Summer 2005

Volume 45, Number 6

Performance Technology: Going Beyond Documentation & Training (May Chapter Meeting Review)

by Ron Arner

The May chapter meeting provided a rare treat for STCRMCers: Jane Smith, in town to conduct two instructional design seminars sponsored by the STC RMC, led an open discussion on Performance Technology.

What is Performance Technology? Well, it's something that should happen before documentation and training. It's a way to determine the most effective solution to performance issues. To illustrate, a performance technologist would ask the following questions to analyze a performance issue: Is training alone needed? Should training be combined with other solutions? Should other solutions take the place of training altogether?

A good performance analysis process involves a series of investigations on the performance technologist's part, beginning with the identification of a triggering event. Here is a summary of the steps from beginning to end:

• Why is there a problem?
• What is its source?
• Identify the organizational goals and their optimal measurements.
• Identify the processes associated with the performance issue and their respective measurements of success.
• Identify the gaps.
• Identify the performance factors affecting the situation.
• Recommend solutions.

Smith then went on to discuss the above process in more detail, and shared with those present a case study involving a restaurant (the Rosarita Cafe) that utilized it and achieved tremendous results.

Smith and participating audience members concluded the evening with one very valuable piece of advice for all technical communicators: Be very cautious when recommending more than a 10% improvement — you don't want to "call someone's baby ugly!"

If you have any interest in becoming a Certified Performance Technologist, go to:http://www.ispi.org/, the Website of the International Society for Performance Improvement.