Customer Reviews

First Things Fast: A Handbook for Performance Analysis

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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.

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.

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!

This book serves as the first course at a performance analysis dinner-it whets the appetite and entices the reader to look further and deeper. It provides the reader with tasty morsels of information without weighing the reader down in the heavier technicalities of performance analysis. First Things Fast is a quick and easy reference for the professional trainer and one that I will keep on hand for future use. It addresses the situation as it is-the way things are-and provides concrete examples and solutions for those involved with the process. Because of the quick and easy reading that characterizes the book, I would recommend this book to those who are seeking a basic understanding of performance analysis without wanting to invest a great deal of time. I would also recommend it to those who want a quick reference for use in their performance analysis work (the templates are an effective starting point for the line of questioning which needs to occur). First Things Fast has the potential to be an extremely useful tool for those individuals who are in the position to decide what needs to be done and why.

This book is a must have resource on your shelf. It's advice is timeless, examples practical, and the book is easy to implement. It is a go to book whenever I need a refresher. It also helps IDs and PCs get out of analysis paralysis and into the business of identifying performance gaps and determining causes and appropriate solutions/interventions.

I read "First Things Fast, 2nd edition" on the plane, while traveling to see a new client for a week of analysis for a large e-learning initative. The client asked me to spend my time before the meeting going through mountains of content, and I did a lot of that... But the most important preparation I did was reread this book. "First Things Fast" provides sample questions and checklists for tackling performance analysis quickly. It organizes these tools into specific types of projects, such as a new system rollout, a performance problem, people development and more. Reading this book kept me focused on the goal of our analysis, which was to identify needs and solutions that would fill the gap. This book promotes using data to help make decisions and set priorities. On this recent project, the data helped paint a clear picture on where to put our energy. The book works. I suggest you reread it at the time of need. It definitely helps make analysis efforts more productive.