Job Aids in General
Looking for samples? Here's a zip file containing a variety of sample job aids: jobaids.zip
The Job Aid Job Aid summarizes types of job aids. The Cube Template provides a template for a 3-d cube.
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A one-page guide to job aids Job Aids Job Aid - (.doc) (.pdf) |
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The generic cube described in a Simages article: template (.doc) (.pdf). |
Agile Software
These aids (from the xp123.com site) are for teams using Extreme Programming (XP) and Scrum.
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XP on One Page |
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Java Coding Standard on a Page |
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XP Programmer's Cube |
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Scrum on a Page |
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Configuration Management on a Page |
Paper Toys
These job aids were developed for the session “Paper Toys that Teach” at NASAGA '03:
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Cutouts (.doc) (.pdf) - Interesting objects to make with paper. |
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Flexagons (.doc) (.pdf) - Paper with a surprising number of sides. (Print on legal size paper and cut into a flexagon to use.) |
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Origami (.doc) (.pdf) - The art of folding paper. |
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Pop-Ups (.doc) (.pdf) - Paper that becomes three-dimensional when opened. |
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Tessellations (.doc) (.pdf) - How to tile a plane. |
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Up-Pops (.doc) (.pdf) - Self-opening pop-ups. |
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Up-Pops Calendar Template (.doc) (.pdf) |
Further Reading
Disclaimer: The books use an affiliate link to Amazon; when you purchase through them, you're helping support this site.
Job Aids and Performance Support: Moving from Knowledge in the Classroom to Knowledge Everywhere, Allison Rossett and Lisa Schafer, Pfeiffer, 2006.
Job aids are an aid to the broader challenge of performance support. The book is focused more on the latter (including online tools) than on job aids. It introduces a nice distinction: planners that help before or after a performance, and sidekicks that are with us when we work. The authors give advice on formats that help people decide about work or do it. They close by discussing principles, and strategies for implementation.
Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures, Dan Roam, Portfolio, 2013.
This book focuses on "Visual Thinking", using several simple frameworks to get at different ways of thinking about problems, and different ways of portraying information visually.
This book isn't about job aids per se, but the visual approach will suggest ideas that may be useful in them.
A Handbook of Job Aids, Allison Rossett and Jeannette Gautier-Downes. Pfeiffer, 1991.
There
aren't a lot of reference books on job aids, but this is my favorite among those I've seen. It
presents a variety of types of job aids, along with guidelines for when to use
them.
The Checklist Manifesto, by Atul Gawande. Metropolitan, 2009.
This book is an expansion of Gawande's interesting New Yorker article.
It's an exploration of how the relatively simple idea of a checklist
can be used to ensure that complicated things get done well. What works
for pilots also works well for surgery. I thought the article was enough
to get the idea, but the book was an interesting read for more depth.
Mapping Inner Space, 2/e, Nancy Margulies with Nusa Maal. Zephyr Press, 2002.
Margulies
and Maal presents techniques for visual maps, a version of mind maps. You can
certainly learn the basics without this book, but it makes great use of color
and has lots of examples of maps and symbols.
Reinventing the Wheel, Jessica Helfand. Princeton Architectural Press, 2002.
This is a picture book of volvelles, wheel calculators.
You typically set a pointer to a particular value, and
windows or the edge of the wheel reveal an answer. If you have any
interest in job aids, or pre-computer calculators, you will
enjoy the history and pictures this book contains.
Web Sites
xp123.com - Extreme Programming and Agile Software
Of special interest may be reviews in the areas of training and learning.
thiagi.com - Games for training
Your Host
Bill Wake is a software consultant with a focus in agile methods, especially TDD, refactoring, evolutionary design, and user stories.
Bill's professional site is at <xp123.com>, and his personal site is at <billwake.com>.