What do you do if you start a new job and find yourself in a technology rich culture, with so many IT systems around, and so many different software resources, that your head ends up buzzing?

Many managers, administrators, subject learning coaches, eGuides, practitioners, learners etc., have never used...

  • internet telephony,
  • encryption,
  • instant messaging,
  • live meeting,
  • SharePoint or
  • Groove before.

Meanwhile, those around them seem to be metaphorically whizzing along as they...

  • collaborate;
  • share;
  • publish; and
  • distribute information.

Work Smart Guides may be the godsends such people are looking for.

This set of documents walk readers through the basics of some of the new technology they may encounter.

Work Smart Guides...

  • bridge the gap between technology and users;
  • provide employees with scenario-based, best-use productivity aids on Microsoft products and technologies.
The guides have also published for users to modify and use. This is a great step – every learning provider in the UK is producing user documentation where 80-90% of the content is identical. These guides make a good starting point, either for their format, or instructions, or screen shots.

The subjects covered in these step-by-step guides include:

  • Environmental sustainability (hints like using Balanced power settings on your laptop)
  • Protecting data with BitLocker
  • Getting started with email
  • Transfer files and settings to a new computer
  • Collaborating with SharePoint
  • An overview of collaboration tools
  • Customising SharePoint sites
  • Integrating Outlook with SharePoint
  • Basics of managing email (Are you a stacker or a filer?)
  • Office tips
  • Outlook email signatures
  • New features for users in Windows 7
There are 23 of them, and they come in one big Zip file for users to play with.

Download the customisable versions of Work Smart materials from TechNet at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb687781.aspx.

Bonus: Also take a look at the Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder, described by Long Zheng as a miracle tool. It does what it says on the tin, and the best bit is that the document it creates is brilliant for creating user guides, with screen shots and step-by-step instructions. Just stick “problem steps” into the search box of your Windows 7 Start menu.