

How to help someone use a computer - ddelony
http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/how-to-help.html

======
dkarl
I found I got a lot "better" at communicating just by toning down my
geekiness. Not by changing in the content of what I say, just by changing my
bedside manner. Instead of saying, "and this part is neat," I joke about how
much the computer sucks and how annoying it is. When I do that, people trust
that what I'm telling them is actually helpful and relevant to their usage of
the machine. Before, they would ignore most of what I said. They tried to
filter out what they assumed was gratuitous geekery so they could get to the
"payoff" where I told them how to do what they need to do. Since I wasn't
actually wasting their time with extraneous information, they missed most of
what they needed to know to understand what I was telling them. It's really
hard to talk to people when they assume the proper way to understand you is to
hear about 10% of what you're saying.

When I pretend to hate computers as much as they do, they actually listen to
everything I say, and voila, they understand a whole hell of a lot better.

------
RiderOfGiraffes
I knew I'd seen it, and suspected I found it through HN. Here it is with its
discussion:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=400048>

No harm in seeing this again, but the (rather small) discussion has some
interesting points and counter-points.

~~~
ddelony
Yeah, I probably should have done a search first. ;-) But the post about
social problems in computing reminded me of this article.

~~~
RiderOfGiraffes
No, I agree that it's worth seeing again. Helping technical people to
communicate with non-technical people is gold. How many people produce what
they think is a fantastic web site only to find that "normals" can't use it?!
How thick can they be?! It's obvious! Can't they read?

We should be reminded of these lessons daily (although I wouldn't recommend
resubmitting daily 8-)

I've put this in my "Great Articles" site that I'm trying to get time to work
on.

------
jamesbkel
I found this to be the most useful point:

 _Don't take the keyboard. Let them do all the typing, even if it's slower
that way, and even if you have to point them to every key they need to type.
That's the only way they're going to learn from the interaction._

While there are certainly times when something needs to be accomplished in a
hurry (in which cases I interject, "mind if I drive for a minute?"), 95% of
the time I defer to letting the user explore and find the appropriate
solution.

More often then not they ask me to take over and "fix it". I refuse politely
and encourage them to try for themselves, along with some guidance from me. I
am happy to walk them through, but I've found that long term, just fixing the
problem without teaching leads to a lifetime of being on call any time a user
encounters even the slightest error.

------
derefr
A few rebuttals, from someone who taught basic computer usage at a community
center for a few years:

> If it's not obvious to them, it's not obvious.

At first, yes. If, however, I explain it, I demonstrate it, I guide them to do
it five times in various contexts, and they do it themselves for me in five
more contexts—and then they call me back over because they _still_ "can't" do
it—then is _is_ their fault, and they're just being helpless because they want
attention.

> You are the voice of authority. Your words can wound.

I _wish_ I was the voice of authority. 90% of the "guidance" I gave people was
of the "X does not work like Y, you need to learn a new skill to do X"
variety, with them not listening and going ahead and treating X like a Y, and
then asking me why it doesn't work.

> Your primary goal is not to solve their problem. Your primary goal is to
> help them become one notch more capable of solving their problem on their
> own. So it's okay if they take notes.

Oh, I wish they saw it that way. They want "an answer, not a lecture." They
want me to be a magic elf who comes, saves them from their mess, and lets them
live in ignorant bliss, _even though they came to be taught computing skills_.
It's quixotic.

------
lisper
Some current context:

<http://sites.google.com/site/philipagre/>

~~~
ddelony
The police found him and claim he's "in good health and self-sufficient"
though his friends and colleagues are still looking for him.
[http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2010/01/missing_i...](http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2010/01/missing_internet_pioneer_phil.html)

He's written a lot of good stuff, though.

