Happy Friday!
Dave’s Whiteboard blog had a great post this week on power versus powered users. He argues that most users are looking to be powered, versus power users. Here’s a great diagram he used to make the distinction.
I had a couple of conversations with subject matter experts this week that really made made this post resonate with me:
- “I tell new employees that if they’ve done it once, then they’re the expert.” Jobs change so quickly sometimes that learning the technique isn’t worth the person’s time….getting it done is enough.
- “We have so much to do, there’s not time to become an expert.” Employees are asked to do more and more; being a power user is almost a luxury that they can’t afford.
The implication for those of us designing learning is to 1)know our audience and 2) discourage SMEs from adding details to a course that the learner doesn’t want or need. What do you think – How do you distinguish between a power and powered user in your organization?