SightLines Consulting has been using Google AdWords for some time now. I have to say that we are very impressed. (In fact we are attending a Saturday Seminar on Interactive Marketing by Rich Sheridan of Menlo Innovations, more about Menlo here. Rich is a great advocate of interactive marketing and google AdWords.) So what does Google AdWords have to do with software training? The folks who setup the AdWords tool have done an incredible job of anticipating the questions that a user has when using the tool. The tool that I'm talking about is the software application that you use to setup, edit and monitor your company's AdWords campaign. The application is not enormous, probably less than twenty forms in all, and its brevity is no accident, in fact it is essential. Good software makes complex tasks simple to execute. Good software is concise because it is intuitive. It trains itself. It's amazing that no matter what form you are currently on in the AdWords' application, the answers to your questions are right in front of you. "How do I do X?" and the answer is there, different color font and underlined. How did they know this? NetSuite is very similar in style. They have gone through a great amount of effort to make the user interface self-explanatory. During the NetSuite Implementation we also keep in mind the normal workflows of the people using the systems so that one task in the process follows upon another seamlessly. We also try to anticipate how users use the system to make sure that when the normal process breaks, for one reason or another, the user can still pick up and start the normal process again at the breakpoint. So what does Google AdWords have to do with software training, and NetSuite Training in particular? The best software trains itself, with a little guidance, of course. The best software training is anticipating the needs of the users. When you do this, the system looks intuitive, and it is. Users grow comfortable and confident, and they are on their way. Remember "The network is the computer?" How about "The software is the training?" | 
