Training Documentation

Overview

In product development, ignoring the digital customer onboarding process makes it just as easy for customers to ignore your product and walk away. And while most companies will claim they spend time to create training documentation and support for the digital customer onboarding process, they often go at it with a waterfall approach that, in addition to losing time by causing delays, costs them a lot more. So, as a digital onboarding solution, we’ve revealed our 5-step approach to creating user-centric documentation that is accessible, easy to understand, and developed in an agile manner to best serve the customers’ needs.

To learn more on our 5-step process to create user-centric training documentation, please refer to this article: https://www.mobilelive.ca/blog/create-user-centric-training-documentation-for-effective-digital-onboarding

In this Miro board, we give you a way to kickstart the process and tackle the initial stages of discovery and solutioning in a more structured manner. In this workshop, you will understand the goals of this product documentation exercise and identify the risks upfront that can stop you from achieving success. In order to understand the needs of the consumers of the documentation, you will identify all the stakeholders (internal and external) and map their needs on each step of the training user journey. Finally, you will brainstorm with the team on the ideas for the different formats of your documentation.

How to use the Training Documentation board

This board can be used in a single 3-3.5 hrs workshop, or split across two workshops.

We have also provided a template for the output report that can be used to synthesize the insights from the workshop and presented as a summary report to the audience after the workshop.

Step 1: Finding the right team

Identify the participants for your workshop. You should include people from the Product, Marketing, Support & Success, Operations and Learning & Development teams (if available).

Step 2: Workshop prep

Learn about the product/application for which you have been tasked to create training documentation. Do a quick industry research and competitor analysis to understand other perspectives. Shortlist a few training documentation formats that can be used for this product.

Schedule the workshop for 3.5 hrs (breaks included) and send invites upfront.

Step 3: Intro

Initiate the workshop with a quick intro and then lay down the goal of the workshop and why everyone is there.

Ask the representative from the Product team to quickly describe the vision and strategy of the product to refresh everyone's memory. This would serve as a form of north star throughout this exercise.

Step 3: Miro basics and Introductions

Let everyone add some details about themselves on the Miro board, and get acquainted with Miro in the process.

Step 4: Goals & Workshop Questions

In this section, we try to understand the vision of this exercise and identify the risks in achieving that goal.

Step 5: Identifying Training Stakeholders and Steps

Ask the team to list down all the stakeholders (internal and external, both) who will be consuming the training documentation.

Ask the team to list down all the steps in the training user journey,

e.g. Before launch, At the time of launch, Post launch, Pre-purchase etc.

Step 6: Break

Before the next section, take a 10 min break. Use this time to map the information (Stakeholders, Training Stages) from the previous section on to the grid below.

Step 7: Mapping Training journey needs

Ask the team to identify and list down the training needs of each stakeholder at each stage of the training journey.

Step 8: Lightning Demos + Presentation + Voting

In this section, ask everyone to browse the Internet and research to find examples (at least 3 per person). Ask them to beyond their immediate industry.

Identify "BIG IDEAS" that can inspire. Put a sticky beside it to sum up the idea.

At the end, ask everyone to present Ideas to everyone and then conduct a voting to shortlist ideas.

Step 9: Break

Take another 10 min break.

Step 10: Documentation Formats overview + Other Suggestions + Voting

Present some popular and relevant training documentation formats to the team based on your research before the workshop. Present pros and cons for each. Ask the team for any other ideas that were not covered above and add them to the list.

Lastly, vote on the formats.

Step 11: Conclusion & Discussion

Review the content covered in the workshop and then give everyone some time to share anything that would like to add that was not already covered.

Thank everyone for their time and conclude the workshop.

Step 12: Report

Use the "Recommendations report" template to summarize the synthesis/insights and propose recommendations for the training documentation formats.