Installer Training
Train the New Guy
At the new job we have an integrated hardware and software solution for access control (badge access on doors, elevators, etc). We offer a four day class that covers, among other things, how to install the hardware and setup and use the software. This class is directed at the builders / installers, not the end user of the software (though the installer does everything an end user would do and more). We also send our internal people to the class so they can become familiar with the product in a shorter period of time.
Though I dreaded it going in, I attended the course a week or two ago. I must say it was an amazingly valuable experience. One of the problems I have with virtually every company I've ever worked for is that getting up to speed on the ins and outs of the product proves extremely difficult. The developer training is always extremely informal. It meanders and leaves out a lot of things. As a new employee you feel like you're playing catch up for far too long.
Although this training didn't teach me anything about how our software is written, it gave me a customer level familiarity with the hardware and the software. I feel like I understand the product and can start being useful much more quickly than I would have otherwise. I immediately saw opportunities for feature and usability improvements because I was using the product in an environment that closely simulated how the installer and end users would use it.
You Should Offer Some Training, Too
If you have any kind of training available for your product for certification, sales people, end users, support people, etc then you really need to send your employees (especially developers, QA, and support) to these classes. Assuming they will just "pick things up" is robbing them and you of the quality and speed of the contributions they could be making. Not every company has a product that requires such a training program to be offered. For those, I'd seriously recommend carving out some time for coming up with some sort of formal internal training for people. It doesn't have to be overly polished or professional, but having a formal curriculum available to internal employees will prove amazingly useful.
If this seems like a no-brainer, consider that I've never worked for another company that managed to do it and that lack of training was one of the major complaints I had about my last job. I was told flat out that they'd rather hire a domain expert and train them to program than the other way around. I digress.
Pretending I'm a Customer
As I mentioned, we have a hardware component to our product. In one of our front offices we have a training lab set up with multiple hardware stations, which you can see here:
At the end of the class we used all of the stations (including an elevator controller not shown here) to simulate a seven story building with multiple tenants and access restrictions, including NVR security camera stuff and building automation integration (woot!). It's exactly the kind of thing a customer would do with the product and now I've done it too. Without this training class I think I would always have a partial view of the product at best. Fantastic stuff. Very exciting.
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