Pete Shelton has a really amazing post on Web Tastings about some lessons his group’s learned about teaching researchers about Web 2.0 (which I came across via Nancy White’s post).

With all the hype around about Web 2.0, it’s great to hear such a common sense take on what needs to be done around educating people on Web 2.0.

Pete’s first rule of focusing on the job, rather than the tool, is something everyone (not just KM folks) should keep in mind with any piece of technology. No one cares how cool/new/shiny it is. Plain and simple, they want results.

Pete mentions both del.icio.us and blogging as too phenomena that didn’t necessarily catch on right away with their audiences — neither of which should come as a great surprise. Pete’s conclusion that people aren’t too interested in the tools themselves seems incredibly simple — but it’s easy to forget when you’re immersed in using those tools every day.

Anyone who enjoys new technology risks letting their passion for the tool get in the way of the usefulness of that tool. There are times when we simply need to remember that not everyone wants to be a blogger (most people would see it as a pain in the behind, with little return on their investment).

Similarly, the value of sharing bookmarks is what really needs to be sold, not del.icio.us itself. But if we think of this in terms of things we don’t understand, it’s pretty easy to see why this is the case.

Let’s use take an (overused) example. I don’t own a car, but I drive one occasionally. I have a vague understanding of how it works, but ultimately, I only really care when it breaks down.

If someone who’s really passionate about cars starts explaining some arcane engine part to me and why it’s better than the previous version, my eyes glaze over. I just really don’t care. The questions that come into my head are mainly value-oriented questions. “Does this make the car safer? Will it make the car faster? Will I get better gas mileage?”

The closer we stick to selling value (whether it’s time savings, better job performance or less forms to fill out) over features, the more we’ll keep people’s attention when delving into the emerging world of Web 2.0.