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November 01, 2015

October 2015

You'd think organisation of all sorts would have updated their ICT policy about using BOYD. Rather than leading people on by allowing and expecting them to buy their own devices, but only to be told they didn't need you to use it, wait but we did, yet we will not give you resources to update it. Ugh. Oxymoron.

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September 06, 2015

September 2015

It doesn't feel like spring. The mornings and nights are cold, while the afternoons are warm but short lived.

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August 04, 2015

August 2015

Back to winter again. Darwin was a nice break away from Melbourne.

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July 01, 2015

July 2015

The pressure is so intense when a project goes live (implementation). One hitch, not everyone is up to speed on using the new products.

I have found people who lack exposure and experience with the using Web 2.0 products and mobile devices had the most hard time adjusting in this project. Though many of these people own a mobile device they did not use all the features. The myriad functionality puzzled them. People were struggling with typing, captilising letters, finding symbols, switching apps and switching keyboards, even the basic as in where or what do I tap on. We did offer two stages of training: master the iPad and use a communication app for work.

For latter session, many staff were unable to attend training session. I jumped in and proposed the solution of one-to-one training, which got approved. I would go to staff work areas and give them 15 minutes of training. This approach has stirred interest amongst staff. What was a session for two people, ends up being a session for five people. In some cases, people who have overheard the session, would come up asking, if I could arrange it in their work area too. So the argument about people do not like change or upskilling is false, people understand it is unavoidable - life is going to be more mobile, but to truly adjust to such change, is the hardest part, it can be down right unpleasant if managed badly. People just need a guiding hand and not a Power Point presentation.

Since project time has become more pressing, a few of the project members and supervisors jumped on board the one-to-one training idea and started to train people on the floor. Which was wonderful. It has been a tough start to July. Some of the work areas did not have wifi. So I have been using my iPhone 5S on 3G network. I hope the sampling from my iPhone has lead to greater understanding of the inner workings of the communication app and iPad (wifi only). I really believe, we can help each other to learn and adapt, and this project proved it can be achieved in the real world.

ps. people really dig role play and the chance to play with UX, but you got to show it to them closely.

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June 04, 2015

June 2015

Very icy cold lately. The wind blows cold air down your backside, if failed to wear a scarf. Study break! Yay! Now doing some preliminary reading for the next semester.

Since late May and the whole of June, I have been writing training materials and running training sessions on iPad, inclusive of a communication app. Of course, it was not solely me, teamed up with two others on the instruction writing section, four others in the training periods. We all took turns, though I admit, I did the lion share, but that's cool. I'm happy to volunteer, as along there were sufficient staff in my department to attend to core duties. What I've found surprising was the learning process that comes with working in a project. You can have little or zero technological skills, but of course, you still need to have the IT dept to do the other half.

No mystery, that formulating the list of user needs and set criteria for assessing the technology tool originate from people who understands and take part in daily operations. The astonishing part is how time can be wasted arguing over what is needed, rather than looking at what is achievable and feasible at present. To propel this project forward, each week I would produce screen shots, draft up preliminary analysis, and possible plan of actions before each meeting So that staff at the meeting can quickly make decisions based on valued added information, and without needing too much background knowledge. Mind you, all the information offered were impartial, no bias here. Lots of tables, maybe, but for the sake of easy comparison. This taught me to adjust my terminology accordingly and offer simpler explanations.

I can safely say, we are finally progressing to the implementation stage, which was where we wanted to be in January 2015, but it was not feasible with holidays and all. Call me eager, but I have even drafted up a questionnaire for the users for evaluation stage of the project.

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