World Wide Web: Just-in-time performance support?
I would argue that the World Wide Web is very much becoming a just-in-time performance support tool for everybody with access. I would also argue that people are making an analogy between the web and other performance support tools that they use, thus applying the same expectations.
For example, when I was speaking to a coworker, she expressed her frustration with the company's intranet. I agreed with her: it is unwieldy and unsearchable. I once spent 15 minutes trying to find my way to an application that the entire company uses constantly. We agreed that part of the problem is that computers have become so easy to use: I can find most anything posted on the internet in a few seconds with Google, and I even have the Google application that will search my desktop as well.
Accordingly, I believe that the world is ready for knowledge management systems. People are very receptive to using company intranet sites to find just about anything that they need for their job. The caveat is that dumping all the information that you have into an enormous, unsearchable database (which I've seen in no few places) will no longer fly. We're too used to an environment where you can find anything from a graduate thesis to movie clips showing dance steps to household cleaning tips by typing a few words into a box and clicking a button.
For example, when I was speaking to a coworker, she expressed her frustration with the company's intranet. I agreed with her: it is unwieldy and unsearchable. I once spent 15 minutes trying to find my way to an application that the entire company uses constantly. We agreed that part of the problem is that computers have become so easy to use: I can find most anything posted on the internet in a few seconds with Google, and I even have the Google application that will search my desktop as well.
Accordingly, I believe that the world is ready for knowledge management systems. People are very receptive to using company intranet sites to find just about anything that they need for their job. The caveat is that dumping all the information that you have into an enormous, unsearchable database (which I've seen in no few places) will no longer fly. We're too used to an environment where you can find anything from a graduate thesis to movie clips showing dance steps to household cleaning tips by typing a few words into a box and clicking a button.
posted by Varda Lobanov | 2:18 PM
5 Comments:
Does this shift the burden of learning from how to use something to how to find it and providing an accompanying job aid?
I would argue that if any but the most rudimentary training on how to find it is required, the user interface sucks beyond belief.
People are developing conventions: Marketing Profs once mentioned that people expect a search function on the websites that they visit. Furthermore, the search function is expected to consist of a box, into which they can type text, and a clickable button next to the box, that starts the search function. The search results should pop up in a new window and contain links to the identified webpages.
Because these conventions, learners who have had any experience with the internet are essentially "pre-trained" in finding stuff. All you have to do is obey the convention.
But, yes. Unless there is some need for the information to be top of mind (Safety or accuracy are critical or where occupational standards apply). There should also be some initial marketing of new processes, procedures or data; so that people are aware that they exist and are valuable.
WeddingChannel.com has an ad in Glamour that shows exactly what I mean.
It shows a dog digging an enormous hole in a beach with a caption "Searching for a wedding registry doesn't have to be as hard as digging for buried treasure." It also pictures the search boxes: First Name, Last Name; and the "search" button.
Simple and elegant: it advertises the availability of a new service. The WIIFM is pretty self-explanatory (this might need to be bumped up for a service with less immediately apparent value). The "how to use" completely relies on internet conventions.
All good points. Contributing factors are that we are also a very 'instant-gratification' society - which is contributed to by the fact that many company DO it right and provide that instant gratification. The world is ready for KM...but is KM ready for the world...
I wouldn't say that instant gratification is the issue. People are constantly overloaded with information now. Our current challenge is to find ways of sifting through incredible amounts of data to find the most relevant, reliable and actionable facts.
I ran across a term on MarketingProfs.com a couple of days ago: "satisficer". This describes somebody (increasingly me) who selects business partners who cull a few relevant pieces from the infinity of choices available.
It's why I shop, specifically, at Ann Taylor and Banana Republic with occasional forays into Nordstrom's and the discount shops. I love to shop: to find unique pieces at amazing prices. But, it would take all of my time to search everywhere for the best piece at the best price. Ms. Taylor contains a selection of flattering, good-quality pieces. It's so much easier to identify one or two pieces there, then follow them until they go on sale.
It's also why I subscribe to MSN's Slate news synopsis. It gives me a good idea of what's going on in the world, with article links to provide original context. I just don't have time to read the Wall Street Journal, the LA Times and the Washington Post. I barely have time to read Slate.
Satisficing is a strategy to limit the number of decisions that I have to make to maintain an appropriate lifestyle.
So, given the extraordinary demands on my cognitive space, do I have the ability to remember three different search and buy procedures for the three different booksellers I use online?
Answer: are you kidding? Humans, as a group, have developed an amazing number of heuristics and conventions to create a reasonable number of choices BEFORE the information age. So, of course, we're going to develop conventions so we can learn about and buy the book without having to learn about HOW to buy the book. I, very simply, will choose to do business with companies that don't force me to jump through hoops.
The same goes in the workplace: if I have 16 hours of work to do in an 8 hour day, do I have time to wander through a KM system? No.
What ends up happening is that people start indexing for themselves. They remember the people who know how to get to different catagories of information in the system. This, of course, puts additional demands on the experts.
Now, remember, people will walk across hot coals to get crucial information (remember the listserves from the early '90s?) but it makes everybody much more productive and happy to have an "intuitive" (conventional) search and find feature. Additionally, it will help direct people to functions that can make YOUR life easier while having little effect on THEIRS.
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