On Computers, Short Cuts and the Silent Training Battles I’ve won

Blubs of Verbs, Life Lessons Comments (1)

God must love the common man, he made so many of them.  – Abraham Lincoln

In my job, I believe strongly in the “teach a man to fish” principle, and this is how i generally deal with computers and computers users.  People, because of the connivence of technology have worked out all manner of things that make their lives easier and yet terribly painful when unfamiliar.  

Take for instance, the cellphone; in the past, you knew your house, work, parents, friends, etc  phone number. Now, put your cellphone away and try to remember anyone. (btw, evidence is that girls are able to remember a friend, way more than any guy.)  But you can’t, most people remember their home (land line) work (maybe) This is one way, connivence has made us more dependent on technology. just like we rarely have hard copy pictures. 

But i could go on about technology making us just a little dumber (thou some say it’s making room for what’s truly important, just like memory. After all, why remember when i can google it?) 

my silent war is against the the computer: 

<rant>

The MAC

The Mac computer touts it’s simplicity, and ease of use, which is always funny.. for a big white web browsers.  There are two types of mac users. Those who use the hell out of it (and still ignore 90% of the software on it) and those who web surf and listen to itunes (and ignore 85% of the software on it). It’s a $1500 paperweight with fancy graphics for a vast majority of people.

It logs in automatically, why remember your password? It has keychain, why remember any passwords after the first time.  Need to move your user and such, mac will move them for you when you get a new one, and the rare applications you bought will be moved too. 

This is the holy grail, and I commend them. I personally love it for myself, and use my mac religiously.   The problem is when someone at work says “Why can’t we all get mac’s” (or pc’s”) so much easier? 

It’s not. 

• Your mac is not on a network with layered security, VLANS and VPN’s. 
• Your mac is not running mac software to access internal systems.
• Your mac is not the world as the rest of the world knows it. 
• Your mac does not have to deal with cross server permissions, SANS, NAS, and network switching protocols. 
• Your mac rarely has to deal with 20 venders, running their own systems, sending you different files for you to open using 10 different programs.

Your Mac is not better, you just haven’t tried to use the other 90 functions. Do you even know what all the icons in Applications do? What about system preferences? Why, you don’t care nor should you; and as a home users, it matters not.  But your mac is not the rest of the world.

</rant>

Computers in general:

Working one hasn’t really changed in a while, yet, “short cuts” (mac or pc) have actually made using a computer harder to use for some people. When i used to first set up a computer, I put short cuts everywhere… , which worked great! Until someone deleted a short cut. Soon I realized their world stopped when the shortcut disappeared, nothing  apparently could be done; They couldn’t find files, or servers, no one could navigate the menu system, or could find anything.  They would call me from home, asking how to use their computer, so they could work it as they did when at work. 

This, I had to stop.  These people weren’t dumb. What was the problem? Turns out I’m also a little different that most people. I’m curious about the software, program, item. I open every button, i click every link, I tweak every preference so i know what it does. Baring that most people are not this way, how could I get them to help themselves?

I therefore stopped using shortcuts. I deleted them where I could. I showed people where programs were in the menu and on the server and behold, my users were considered not just smart, but computer savy.  No matter which system they went to, they could work on it, because they knew where it was located when not immediately infront of them. 

Short cuts hurt. They hurt alot. The worse? Save your web password.  A password used every so often is remembered, one put into a “keychain” and then left for the 2 years you have the computer, is permanently lost when that computer is changed.  it’s also a security risk. I get into the master password, i get into all passwords. There was a time when Mac computers used to auto log on. On the Mac I changed it so it only displayed blank name and password.  Now every mac user in my building knows their user name and password. The pc users do not. Why? the PC remembers their user name, and willfully, humanly, they seem to have forgotten it.  Thou it’s there. Thou they look at it nearly 3-4 times a week, people don’t realize that’s their username, so when i work on a computer and leave “masteruser.” (because i can’t change the last user).  I know, (i know) I will get calls that say “It’s says i’m the masteruser. What’s the password for that?”

Yes, I cringe too.

Now, reading this your maybe shaking your head. “Man that’s dumb”, it is, and yet it happens, not because people are lazy (some are, yes), but because such learning is general unimportant to us.  These are smart, intelligent and well meaning people who just don’t care to know or have the time for something so trivial, especially if i am their google. 

I have engaged in this silent battle of training away human fallacy and ineptitude not by training classes, but by how I structure words, phrases, computer and settings. I also work hard at “teaching a man to fish,” (so he may feed himself)  and I make my users better people for it. The key is to not make it annoying, just deter bad behavior. 

How? For example. Billing for time is one of the most used practices in the Market. Both for advertising, and Lawyers.  Yet people did not fill out their time sheets. It’s time consuming and just …bleh. Everything was tried: Incentives, rewards, punishments.  Finally, a fellow computer user found the answer.   After 14 days of not doing your time your computer locked up. You couldn’t do anything. at this point, all 14 days had to be done in one sitting, or you had to explain to your manager why you didn’t do your time sheets (which was mandated by policy) due EOD daily.  The 14 days allowed flexibility, both for the diligent and the slackers. But the 15th day meant you got caught and there was no mercy for it.  After a 2 months in, only vacationers ever got caught on the time sheet program. 

My digital camera has 15 function button and a 220 page book, but what I like most? I press the button and I get a picture , it’s a nice shortcut, however, I STILL know what the other functions do, i doubt many people with a digital camera can say that. I tend to ignore bells and whistles until i know someone will use it. For instance, copiers come with dozens of functions now.  Right after they finish a pitch i usually ask “But does it copy.”  I don’t pretend my users will suddenly wake up and smell the roses, but i train them to.

So, hopefully, we have illustrated that people can be trained without sitting them in a room (which they ignore).  But the way we use technology only makes us dumber when we let it.  

 

OceansOfThought @ July 3, 2008