Show Don't Tell

In 2016, I was tasked to teach my son to ride a bike without the training wheels.

I took him to a nearby park for a few days after work hours to get some practice.

As he pedaled through under my instruction, I kept one hand under his seat to keep it upright & stable.

It wasn't easy to let go. I needed some assurance that he could handle it.

Even though he struggled to maintain balance, he looked comfortable because I was escorting him.

Eventually, I had to step back. He did have a few falls here & there (safety gear is important!) but he kept at it until he got a hang of it.

His aha moment was magical for him & me.

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This made me wonder about my approach to user education.

Showing > Telling.

On-demand guided tours that walk users through necessary steps "when they need it" work great.

(Of course, this applies to unique user flows, not simple & familiar ones)

On the other hand, what I've found skipped the most are multi-slide modals or long tool tip tours at first login.

Imagine if I gave my kid a slide deck or a long pep talk on how to work the bike. He'd struggle to internalize that teaching.

If you're looking for tools to help with this, Walkme & Userpilot are a couple of good options.

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