A week ago a friend said, “It’s great to watch an expert at work!”. I was playing around with Adobe Photoshop to create a new logo. “What a strange thing to say”, I thought. “I’m no expert”. I just learnt it quicker than he did. Why? Cognition, intelligence and other such things aside I believe it is because I have a fundamental strategy for learning how to use software which works.
There are two reasons why I will try a piece of software. The first is simply out of interest — here’s something new. The second is because I have a problem to solve.
This is where the strategy kicks in. In contrast to the first need, that of curiosity where I really have no need for the program, having a problem causes me to look for a solution. That means delving into the manual, trying things, looking up tutorials online and the like. It is a concrete problem which drives me though. I like to Trial software in anger.
For example, I want to put my wedding video onto DVD. I have a secondary video made for my wife’s 30th which I’d like to include as well. Also some stills from our wedding album. Sadly our vows were not recorded well so I want to add subtitles. And to top it off a commentary track on how we felt on the day and our reflections since.
I have been through 5 DVD authoring programs trying to meet my requirements and I’ve pushed each to get them to do what I want. The end result is a good, working knowledge of each and a great working knowledge of the domain. If I didn’t have such a concrete goal I would not have been able to compare them. Or learn how to use each. Now I can create motion menus, complicated links between each, mix aspect ratios and more.
Another trick is to scan the user manual, flicking through as whim takes me. It’s a great way to get ideas on what can be done. How many people under-utilise software because they didn’t bother to learn what it could do. Now this is different from learning how to do it. That comes when the idea sparks a want, the want becomes a need and the need causes you to go back to the manual to learn how.
Another great reference for this type of thing is www.tutorialfind.com.
So if you want to learn how to use some software create a real need and you will learn.