Best Practices for SharePoint User Adoption

1. SUSAN HANLEY LLC Best Practices for SharePointUser Adoption Richmond SharePoint Users Group Susan Hanley October 26, 2011 SUSAN HANLEY LLC ©2011

2. About Me Expertise: knowledge management, information architecture, portals and collaboration solutions with a focus on governance, user adoption, and metrics President, Susan Hanley LLC. Co-Author: Essential SharePoint 2010 and Essential SharePoint 2007 Led national Portals, Collaboration, and Content Management practice for Dell Director of Knowledge Management at American Management Systems (now CGI) http://www.susanhanley.com Mother of three “millennials”

3. Agenda • Why is user adoption such a big deal? • Critical elements for user adoption planning • Make sure that you’ve got a solution worth adopting • Understand how users adapt to change • Implement a training plan • Implement a communications plan • Have a user support plan • Think about incentives and rewards • Allow users to provide feedback • Document your plan • What are your adoption challenges? • Where can you go for help?

4. We built it, why don’t users just come? Adoption rarely happens all at once. WIIFM Is the solution worth adopting?

5. Why is it difficult to adopt new technologies? • Delayed Gratification • Early adopters give up their “comfort zone” immediately but receive benefits in the future. • No Guarantees • The new solution may not work the way it is supposed to. • Squishy Benefits • Benefits, especially with portal and collaboration solutions, are typically qualitative, which makes them very difficult to describe and compare. This is why collecting user success stories is so important.

6. The 9X Effect A new product has to offer a nine times improvement over the existing solution in order to be immediately or easily adopted.* *Gourville, John T., “Why Consumers Don’t Buy: The Psychology of New Product Adoption.” Harvard Business School Note #504-056 (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2004).

7. Critical Elements for User Adoption Planning • Make sure that you’ve got a solution worth adopting • Understand how users adapt to change • Implement a training plan • Implement a communications plan • Have a user support plan • Think about incentives and rewards • Allow users to provide feedback • Document your plan

8. Unfortunately, … USER ADOPTION SUCCESS

9. … here’s what you are looking for “I’m using [the solution] to get my work done. It only takes me a few minutes to get the answers I need. It used to take me hours” “Our business function has improved. It used to take us 3 days to do [that process] and now it takes us only 3 hours.” “This is helping us get things done. ”

10. What’s the One Big Thing? DONE

11. 1. Have a solution worth adopting! • Identify Your Stakeholders • Understand Their Business Objectives - WIIFM • Understand Your Culture • But don’t be a slave to it! • Identify How Success Will Be Measured • Prepare a Governance Plan • Design a Good Site • Well organized content • Search that works • Follow design and page layout best practices • Plan Roll-Out and Launch

12. Business pain matters … Quality suffers: when people can’t find what they need fast enough People feel demoralized when they can’t manage their work information

13. … so does solving a specific problem … 60% of the winners in the 2011 Intranet Design Annual have mobile versions Not full blown, but what employees need “on the go”

14. … and encouraging engagement Comments Ratings Count and Promote

15. 2. Why is change so hard? But, Master, you know this: change comes from within. Make me “one with everything.” $ 20 Where’s my change? • Comfort with the status quo • “This is how we’ve always done it … and it works for me.” • Discomfort with being forced to change • “I’m not broken, why are you trying to fix me?” • No personal benefit • “Sure, I see why the big-wigs would want this, but what’s in it for me?”

16. My favorite quotes about change • Change is good - you go first. Kenneth F Murphy 1955-, former SVP HR of Altria Group and writer • It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. Charles Darwin • People don't resist change. They resist being changed! Peter Senge, management writer famous for the notion of the learning organization

17. 100% Awareness Learning Trial Application Adoption Adoption Stage/Time Think about how you can roll out functionality aligned with how users adopt new technology When adopting a new tool, users typically pass through five stages, each involving a progression of behaviors and needs User incorporates the solution as an indispensable tool. As such, the solution is a formal element within specific stages of work processes. User experiments with the tool on current projects to experience tangibly how it fits with current modes of working. Obtains real-time under-standing of benefits and experience. User achieves awareness of the new technology and begins forming perceptions around its importance and value. User applies the technology regularly and gains greater familiarity with it, specifically as it relates to fundamental tasks. User obtains an understanding, both theoretical and demonstrated, of the tool’s fundamental attributes, such as what it does, its value, how to use it, and how it integrates with existing work processes. Adapted by Reuben Danzing from "Diffusion of Innovations" by Everett M. Rogers, 5th Edition, Free Press, 1995

18. 3. Develop a training plan Don’t assume “it’s intuitive” One size does not fit all Don’t try to train all at once Adapt to the learning style of the learner

19. 4. Communicate, communicate, communicate! Get SHARP On SharePoint Communications planning does not end at solution launch Communications needs to be persistent

20. Tested ideas for your communications plan Leverage existing meetings and events Create (and use) an “anecdote” bank Target your messages Did you know …? rotating message (tip of the day) “Look what they did” success stories Cafeteria table toppers Message board/break room/elevator bank announcements or posters Desktop wallpaper Usability testing

21. 5. Plan User Support • Make sure that the help desk is prepared • They are often left out of training – big mistake • “Seed” the organization with power users • Pilot team • Volunteers • Launch week activities • Lunch and Learns • Ongoing support • Office hours • Center of Excellence

22. 6. Think about incentives and rewards • Key Influencer Strategy • Someone important • “Mikey” • People tend to follow others – when we see other people writing reviews, sharing knowledge, and submitting ideas, we get the sense that this is just what we’re supposed to do. • Key Motivators • Insights from MySite pilot • Gardening and Yoga drive adoption? • Fun Stuff • Scavenger Hunt • Snow and Checkered Flags • Video • Points, Badges, Prizes

23. 7. Allow users to provide feedback User feedback helps identify where you’ve got adoption challenges Provide an opportunity to provide feedback on every page Get up out of your desk and ASK for feedback! Conduct usability tests and LISTEN to what people say but WATCH what they do

24. 8. Write it down! Adoption Plan It makes you think. It gives you something to share. It involves other people.

25. User Adoption Resources Read User Adoption Strategies: Shifting Second Wave People to New Collaboration Technology by Michael Sampson Read Essential SharePoint 2010 by Scott Jamison, Susan Hanley, and Mauro Cardarelli I Use SharePoint: http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/iusesharepoint/landing.aspx Get addicted to Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ (Current Issues in Web Usability) Download the SharePoint Server 2010 Adoption Best Practices White Paper from Microsoft by Sue Hanley and Scott Jamison (http://bit.ly/acLyla) Follow www.nothingbutsharepoint.com.

26. What are your adoption challenges? This is the audience participation part of the program.

27. Contact Information Susan Hanley President, Susan Hanley LLC www.susanhanley.com sue@susanhanley.com 301-469-0770 (o) 301-442-0127 (m) Blog: http://www.networkworld.com/community/sharepoint Twitter: @susanhanley