Forum Discussion
When Adoption Goes Wrong
Asif,If nothing else your response drew people’s attention in showing the bad side of expecting training to be the Adoption answer, it obviously is not.
However, it MUST be part of the answer as the expectation that your 'mass' of end users will suddenly understand everything that is being delivered is probably not realistic. And also, how do you manage new applications as MS release them.
My response is that your view is correct but your statement is wrong.
Training is crucial, but like everything else in the adoption space it has to be done right with all training plans being based on a training needs analysis exercise. This then means that the training provided is as a request by the business and motivation to train is because the business see that the project is delivering the training in the formats and subject matter that they have been requesting.
So, training on its own is not the answer, but as a blended adoption solution it is a crucial part of the process.
Steve Dalby
Just to add a few things hopefully still relevant to the initial question, though I know Maddie has left the community since.
During an extended SharePoint project, to move network drives to SharePoint (amongst other things), over a year into the project there was still some confusion on SharePoint fundamentals (features and capabilities, having a mapped out IA & IG, etc.). The project got halted when there were concerns about the migration approach, self-service vs fully managed, with what was achievable and how long it would take, after an initial batch had been completed.
Here are a few tips in light of this sort of experience -
- Set realistic expectations and timescales
- Have quick, deliverable wins, reiterating and continuously improving, driving value
- Fail fast if needed
- Don't skimp on communication and training, that must be in line with the deliverables
- Don't get bogged down on side projects or minutiae that distract from the overall goals
- Have the right roles that can support and drive the project, stakeholders, project managers, subject matter experts, champions etc.
Thanks for sharing those tips and pitfalls Cian Allner
I would add to them : Set a clear vision of what we expect the end-users to do with the new product.
As an example, we rolled out OneDrive explaining the potential and use cases of the solution.
But we did not set a clear vision of where OneDrive fits compared to other available file storage / sharing solutions such as personal network drives or USB key etc... We did exclude DropBox and the likes, but did not question the former solutions available in the workplace. This can impact the adoption rate as people will just ignore your change effort.That relates back to the other interesting post of David Broussard on 'Burning' solutions users might retreat to as we roll out the solution. You want to make sure you set a clear vision of the application landscape and you enforce it.
If you do take away users older tools, you have to have a strategy for it. You also need to make sure that leadership is on board and everyone knows that they are in this with the entire org. We've had success with staggered obsolesence where we take old storage areas like personal drives and let everyone know that when we move to OD4B we will be turning them Read Only and then at some point (months) in the future they will be turned off (but archived for more time, we just take the user's rights away) and then eventually they are deleted.
Love the tips you shared Cian Allner, and also agree with Veronica Skender that 'training doesn't work' is a very broad statement - but I think Asif Rehmani I think we're all in agreement!
At the end of the day it's all about understanding the audience. Understanding the use case is critical to end user adoption success. Define the problem that the technology is solving for from the eyes of the end user and communicate how it will impact their immediate day-to-day job. Apply the 'so what?' from the perspective on the end user to identify what will motivate breaking of old habits.
