(With apologies to Stanley Kubrick)  We’re about to begin a Salesforce rollout to a new team of users and I thought I’d share the steps I’m taking to prepare everyone for the big change that’s about to happen:

• Communicate early and often! We let people know months ago that this was coming, and kept reminding them every few weeks.  Not in a nagging way, but just to keep it from going completely off their radar.
• Enlist the “difficult” users first! You know who these people are, they’re the ones who won’t want to touch Salesforce with a 10 foot pole.   You’ll get their buy in by making them feel invested in the outcome, and letting them know that you’re really listening to their concerns (by  making changes to your training documents or Salesforce to make their lives easier).   Once the “difficult ones” see the light, they’ll be your biggest evangelists.
• Beta test with a user or set of users first.  That way they can give you feedback on what’s working and what’s not, and you can make changes accordingly.  Don’t forget to REWARD your beta testers too – candy or booze always works well for me.  And thank them publicly too.
• Use help text! Since Help Text on Standard Fields is now coming in Winter 10 (at last!), don’t be stingy with using these everywhere you possibly can.  It’s always easier to mouseover a little help bubble than to open a manual/wiki/screencast/sticky note/etc.
• Create documentation! This could be a Word or Google doc, a Wiki, a Screencast (I love Jing for these), whatever – just make sure this is something easily accessible to everyone who needs it.  I like to create a custom web tab (Called “TRAINING MANUALS” or something descriptive) that embeds links to everything on one page.  And make sure that someone knows how to update it when you’ve hit the lottery and moved to Kauai!
• Have a plan! Make sure that you’ve got all these steps written out, and a timeline to implement!  Salesforce rollouts are not an overnight process, and you should plan on things taking a while.

Stay tuned for a future post about monitoring user adoption.  For more on the topic of managing technology change in your org, I refer you to one of the best sessions at this year’s  Nonprofit Technology Conference, “Technology Ch-Ch-Change: Managing Technological Change in Your Organization” and to Dahna Goldstein’s chapter in the NTEN book.  Enjoy!