Product Training for the Technical Expert

How to Use This Book: And Who Should Read It

Self‐Study

Instructors are learners. Leaders are learners. All successful employees are learners—they want to get better at the skills they have been asked to do, even if they seldom practice them. The goal of this book is to increase the effectiveness of anyone asked to provide hands‐on learning.

If you are a product instructor, read the whole book. Take the time to answer the questions at the end of each chapter. You will find them helpful. There are questions about what you have just read and questions about what you are going to read. You may wonder why there are questions about a topic you have yet to read about. Two reasons. First, this encourages (as much as possible in a book) a two‐way conversation. I don’t know everything. Together, you and I can learn a lot more than we can alone. The answers you provide before you read the text will come from a very different perspective than the ones you provide after you read the text. This will give you a chance to compare them and learn more. Second, it is a teaching tool. By prompting you to think about one or two things first, I am encouraging you to look for those principles as you read. Feel free to use that technique with your own students!

Since product training is a team effort, there are many people who can benefit from parts of this book. Here are some examples, along with the sections they should concentrate on (Table i.1).

Table i.1 Who should read this book.