Increase productivity with new software

I have often mentioned the productivity that is lost in a business when new software is installed. This is caused by two things: People are uncomfortable with the software; they have been forced to consciously think about what they are doing. This slows them down.

At a conference yesterday, I was reminded that games don't work that way. When you start a new game, you enter at a simple level. As you gain experience at that level, you begin to get more comfortable. Once you pass the first level (you are now comfortable), the complexity increases. The complexity and knowledge that you need increases at each level.

Unfortunately, business software doesn't work that way. When you first get to look at new business software, you get to see all of its complexity. You have to figure out what you don't need, so that you can ignore it, and focus on what you do need. Most people never get to use more than 10% of the functionality, even when they are very experienced. This makes people uncomfortable and slows them down.

Training doesn't help. You get one to five days of feature blast. Most people remember very little of this firehose training.

Let's assume that the business software industry is eventually going to get it, and provide a learning approach to their software. What does a business do in the meantime?

The solution comes in planning.

1. If you have defined your business processes before you went to to buy the software, you know what you want the software to do for you.
2. Use that to identify the training that you need. Ensure that people understand the way the new process will work. train them on the functions that will make the first phase work.
3. Once they become comfortable and productive, you can go on to phase two. Do the same thing again. Define the new steps in the process. Train people on these new features.

Not only don't companies go through a phased approach, they often never get to phase two. The first implementation is so traumatic, they never get to exploit the real functionality of the software. The next time that the business needs to improve, they assume that their current software doesn't do it and they go through another forklift upgrade.