Confluence Training

[Jonathan Smith]

Hello all,

  In efforts to get my user base up to speed in Confluence as quick as possible, I have started to produce short training videos. 

• Videos created in Camtasia
• Covers the basics only

Support article example:

These videos are easily accessible on the Confluence home page.

How have you helped your user base learn the application? Trying to drum up other ideas to see if I am going the correct path.

Regards,

Jonathan

[Consulente Atlassian]

it's a good idea, I'm also preparing several videos of maximum 5 minutes, in Italian language. create contents, how to find contents. the aspect of research is always poorly highlighted in the guides.

[James Bullock]

How have you helped your user base learn the application?

People will grab tools n learn how to use them that they believe will help them do their work. Think of what you're creating as "JIT Training" while doing the work.

• Content begets content. Seed examples.
  
  • If memorializing your work is required: "Here's how to wrangle our KMS to memorialize your work" is great if the KMS actually helps with that.
  • If guidance, standards, examples, etc. helps do the work: "Here's how to wrangle our KMS to find support in it for what you are doing."
  • Hook content creation in the KMS to doing the other work supporte from the KMS: "Here's how to pitch in guidance, examples, solutions and similar that you figured out in doing your thing."
• People are attracted to people they trust describing how they solved similar problems. "To do A, did B, resulting in C."  That's the best kind of contributed content.
  
  • Create brief-outs for work done, capturing how. Back in the day, this was one payoff from "reviews."
  • Video the "How I did this." briefing.
  • In particular, an unusual solution (like using one of those whacky KMS things), includes briefing on using that whacky new thing, and how that helped.
• Associated the videos with tags, keywords, the work item they spawned from, links to related items, and maybe even a discussion thread on the guidance and the video.
  • If only some kind of tool supported this...

Personally, I don't understand work items absent the quality standards and success conditions, identified by name (with revs); with links even better; and if the resources include tutorials & examples, say videos, better still. If only some tool supported that...

This one time at Band Camp.... I restructured a legacy mfg productiton program that wasn't tolerating further hack upgrades after near two decades in use. Solution required:

• Non-obvious alternative formulation of the core numerical modeling.
• Non-obvious reuse of large material models: like a large finite element model.
• Non-obvious introduction of encapsulation. It's a thing.

Handoff briefing was essentially training in the techniques behind the structural changes, anchored to the work done.

"To do A, did B, applying technique B', resulting in C, which you can use ongoing like C';"

Briefing and internal doco -- essentially the Literate Programming approach -- remained in the system run book as "JIT Training" until the plant was retired, about another 20 years later. Multiple expansions of use with no engineering invoilvement required.

Having a KMS for that would have been better.

[James Bullock]

Less principles, more hack...

There's a natural seam among tools, even, where your workflow moves to Jira (or Trello), pointing to the common "how to" and similar in Confluence. If you already have workflow somewhere, "capture what we learned in the KMS" is a great addition if the KMS is new.