Familiarizing Your Admins with New Hardware? 16
HCIGuy asks: "I'm the technical communications manager for a company that sells and implements infrastructure for data centers. We often put in equipment and software that substantially change the environment, such as high availability clusters and enterprise data management. We've known for a long time that the critical post-engagement time for admins was one to six months, after which, even without help, admins are usually comfortable with the new stuff. We're concerned with those first few months, and asking both ourselves and the universe of admins what would help during that time. We already provide system configuration manuals, and of course there are manuals and training classes provided by manufacturers. But what else would help an admin during the "break-in" period? What's been of the greatest help in the past? What would be on your wish list?"
a clean design (Score:1)
the worst system is a patchwork which even the author cannot understand anymore after three days.
And one to play on... (Score:5, Insightful)
Half the value in sending people out for training on new hardware/software is that they have an environment in which they can beat the crap out of it and learn from their mistakes.
And whatever it is, if it's not too expensive, it's also well worth keeping a spare in-house for the same reason. Not to mention you then have an emergency replacement available and a functional test bed for new software/scripts/ideas.
Re:And one to play on... (Score:3, Interesting)
If you can't give them an onsite loaner then get them remote access to one. (i.e. a seperate lab hanging off of a DSL line or something with secure shell access.)
Network Appliance [netapp.com] has a "walk in" lab here in Boulder that they let us "check out".
Nothing beats hands on experience, and you will build goodwill with the admin community.
It would also be advantageous to include a *cheap* training course with the product. With a bad market no one is spending extra money on training.
A deeply discounted training course would get you brownie points with the admins too.
My
Re:And one to play on... (Score:3, Interesting)
If possible it's a good idea to keep the same "feel" for systems the likely targets have used before (like making sure
Re:And one to play on... (Score:2)
Getting a mass of people together tossing around solutions, issues, and observations is not only useful for them... it tells you where you should be going with the next revision.
If your admins are anything like... (Score:1)
Friends (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously. Manuals are great--you can't do without them. And training classes are wonderful, too. But most everyone has come across a problem he/she hasn't a clue where to even begin. That's where friends come in.
Actually, I really mean "friend" as in "that guy who knows a bunch about this particular thingy and he might be able to help me out". Sometimes that's customer support (though rare). Most times it's a guy I've met at a conference or whatnot and I find myself covered in sweat and worried about my job as I go digging around my files for his business card. Then, almost histerically, I call, e-mail, fax, and drive around to catch this person. Okay, maybe not to that extent--but it sure is great to know someone (on a first name basis, whom you've really met and gone out to dinner with) who is much more knowledgable that yourself in some areas.
Personally, for me to be comfortable, I need to have these kinds of people available. They could be co-workers, bosses, past co-workers, customer support, mistresses, disgruntled housewives. A manual or training session can't ever come close to those types of relationships.
An answer for everything? (Score:2, Insightful)
The real problem (Score:3, Interesting)
If this is the case, then there isn't much more that the admins need, except perhaps a half dozen free tech support calls to people who actually know about the product. But that's the rub, isn't it? Most of your sales don't include training classes.
This is a very common, if not universal problem. Training is always the first thing to get cut from the budget. This is usually followed but the cutting of netwaork management equipment/software. Simply put, your training classes need to be sold of given to EVERY customer that buys from you. Furthermore, if there are 10 admins that will be managing this new equipment, you need to send all 10 to the classes. The old story of, we'll send Bob and then he can train the rest of you when he gets back just doesn't work. It never has.
The ideal scenario goes like this:
1. Vendor engineers spend a month on site learning the clients network.
2. Clients admins go to training while the vendor's engineers support the client's network and start building out the new gear.
3. Client's admins return from training and assist in the cut over to the new equipment.
4. Vendor leaves a small engineering force behind to solve technical issues that the client's admins are not yet ready to handle.
The two most important ingredients here are client training and vendor engineers that actually know WTF they are doing!
Named contacts and play systems (Score:5, Informative)
Second - have all your documentation in one (or a few) very easily locatable locations and provide them with details of how to get to those locations on day 1. Write it down, put it on a big poster, whatever, remember they will get a lot of info the first few days and will guaranteed forget 60+% of it in that same timeframe.
Third - do the same with all of your various procedures, who to contact to get stationery, business cards, new hardware, third-party support lines, escalation procedures, the works.
Fourth - and I can't stress this one highly enough, give them first point of contacts in all of the major departments of your organisation they are likely to need to talk to. There is nothing worse than asking someone (who is always busy) about an issue, to be told "to talk to someone in MES", when they haven't a clue what 'MES' is or how to track them down. The newby will feel stupid having to ask. Which brings me nicely onto
Five - you use company-specific acronyms, of course you do, everyone does, but they newby won't have a clue what they mean. Provide a list (and keep it up to date, it's not just useful for the new guys) of all the acronyms in use. Include generic acronyms from the industry your in, he may have come in from outside your specific industry.
Six - On day 1 give him a buddy, someone he will work beside (physically if possible) for the first few weeks. Don't pick the least sociable guy in your department, the busiest or the least knowledgeable.
Seven - and this may seem to run counter to your rapid familiarity thing but bare with me, have newbys work a day or two in each of the major areas of the company. Seriously. If its a manufacturing plant have him/her out there on the line making stuff, using (and seeing other people use) the system, let them hear the gripes that people have about the system. Remember, they are new in the door, don't have any personal feelings one way or the other about the way you work so are more likely now than at any other point to truly listen to the views of the users. It will give them a greater understanding of what the company does and so better able to provide solutions that are a best-fit for the company. Make sure they work in every major function (receiving, manufacture, test, shipping, marketing, finance, whatever) to get a true picture of things. This can get difficult in a large company but at least cover everything in the local area and have a company orientation video or something that covers the global company and where your department/office/division fits into things. This may be the best spent two or more weeks letting them get up to speed on the company before they get up to speed with the behind the scenes IT stuff.
There is more I'm sure, but give them those as a minimum. One final thing, ask them to write down all the problems they had every week, emphasise that you really do want to see them and that by being honest they are helping you out not highlighting any failures in themselves. Do this for the first month or two, then at 6 months ask them to look back and comment on how things went. Use their feedback to improve your new-start information pack or process.
Try and work with other departments on some of the above, there will be a lot of common ground, but never forget that its YOUR department he will need specific info about.
Re:Named contacts and play systems (Score:1)
The question as I understand it was not "how to make new admins comfortable" but "how to make (old) admins comfortable with new hardware".
And I gave up modding for this...
Don't make the systems live (Score:2, Insightful)
It's a standard training thing -
get someone to show them how it's done
give people a lot of hands on experience
give people time to think of questions
Introducing new technology in any department encounters these hurdles. this is no different from teachers learning a new class management system, or bringing in a new version of MS Office. the barriers are still the same.