User Adoption

[BrendaLe1]

I am new to the PMO department and have been charged with increasing user adoption. We do not have strong executive support for the use of WF. Has anyone been able to increase user adoption from the bottom up and if so, would you willing to share how you accomplished that? Thanks, Brenda Brenda Lemmon Alpine Banks of Colorado

[TerryHy]

Hi Brenda, You may or may not know this, but something to help out… If you click on Resources and then Webinars in the Community site, there are a number of webinars that may help and provide you with some tips & tricks, suggestions, etc. on this topic. From looking at the list, here are some ones that seem like they would be helpful: Workfront Implementation: Adoption, Adaptation, and Beyond Best of Leap - Review, Refine, Repeat: Continuous User Adoption and Engagement From our WF System Admin to Yours: Buy-In and Beyond Webinar Each webinar on the page has a brief summary, so you can see if the webinar is applicable to the information that you are looking for. Terry Hynd EBSCO Information Services

[VicAl]

I would advise obtaining support from the Execs. It'll be very tough to win that uphill battle of "change" without it. I know it's easier said than done, but it might be worth the exercise to sell them on it (or have the person that signed the check to Workfront sell them). One of our biggest reasons for success was we had buy-in from our top Exec. This allowed me to make the Workfront Training mandatory, as well as an Instructor led class (held by us) mandatory (to go over how WE would use Workfront). This and walking the floor for 2 weeks after implementation were crucial to our success. So if you can't mandate they take the training, there will be a lot of confusion and frustration which is usually followed by giving up. At least those are my thoughts.

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Hi Brenda, In addition to Terry and Vic's excellent points, another angle is "https://trainingindustry.com/wiki/content-development/gamification/">gamification (aka public shaming) to encourage usage (and in turn, compliance, and ultimately, adoption). We've built a couple of solutions in that regard ("http://store.atappstore.com/product/user-adoption/">UserWatch and "http://store.atappstore.com/product/executive-dashboards/">Executive Dashboards ), which I invite you to consider in your case -- either by "just using them", or as models to build out something similar yourself. Regards, Doug Doug Den Hoed - AtAppStore Got Skills? Lend a hand! https://community.workfront.com/participate/unanswered-threads

[JillAc]

This has been a very hard challenge. Workfront isn't really "fun" to use. They complain bitterly and make me feel bad for forcing it on them. There are a few who do get the value, and I've asked them to keep saying that out loud so others will hear it, and know that it isn't a universal thing to hate on WF. There are still a couple people who don't use it and will only mark things done when I ask them if something is done (when I know perfectly well it was) but I figure over time they will realize I'm watching and it's easier to just mark things done than to have to hear from me. I have a relatively small team so they feel free to be vocal about everything. However, what I have done was set up one-on-one training to go over their questions and try to get them more comfortable with it. I also make myself 100% available for questions, and periodically I do small tutorials in groups to show them shortcuts on the things they are complaining the most about. I also ask a lot of questions on this board to get answers to the small things that irk people, which makes them happy that I've solved something for them. Also, we shortened the number of Tasks in a project so they weren't so overwhelming. There are still 2 people who simply refuse, and they are department heads, and I have no recourse with them at all. I am plotting my revenge :) I think it takes time and eventually it will become like email, something they just use. On the other hand, there are a couple things in WF that really do make it hard. "Home" really does simplify everything for most users, and at first I found it was the best entry into the system, so clear to explain and understand. However, over time, old Proofs that were, for whatever reason, never approved by that user, stay there forever and muck up the Past Due list, infuriating everyone, including me. There is no way to get those off their Home lists without approving every one individually, which then results in a rash of notifications, causing angst and hair pulling. I'd say that's my main barrier right now, and no solution in sight. Jill Ackerman

[AnthonyPe]

The woes of the Workfront Champion... As many have said above, try to find an exec that can put the pressure from above, find the "boots on the ground" to sing its praises and help others adopt, putting pressure from both above and below. I had the benefit of getting rid of a system that was old and universally hated, so Workfront adoption was welcomed by many. Work that angle if you can- talk about the things WF does SO much better than the old system. Change is *hard* and many resist, so you're going to be at this for quite some time. Resisters may leave, but as new hires come in, eventually you will have far more people that ONLY know Workfront as the way you do things in your business. Get that long-haul mindset and today's woes might not seem so bad. Anthony Pernice Healthcare Consultancy Group

[BrendaLe1]

Thank you all for the good tips! We have tried or are trying several of the tips mentioned but I agree with you Vic, without the executive support so we can make training, etc. mandatory, it will be an uphill battle. I will give it the good fight! Terry, thank you for the tip on the webinars. I have taken most of the courses and some live training but I was not aware of those particular webinars. Have a great weekend, Brenda Brenda Lemmon Alpine Banks of Colorado

[VicAl]

Good luck!!

[VicAl]

Well said. And I like the two pronged attack.

[AllisonLi1]

Please feel free to reach out to your Workfront team, too. We have several people on the Training team who love to talk adoption, as do all of our customer success managers, solutions architects, etc. Workfront can work with you to hold promotion events at your company and help you champion Workfront to your executives. We'd love to help! Allison Lippert Workfront Training Manager allisonlippert@workfront.com