Author: Luis D. Argüello Araya, MPM, PMP.

Most experienced project managers follow the same 5 steps when making decisions in order to keep their projects on track, under budget and deliver successful results. These 5 steps apply to any kind of projects but how do they relate to eLearning development projects? Let’s try to find out.

Step 1: Research the problem

When a problem comes up during a project’s execution, take the first step by spending the time needed to identify its root cause and also to ensure it’s not just a symptom of another underlying problem. Project problems are usually related to people, processes, equipment or materials. Find out when, why and how it occurred and the impact it may have on your project.

If you want to identify the root cause of the problem, you should probably ask yourself the following questions:

-       Is the problem related to content handling?

-       Is the problem related to graphics?

-       Is the problem related to the functionality of a particular screen?

-       Is the problem related to the implementation of the final results of your eLearning project? For instance, are you running your course locally or on a LMS?

Step 2: Prioritize the issue

Projects tend to have a common characteristic amongst them that problems occur all the time and in order for you to handle all of them efficiently, you will need to determine whether each problem needs your urgent attention or not, based on the impact it may have on the development process of your eLearning course. If its impact is high, for example: it will cause a delay on the due date or it has a negative impact on the project’s costs) then you have a “high priority issue” and you need to stop whatever you’re working on and get it solved as quickly as possible.

Sometimes, adding extra content (more than the one originally provided by your end customer) to an eLearning course will have an impact on the delivery dates or could increase the overall cost of the project. Issues such as those are no doubt high priority issues that require your immediate attention as a project manager.

Remember that being clear and concise about the scope of your eLearning project is a key important issue in achieving successful outcomes. In order to do so, you must be aware of the nature of the content provided by your end client as well as the expectations they might have on the end result, but most importantly, you need to be in sync on the learning objectives associated to it. Always ask yourself if the issue threatens in any way the learning objectives of your course’s development and rely on your lead instructional designer to double check this.

Step 3: Identify the solutions

With a clear understanding of the problem and its priority level, you need to identify several ways to address it. After doing so you can review each alternative according to the following check list in order to determine whether it would actually be the best choice possible:

-       Does it solve the root cause of the problem?

-       Is easy and practical to implement?

-       Will prevent the problem from re-occurring?

Keep in mind that the learning objectives of the course you are developing are the most important elements of your decision making process. Therefore, gather your team and together try to find solutions that will help you achieve those objectives. Even better, motivate your team to come up with solutions that will improve those objectives somehow or that will contribute in a positive way of the project’s timeline or your client’s pocket. They say that two brains think better than one, so imagine what a whole bunch of brains would do!

Step 4: Make your decision

Now that you have gathered all of the information you need to make your decision, be careful not to make your decisions too hastily. Take time out of your day to cautiously consider all of the pros and cons. If it’s necessary, go for a walk to clear your head, but always remember to take a little more time when making critical decisions that will directly impact your project’s success.

Simple decisions such as deciding what you’re going to have for lunch can be easily done in a heartbeat, but when the making choices that will directly impact the timeline, cost or learning objectives of the eLearning course you are helping to build need a research process and clear mind thinking that can’t be rushed or taken for granted.

If the issue you’re dealing with involves functionality, keep in mind that SH!FT offers a whole set of templates and options that could help you come up with a solution. Remember that even if your subject matter experts or sponsors are asking for changes or new functionalities, you can always rely on SH!FT’s Support System in order to make it happen.

Step 5: Act on it

Once you have thought it through, taken a long walk and finally made the decision you think it’s best, you need to be fully committed on implementing it. Act on it immediately by informing your team about it and then scheduling all the necessary tasks to make it happen. You can keep track of your decisions by using SH!FT’s documentation repository, specifically in the Project Management folder associated to your eLearning course.

All problems, no matter how small they are, will affect your project in some way or another, so you will need to act quickly once a decision on how to handle it has been made.

If you follow these steps for every decision you might have to make through the process of your eLearning course, I can assure you you’ll make more concise, faster decisions.

No doubt you’ll feel good about it!

Small variations in the entry variables can produce large changes in your exit variables.

Author: Juan Carlos Vidal, Production Manager

Planning your eLearning projects ahead of time allows you to execute it properly regarding quality, costs and time.  In the production process, the little details count as much or more than big aspects if you want to control the variations that might occur in your outcomes.

It is common for a lot of people to take part in the planning process and in the project’s general aspects; nevertheless, the fewer people involved the better, because tuning in the basic aspects that make an eLearning project successful is what sometimes gets harder to do when there are a lot of people pitching in ideas. These variables are harder to measure because they require technical, specific knowledge to understand them.

Variables, such as the ones mentioned above, that take a part in an animation’s design process are: number of drawing lines, amount of steps, quantity of text per image, quantity of text per step, amount of images per step, number and level of difficulty of the programmed actions, amount of characters or new scenarios, etc.

When there is no control or knowledge over the effect of the variables that make up each task, they’re process is usually called “black box” because its results (cost, time and quality) are really hard to control or they present a variation range wider than expected.

Another important aspect is controlling the sequencing of these variables. If you’re aware of the possible sequencing and its effects, you’ll be able to gain control over the process and adapt it to obtain the desired results. For example: if you want to reduce its delivery time, you can subdivide and overlay the micro execution of tasks in order to achieve minimum production time.

A way to compensate for the lack of control in the process is by clearances. The inconvenient of doing this is that they absorb a lot of inefficiencies that don’t give an added value and that make the process slower, more expensive and more prompt to mistakes. 

So, the more entry variables you know the better control you’ll have over the results. This control becomes more important as the flexibility of the process increases. This means that any increase in the variety of your products or the answers they demand from the process, will require more control over it to satisfy the demands.

A less flexible process, that isn’t controlled properly, has a tendency of establishing a satisfaction point, which is harder to change as time passes by.

If your process isn’t handled properly, there’s a good chance that frustration, wearing out, breaching of goals, blockage, etc might occur, that’s why it is important to have at least one person in charge of the productive process of your eLearning courses.

How can SH!FT help you control your eLearning development process?

SH!FT is a powerful tool that allows you to control every step of your eLearning development process because it automates most repetitive tasks associated with eLearning development. 

Through a single login screen, based on profile, the user will have access to only the courses and the roles within those courses assigned to him.  No room for unauthorized people or unskilled people to change things.

By integrating all users, administrative work and especially document traffic (among team members) is eliminated. The development process is parallel among team members and Shift is responsible for managing the complexity.