Yesterday, I was working with a colleague who is an early adopter of a new technology. Working in Information Systems, we are constantly exposed to these types of devices. Even so, we struggle just the same when things don't quite work the way that they were drawn up.
In this particular instance, this individual is making an honest attempt at getting the device to work the way that it should. He has spent hours of his own time every day trying to learn the device. He had hoped it would be easy enough to figure out without any real training. For the most part, he has been able to accomplish tasks. From his feedback, I can classify his issues into two major groups.
The first group of issues could be called "knowing what you want to do but being unable to figure out how to do it". I had a similar experience recently in a hotel room. There was a single-serve coffee maker. I added water and put in the cartridge. I then knew I needed to turn the unit on. There were no instructions on the unit. I searched all around the unit but could not seem to locate the correct button. After about two minutes, I finally realized that there was a slight protrusion that doubled as the on switch. After I pressed it, it lit up and I knew I had located the correct button. It's experiences like that that can make new technology difficult.
The second group of issues could be titled "you are making me do things differently." There is nothing necessarily wrong with this. The changes just make people temporarily uncomfortable. One example from my own experience is fairly recent. About a month ago, I received a new laptop. With the old laptop, every time I stepped away for a few minutes, my computer would go to sleep. Upon reviving it, I would be presented with a lock screen. I would have to type in both my name and my password. It was annoying, but I had lived with this for nearly four years so I was quite used to it. With the new laptop, the system now recognized who I was. In these situations, I would now only have to type my password. Any neutral observer would agree that this is a benefit. However, for the first week or so, I was constantly running into the problem where I would automatically start typing my name and this would mess up the password. Until I got used to the switch, I was actually taking longer to get past the lock screen!
No matter how diligent we are, there will always be time needed to make the transition. It will be vital for us to incorporate solid training programs geared for the average user. It will also be important for us to start each session from the point of view of the end user. As we begin to roll out these devices to more and more personnel, it will be important for us to be patient. It will be equally important for the end users to be patient as well. The road to adoption may be quite frustrating. The good news is that once we get past the initial trauma, we should be able to benefit from the new features this new technology provides. After some time, we may even be able to laugh at our previous inadequacies!
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