Being a contract person,
I’ve been trained
in many, many different companies.
Most managers advise their staff
to train people
by having the new person sit beside them
and watch them as they work.
Very little is learned this way.
Watching someone work
is as boring as hell and
the trainee’s mind tends to drift.
The expert normally also works
too quickly for the trainee to process
(especially if she is taking notes).
A slower yet more effective method
is for new person to be
the one at the keyboard.
The person training
is sitting beside him/her.
While this slower pace
may drive the trainer batty,
more information is transferred.
And isn’t that the goal
of training?