So your team has been working hard over last few months working on the best technical solution, you have leveraged the best solution architecture, ensured project management best practices and have developed a solution with great user interface which is super easy to use and now the solution is about to go live.So your team has been working hard over last few months working on the best technical solution, you have leveraged the best solution architecture, ensured project management best practices and have developed a solution with great user interface which is super easy to use and now the solution is about to go live.
But hang on! Have you considered the actual users of the system, the organisation’s current working style and culture, their appetite to this shiny new solution and planned on how the solution would be transitioned into the day to day working life of the end users. Here are few of our lessons learned.
- The process of user adoption starts early-on and is an ongoing process
- Showcase the value and clearly outline “ What is in it for me” for your users
- Target senior stakeholders first but don’t miss out the others.
- Have your plan B ready to go
Understand your end users
- Understand your end users (numbers, their location, job roles, solution impact on users)
- Ensure end users understand ”What’s in it for me” early on during the project
- Listen to your Users Voice. (you may use tools like user voice)
- Take time to listen to organisations past success stories (if any) and understand what worked
Plan for training / assistance
Training requirements for each project and organisations are different and should be based upon your user analysis. Various options are available and not limited to –
- Virtual classrooms, where an online tutor can interact in real time with learners, give presentations, ask questions (like WebEx)
- Audio conferencing
- Chat rooms
- Discussion forums
- Instant messaging
- Podcasts
- Vodcasts
Cater for ongoing support and fine tune based on the feedback
Often projects are termed successful if they have following boxed checked –.
- On time
- On budget
- Solution delivers what it said it would
It’s equally important to maintain the solution and keep improving it. The idea is to get your users want to use the solution by proving its value each day every day.
