First Things Fast: A Handbook for Performance Analysis [Hardcover]

Allison Rossett (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787944386 | ISBN-13: 978-0787944384 | Publication Date: November 6, 1998 | Edition: 1

This hands-on book tells you how to quickly determine performance needs before investing precious time and resources. When trainers, consultants, and problem-solvers need to figure out what's wrong with an organization--and they need a solution fast--they need this book. Needs assessment is about doing things right; performance analysis guarantees doing the right thing.

Rossett offers extensive guidance on:
* Accelerating a performance analysis
* Overcoming organizational obstacles
* Using technology in analysis
* Presenting the results of an analysis . . . and much more!

You'll get job aids, templates, and implementation examples that direct you through the basics of performance analysis. Carefully selected case studies further illustrate the text.

Visit the First Things Fast online coaching and information system and get information about how to encourage analysis in the organization and what strategies are best for doing it. This online information and coaching tool, designed by award-winning author Allison Rossett, offers planning tips and tools to get things done . . . fast!

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Look before you leap—start smart with this engaging field guide!Foreword by Marc J. Rosenberg, district manager, strategic learning technologies, AT&THow do you figure out what to do? This book offers you strategies to answer that question. It's a hands-on guide to planning and consultation, with an emphasis on tools, tales, templates, speed, sources, and systems. First Things Fast is the quick start you need to surmount resistance to investigating performance. Allison Rossett offers you priceless tips on:

• Accelerating analysis
• Using technology
• Overcoming organizational obstacles
• Communicating with experts, customers, and colleagues
• Presenting results . . . and much more!

"Rossett's book is a practical, down-to-earth set of guidelines from an accomplished professional who's obviously 'been there.'"—Joe Harless, author of Peak Performance System and The Eden Conspiracy"Rossett has produced an eminently readable, practical handbook that helps human resource professionals apply performance analysis methods fast. A friAndly, comforting, useful volume that we will definitely recommAnd to our clients."—Harold D. Stolovitch, professor, Universite de Montreal; president, Harold D. Stolovitch & Associates; and Erica J. Keeps, executive vice-president, Harold D. Stolovitch & Associates "This book is a must-have for anyone who is responsible for identifying performance and training needs. It's chock full of proven tips, techniques, practices, tools, and examples. And with Rossett's wonderful humor evident throughout, it's fun to read!"—Dana Gaines Robinson, president, Partners in Change; coauthor, Performance ConsultingYou'll get job aids, design templates, and implementation examples that direct you through the basics of performance analysis. A frequently updated, internet-based coaching and information system will complement and supplement the book (www.jbp.com/rossett.html). Start smart with Rossett's guide!

From the Back Cover

Look before you leap—start smart with this engaging field guide!

Foreword by Marc J. Rosenberg, district manager, strategic learning technologies, AT&T

How do you figure out what to do?

This book offers you strategies to answer that question. It's a hands-on guide to planning and consultation, with an emphasis on tools, tales, templates, speed, sources, and systems. First Things Fast is the quick start you need to surmount resistance to investigating performance.

Allison Rossett offers you priceless tips on:

• Accelerating analysis
  
• Using technology
  
• Overcoming organizational obstacles
  
• Communicating with experts, customers, and colleagues
  
• Presenting results . . . and much more!

"Rossett's book is a practical, down-to-earth set of guidelines from an accomplished professional who's obviously 'been there.'"—Joe Harless, author of Peak Performance System and The Eden Conspiracy

"Rossett has produced an eminently readable, practical handbook that helps human resource professionals apply performance analysis methods fast. A friendly, comforting, useful volume that we will definitely recommend to our clients."—Harold D. Stolovitch, professor, Université de Montréal; president, Harold D. Stolovitch & Associates; and Erica J. Keeps, executive vice-president, Harold D. Stolovitch & Associates

"This book is a must-have for anyone who is responsible for identifying performance and training needs. It's chock full of proven tips, techniques, practices, tools, and examples. And with Rossett's wonderful humor evident throughout, it's fun to read!"—Dana Gaines Robinson, president, Partners in Change; coauthor, Performance Consulting

