September 2, 2004
Dear Everyone:
After about a year-and-a-half of document management system training, we have come to the conclusion that we’re trying to do too much in too short a time. By trying to cram as much information into a one-day training session as possible, we’re wearing ourselves out and overwhelming the students.
This became evident to me a few months ago when a woman that I had trained in a one-day session was visiting during another training session. She kept exclaiming, “Oh, that’s right! You showed us how to do that and I completely forgot about it until just now.”
Another woman showed up for training earlier this week and I realized that I had already trained her before. Twice.
So we’re breaking the training out into two separate classes: “Beginners” and “Intermediates”. We’ve actually done some “Beginners” classes, using the attendees as kind of guinea pigs to see how well it goes. So far, it’s going well. The shorter sessions mean less wear-and-tear on the trainers. And the students go away more enthusiastic (from being less exhausted), knowing that, when they want to, they can come back later for more.
Or not. “Beginners” is the absolute least you have to do to get a Userid and get into the system. For a lot of people, that’s just fine. For the others, once they’re comfortable in the system, they’ll be willing (and more able) to learn the next steps.
“Intermediates” training isn’t Ready For Prime Time yet, mostly because it involves new functionality that only works in the “Pleasanton” training environment. Unfortunately, the “Pleasanton” environment was used by the developers who were working on UARM. (Remember UARM? Upstream Active Records Management.) UARM sort of hit an iceberg and took the “Pleasanton” environment down with it. Attempts at resuscitation are ongoing.
So, instead of finalizing the training materials for “Intermediates” tomorrow, I thought I’d spend some quiet time rummaging through my email Inbox. As of today, it has over 2500 items in it. I used to be better at filing things into subject files so I can find them when needed, but keeping the actual Inbox down to a single screen.
In other news…
I’m still trying to get Odin up to “Jeannie’s” place. She was too busy last week to even consider taking on a new-to-her car. Do the words “overwhelmed”, “overworked”, “overstressed”, and “burned out” ring any bells? I’m sure hearing them. Thank goodness we have a 3-day weekend coming up.
I might even try to take in a movie, now that the “dog days of August” are officially over. I did go to see The Princess Diaries 2 last Saturday, since “Jeannie” was too busy. Like its predecessor, it’s a pleasant piece of fluff, good for an afternoon in an air-conditioned theater. It’s just the thing if you have a little girl to entertain. But it also offers Julie Andrews and Hector Elizondo as two old friends who just need a little push to see that friends isn’t all they have to be.
Oh, and John Rhys-Davies as the cuddliest villain I’ve seen in ages. Even the bad guys are sweet in this movie.
By the way, ever since I got my Palm Pilot back in 2000, I’ve been entering any movies into a special category called (big surprise) “Movies”. As of the aforementioned Princess Diaries sequel, I’ve spent $1,134.10 on movies. But remember, that includes the popcorn.
Love, as always,
Pete
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