desk necessary.