In response to the note
> I feel this situation can be improved by allowing the supervisors to use
> feedback from other designers and engineers (customer) to approach the
> designer and get him/her to buy-in to specialized training. This training
> would be tailored specifically to their needs. This can be achieved by
> having an experienced designer or CAD support person analyze the file for
> patterns that would quickly identify where this person is having
> difficulties. Some may need one day of training, others may require up to
> two weeks.
Diane's note was interesting and applicable to other learning needs.
One thing that I've thought about recently is the number of hours
some people have worked with computers in programming-level work in
the last few years. It's not uncommon for some programmers to spend
up to 12 hours a day programming and working with their computer
and data. To them the question "what do you think about that file?"
would mean a lot than to users of computers who might say, "well, I
know there's a file - whatever that is - somewhere." It seems like
the difference between knowing about a neighborhood and not; and it
may even be more like knowing about how to learn about a neighborhood
and not. If the proficiency is directly related to countless hours of
research, attention to detail that seems insignificant, awareness of
information that doesn't correspond to understanding, and
generalizations that prove to be productive, then can that "manner"
and store of knowledge be easily taught?
In the case of computer drawing, maybe technique and an overview
would be helpful; in fact, it seems like it must be. However, there's
also the consideration that some kinds of proficiency are partly
related to time, attention, interest, and - at least for me - wanting
to "go" and finding only one field that seemed open and that I
could begin to pursue with interest, and it may have also been partly
due to computers being "the field that was there" :)
Even with whatever I've learned, it's not difficult to turn to
another application or effort or concern - more specifically,
programming language, operating system, or different project field -
and suddenly I'm a beginner again.
Fred Brooks in "The Mythical Man-Month" says that overviews are
important when introducing people to computer projects, whether the
person is a programmer or will use the program as a tool. One thing
that I noticed when going through the User's Guide for a programming
language and environment was that there was no expression to me of
what was the designer's intent. When these other programmers put
together the programming application what did they think of the
buttons, menus, graphic elements, modules, and limits of the system?
There seemed to be the assumption that it would be fairly obvious
what "good use" of the system would be once someone knew the
technical details.
My operating mode has often been to try to find out what can be done
that goes beyond the apparent limits of a programming system. That's
not to say "going profoundly beyond the limits" either :) That's a
tough row to hoe and may be one that computer users unintentionally
end up at since limits, intents, options, recommendations and
the designer's view is not made available to users.
I don't understand much about technical computer drawing; however, it
would seem helpful if a knowledgeable person, such as yourself, would
say
This is what this drawing is supposed to accomplish
This is how to do the drawing
Here are some things that it's easy to forget
Here are some ways to prompt yourself to remember
Here is how you can verify that the drawing is right
When others work with your drawings, they will need these things
As a team, we want to encourage and support the following
conventions
Here's the process that we've set up to support questions
That means, here's how to get answers to your questions
Sometimes I've thought that computer users just want the answer to
allow them to do what they want to do rather than to gain the
understanding that will go toward answering related questions. Maybe
it's because the "related question answer" doesn't seem like the
answer to the question :)
I need to sign off; however, answers received when none are sought
are not easy to process. Maybe it's easier to empathize with the
people and consider ways of promoting their interest. Maybe managers
will have to say, "yes, that's it" before it becomes a project.
-- Have a nice day and Happy New Year John Paul Fullerton jpf6745@acs.tamu.edu