How to Spread "Tribal Knowledge"

[SteveVetter]

In response to another post, Darren suggested someone start a new topic about how to more effectively spread information about new or esoteric features (sometimes referred to as "tribal knowledge").

One idea is to have a database of these gems and display one at random during the splash screen.  So, while we are waiting for LabVIEW to start, we can learn a potentially useful "trick", if we care to.

Example:  "Control-click on some primitives will reverse the order of the inputs.  By also holding Shift, any inversions will follow the connections."

(Note:  the second have of this example is not actually implemented yet.)

[AristosQueue (NI)]

There are other programs with such "at launch tips". The problem is that those messages come up out of context, so people don't learn them.

The shortcuts printed on menu drop items work really well for people learning the keyboard shortcuts. But that doesn't help with right clicks or things that are directly manipulated (like switcheroo tool or the incredibly valuable "hold down the ctrl key while using autotool for the second-most-valuable tool in a region").

In LV 7.0, my team added just-in-time advice overlays that would inform you if you were using a feature in a less-than-optimal way. We were accused of creating the "LabVIEW Clippy", so although I still think they would've helped people, we removed the overlays.