[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference 7.286::digital

Title:The Digital way of working
Moderator:QUARK::LIONELON
Created:Fri Feb 14 1986
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:5321
Total number of notes:139771

929.0. "Why do the trainees come to the trainers?" by THEPIC::AINSLEY (Less than 150 kts. is TOO slow!) Fri Sep 22 1989 15:52

This question is prompted by the discussion concerning room sharing during
training.

Why do we have these mass migrations to the Northeast for training?  Wouldn't
it be less expensive to send the trainers around the country?  It seems one
could rent an awful lot of meeting rooms in hotels near facilities that don't
have adequate space for training, for less than what it costs to temporarily
increase the population of Mass. by 10%.

As I have never traveled anywhere for training for Digital, I might be missing
something obvious,but I'm not sure what it is.

Bob
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
929.1Erroneous assumption alert!NSSG::KUSNETZKYSales Support VAX Program ManagerFri Sep 22 1989 16:4022
    RE .0

>Why do we have these mass migrations to the Northeast for training?  Wouldn't
>it be less expensive to send the trainers around the country?  It seems one
>could rent an awful lot of meeting rooms in hotels near facilities that don't
>have adequate space for training, for less than what it costs to temporarily
>increase the population of Mass. by 10%.

    It appears that your are making an erroneous assumption - that the
    "trainers" are professional instructors who's only responsibility is
    training field specialists and consultants.  In the case of the Digital
    University Institute of Technology this just isn't the case.

    The people who are to make the presentations are the engineers, the
    product managers, and the product marketing managers who "own" the
    products, services, and industries.  They have been put upon to present
    this training AS WELL AS continuing to handle their responsibilities. 
    Traveling to every district or even to every area is out of the
    question - unless, of course, you'd rather not have new products and
    services.

    Dan Kusnetzky
929.2No so simpleMSCSSE::LENNARDFri Sep 22 1989 18:365
    Ed Svcs does lots of on-sites but only in response to a field request.
    There are several problems, f'rinstance any lab would be severely
    limited, and then field offices are always trying to pull people out
    of the classes to go off fighting dragons.  It ain't as simple as it
    seems.
929.3I'm beginning to understand...THEPIC::AINSLEYLess than 150 kts. is TOO slow!Fri Sep 22 1989 18:5512
re: .1, .2

Thanks for the info.  As I had said, I've never been involved in one of these
things (and hope I never am), and had no idea what was presented, whether
labs were required, etc.

In one of the other topics, someone mentioned that a lot of this training
is 'salesy' and hence not too technical.  Could a 'train-the-trainer'
approach be used in these cases to let the developers, etc. get back to their
real work?

Bob
929.4Big push to make things technicalPOBOX::LEVINMy kind of town, Chicago isFri Sep 22 1989 19:369
< In one of the other topics, someone mentioned that a lot of this training
< is 'salesy' and hence not too technical.  Could a 'train-the-trainer'
< approach be used in these cases to let the developers, etc. get back to their
< real work?

    I know that one of the concerns in reviewing the sessions to be
    help at the CASE DU:IT is that they be made technical enough. I
    believe this emphasis on technical content pertains to all the DU:IT
    programs.
929.5experience sending developers to the fieldSAUTER::SAUTERJohn SauterMon Sep 25 1989 10:2921
    I'm not involved in DU-IT, so I don't know what the tradeoffs are for
    it, but a few months ago I was one of several developers who traveled
    to a lot of field sites to provide training on DECforms.  It didn't
    cost our department much (the field paid the traveling expenses) and
    the students seemed to appreciate getting the information directly from
    the engineers who had built the product.
    
    There was some difficulty with people having to leave early, but I
    think they got more out of attending 1/2 or 3/4 of a day than they
    would have gotten if the only choice had been to be out of the office
    for three days for a one-day class, since in that case they probably
    wouldn't have been able to attend at all!
    
    Our product manager feels that this can be the normal way of training
    the field to sell and support new products, and he has taken our
    experience and pushed it upward in the corporate management chain.
    It remains to be seen, of course, if his suggestion will be acted upon.
    However, we haven't been shy about telling others how well this worked,
    and it is possible that other groups will follow our example even if
    upper management pays no attention.
        John Sauter