You'll get job aids, design templates, and implementation examples that direct you through the basics of performance analysis. A frequently updated, internet-based coaching and information system will complement and supplement the book (www.jbp.com/rossett.html). Start smart with Rossett's guide!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Pfeiffer; 1 edition (November 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787944386
• ISBN-13: 978-0787944384
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,338,230 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Allison Rossett, long time Professor of Educational Technology at San Diego State University, is in the Training magazine HRD Hall of Fame, was recently a member of the ASTD International Board of Directors, and was honored by selection as an ISPI Member-for-Life. Recipient of ASTD's recognition for lifelong contributions to workplace learning and performance and designated a 2008 LEGEND, Allison co-authored Job Aids and Performance Support: Moving from Knowledge in the Classroom to Knowledge Everywhere in 2007. In 2009, she released a new edition of her classic First Things Fast: A Handbook for Performance Analysis. Allison was featured in eLearn magazine in December, 2008.

Rossett edited The ASTD E-Learning Handbook: Best Practices, Strategies, and Case Studies for an Emerging Field. She also completed a white paper for the American Management Association, Blended Learning Opportunities and another, more recently, on learner engagement, for Adobe Systems. She is the author of four award-winning books, including Beyond the Podium: Delivering Training and Performance to a Digital World and First Things Fast: A Handbook for Performance Analysis. Prior award-winning books are Training Needs Assessment, and A Handbook of Job Aids. Some of Allison recent articles are "Performance Support Tools: Delivering Value When and Where Needed," "Moving Your Class Online," "Confessions of a Web Dropout," and "Training and Organizational Development, Siblings Separated at Birth." She has conducted research and published articles on needs analysis, learner engagement, and persistence in online learning. Her client list includes IBM, HP, the Getty Conservation Institute, Fidelity Investments, Deloitte Consulting, BP, the IRS, Amgen, Royal Bank of Scotland, the US Army, Transportation Security Administration, and several e-learning start-ups.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars hands-on guide that is immediately useful, May 10, 2001

By 

M. H. Bayliss "book queen" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: First Things Fast: A Handbook for Performance Analysis (Hardcover)

Overall, this book is a straightforward examination of performance analysis that explains why p.a. is more practial than traditional "training." It's a godsend for people who have to implement a plan right away because of the abundance of checklists and templates. I have some minor criticisms though since I have read several books in a similar category. 1 -- the author does not write as professionally as others (Rothwell, for example, who wrote Beyond training and Development) and spends too much time touting her earlier books 2 -- often the information borders on the extremely obvious 3 -- the book is overpriced as many textbooks are. P.A. boils down to the fact that it's really a "casing the joint" type of strategy -- get a general idea of the situation before diving in. All this fancy terminology for such a basic idea... still, it can definitely save a company a lot of time and money to do this common sense approach before spending money on training.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great guide to quick human performance analysis, November 4, 1998

By 

Paul Harmon - See all my reviews

This review is from: First Things Fast: A Handbook for Performance Analysis (Hardcover)

This book is a great help for anyone who is asked to analyze a performance problem. It provides a series of checklists and job aids to help someone figure out what's going on and how to fix it. It considers lots of problems and teaches you how to decide if the employee needs instruction, motivation or a changed environment. I really enjoyed this very practical and easy to read handbook; it avoids all the theory and jargon and puts the emphasis on analyzing human performance problems in a quick, efficient manner.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An illuminating, practical guide for performance consulting, September 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: First Things Fast: A Handbook for Performance Analysis (Hardcover)

Rossett makes a very useful distinction in this book between performance analysis and training needs analysis. She recommends an action-oriented consulting approach that ensures the real problems and potential solutions are identified before selecting training as an intervention. Her approach is practical and recognizes the time and resource constraints that learning consultants, managers, and their companies operate within. I have ordered copies for all of my staff!