Trainers

“Oh, can you help with the training as well?”

Wait. What?

As BAs we often put on different hats depending on the project circumstance and whatever else the BAs might be working on any particular given day. BAs sometimes act as Project Coordinators, Change communicators, Solution designers, Testers, Trainers etc.

The focus of today’s post is to look at training - specifically end-user training and why it is important to on-board dedicated and experienced training staff.

Through the course of a typical project/business analysis lifecycle, BAs will have a firm understanding of the current environment, the requirements captured, requirements being delivered, first-hand experience in testing and familiarity with the solution.

So why bring in a dedicated trainer when the BA knows pretty what there is to know in terms of material.

Well, it comes down resourcing, knowing end-user psychology and experience in working with end-users.

Depending on how tight a project schedule is, BA resources can be spread thin helping out with solution validation, testing, working with developers on defects/enhancement requests. Effectively leaving little time to do anything else.

If BAs are asked to help with training, my first-hand experience is that it can be very time intensive and mentally exhausting.

A basic list of items to consider when looking at training:
-         what needs to be covered
-         how to cover it, what slides to prepare, notes to talk about
-         what should NOT be said (for anything not ready, what answer/response does the user need to hear)


An experienced dedicated trainer brings the following into the picture,
-         Learns the system/process from an end-user perspective (eliminating any bias a BA may bring into the role)
-         Creates a dedicated training plan for the various departments and teams
       -- schedules the lessons accordingly based on difficulty and/or complexity.
       -- Identifies which topic areas need most attention and when.
-         Applies their experience of end-user psychology and adapts the training requirements to the plan.
-         Acts as the first point of contact for end-user questions and will rely on the BAs as support.
-         Helps build train-the-trainer resources for wider coverage of training

On their own, a BA may be able to complete training requirements and this might enough to get project sponsor sign-off.

Never underestimate however, the value of a better training user-experience. The increased confidence users feel from an elevated training experience can leave a lasting and positive impact on the wider stakeholder community and the project team themselves.

Dedicated trainer resources are worth it.

#team
#training