It’s Not a Training Issue

Training Doesn’t Improve User Satisfaction

Although training can help people learn an application, that doesn’t mean users will be satisfied with an inefficient, problematic system. No matter how well users learn to use it, they are not likely to be satisfied with an application that does not help them perform their tasks effectively and efficiently. Creating an efficient, usable application can increase users’ productivity and improve their satisfaction. This adds to job satisfaction for employees and decreases employee turnover.

Training Isn’t Cheap

Sometimes stakeholders see training as a less expensive alternative to redesign and development efforts. However, what they overlook is that they would need to fix usability problems only once, while training is a continuous process, as trained users leave the organization and new people who replace them have to learn how to use the application and work around its problems. So, if you don’t fix usability problems, you’ll make that continuous training more challenging and time-consuming for users and trainers alike.

Training costs can be significant. You must hire and train the trainers themselves, create training materials, plan lessons, and schedule training sessions. Lost employee time and productivity is another significant cost. New employees initially spend time in training, instead of gaining experience doing their jobs, and their productivity suffers until their training is complete. These costs can really add up. Then, once employees are fully trained, they’ll be experts at performing inefficient, time-consuming workarounds, instead of experts at using an application that helps them effectively perform their tasks.

It’s Difficult to Change the Behavior of People Who Have Learned to Cope with Inefficiencies

Once you train people to perform tasks in an inefficient manner, it can be difficult for them to change their behavior. This makes it even more difficult to make improvements to an application at a later date. It’s better for employees to start with a well-designed application, so they can learn the most efficient ways of performing tasks.

Training Doesn’t Always Happen

It’s easy for people on a development team to dismiss a usability problem as a training issue, but what if the training on which they’re relying doesn’t actually happen? And, even if employees do receive training in an application, will the people planning the training cover new problem areas in their lessons when the development team adds new features? Unfortunately, the reality is that training sometimes does not happen, so users must cope with those unsolved usability problems on their own. In the rush to get through a development cycle and meet a deadline, training is often the last consideration and can get cut when money is tight. Plus, organizations sometimes launch applications before training materials are ready, so employees must learn a problematic user interface without any help.

Not Everyone Receives Training

Even when training does occur, some people miss the training sessions, for various reasons. They may not be available; they may not have time to attend; or they may not be able to travel to the location at which the training occurs. Often training programs stop some time after an application’s initial launch. New employees who start later on must learn the application on their own and cope with the unfixed usability problems.

Training Quality Can Be Poor

It’s difficult to train people to use software. For people to learn and retain the information, both hands-on experience and repeated practice are necessary. Unfortunately, training often occurs in classrooms that do not provide the equipment that is necessary for hands-on practice with an application. Tasks may look easy when instructors perform them during a training session, but it’s a completely different story when people later attempt to perform the same tasks on their own.

To save money, many companies depend on Web-based training rather than classroom training. This is certainly more convenient for people, and some find it easier to learn at their own pace. However, if employees must pursue training on their own, many never get around to taking the courses. Classroom training forces people to block-out time in their schedule, while Web-based training tempts people to wait for a less busy time that never comes.

Training Is Not Useful for Infrequent Tasks

Repeated practice is necessary to retain information. But people use some applications so infrequently that they can’t remember what they did last time—regardless of how much training they’ve received. It is important that infrequently used applications be immediately intuitive and have a high degree of memorability rather than for their successful use to rely on training.

It’s Just a Communication Issue

Sometimes, you’ll hear stakeholders make the even lazier excuse, “It’s just a communication issue.” They’re not going to fix usability problems. They’re not even going to commit to providing training. Instead, supposing that people just need to know the right way to do things, they’re going to tell them the right way, then assume they’ll be fine. Their assumption is that people will receive the communication, pay attention to it, remember it, then practice the prescribed behavior next time they perform a task. This rationalization is a very effective way of avoiding additional development and training costs, but it does not solve usability issues or help employees to be effective.

Is It Ever a Training Issue?

Training should never be a substitute for designing a usable application. Of course, not all user interfaces can be—or should be—simple enough for users to immediately use them successfully without any training. To design usable applications—especially when designing very complex applications that do require training—we must have an in-depth understanding of users and the tasks they perform. After an initial training period, a well-designed application helps users perform their tasks in an efficient and effective manner, and the organization that created the application reaps the rewards of their design and development investment.