Ask Slashdot: How To Teach IT To Senior Management?

New submitter gagol writes "I recently took a position at a small industrial equipment manufacturer. We are looking to buy a new ERM software package and my boss, who is looking forward to buy the thing, knows nothing about computers or software. I will be providing basic IT training to the senior management and I am looking for your input on the scope and content of said training. I am thinking: basic components and architecture -> networking -> software -> proprietary vs open source. What do you think?"

Comments

What a bullshit job, bad luck.

[magic maverick]

OK, start with the file system, possibly explaining with real-world files.
Next, move onto what each part of the computer does (the CPU is the brain, the RAM is a scratch pad, the long-term storage is like your filing-cabinet, etc.)
Then move onto turning the machine on. Then explain WIMPs, and (if you want) the differences between GUIs and CLIs.

Look at word processing and spreadsheets (be sure to explain styles, and the difference between look and semantics). That leads into HTML (but briefly, so they don't get scared when they see it), and the web and networking more generally.

Explain the Internet, and how it's made up of various things, such as email, the web, IRC (and other chat systems) etc.

Explain the specific concepts related to the software you are going to be using.

Finally, teach the ins and outs of that software.

Most of all, stay clear of focusing on a particular piece of software. Don't teach MS Word, teach word processing. Don't teach MS Windows, teach WIMP and GUI. And only once they grasp the basics, do you teach specifics of software packages. Test them, make them produce a document that looks identical (when printed) in two different word processors. Have them provide a balanced budget for a trip, in two different spreadsheets. Etc.

And sucks to be you, to have gotten the short straw.