The Missing Piece

Scope creep. Two words that we don’t want to deal with and yet we face every day in the midst of a project. What starts as a solid plan may get waylaid by seemingly good intentions that carry the finish line further and further away and which may have rippling effects on stakeholders and end users alike.

Fortunately, I’ve not dealt with a great deal of scope creep within the projects I’ve worked on or been a part of as a team member. I can say that one thing we focus on heavily within my company is ensuring deadlines and deliverable dates are feasible and realistic. The theme seems to be that if we think it can be done in 5 days, it’s better to say 7-8 and deliver early than deal with the aftermath of delivering late. Better to under promise and over deliver than overpromise and under deliver.

However, one project that I worked on experienced scope creep on a significant scale. We were set to deliver a project within about a two month time frame. Plans were created, SMEs consulted, budgets created, and work was underway. Somewhere in the midst of the project it was discovered that a large chunk of material was unaccounted for. This wasn’t internal material-it was an external resource and quite costly to obtain. Budgets were reworked and recalculated, but there was going to be significant increases to ensure this component would be available. In addition, the missing piece would also take an additional six weeks to obtain. You can only imagine the team’s horror at discovering that this was overlooked-but from an ordering standpoint of now needing an additional 6 weeks, but also in cost. To make matters worse, the missing piece had to be in place before making any additional progress on the other components.

To fast forward to the end of the story, the missing piece did take all of the full six weeks to be delivered, the project was over time budget now by seven weeks due to the delays. In addition, several thousand dollars were added to the budget. Stakeholders, especially those holding the purse strings, were not happy. End users were not happy as the wait impacted the results they were looking to achieve in the short term which then in turn impacted the long term. The members of the team were placed on hold for the six weeks and then needed to move frantically, working long hours at great cost to complete the project.

Looking back, this was a simple error. It was simply an oversight of the needed or missing component. Were it not a critical piece to the remainder of the project it wouldn’t have been a big deal in the long run. However, since it was a linchpin component, it meant that production was stopped and budgets inflated. It did teach me an incredibly valuable lesson. Account for all pieces. If you think you have them all, if you think you have all of the pieces to the puzzle-ask someone else to count them. Ensure you have a second and even third pair of eyes on the project before beginning, before promising, and certainly before delivering. 

Project Management Tools

Maven Link: https://start.mavenlink.com

Maven Link is a project management software that is able to integrate into numerous applications which makes it desirable off the bat. After all, project management poses enough challenges without worrying about integration being limited or inaccessible to the necessary tools needed to complete the project.

There are workspaces within the program that allow project members to coordinate and collaborate. This helps to diminish distractions via long email chains, as well as the need for an abundance of status report meetings. Project team members can simply access the tool and be up to date with what is yet needed, what is complete, and where the project is tracking in terms of completion, budget, and timeline. One example had group members sharing concerns via a message board and document sharing. This also helps diminish time in meetings because responses can be researched, thought out, and then shared to ensure everyone remains on the same page.

For me, this would be helpful for cross departmental projects where I’m working with more than just my small team. It would allow for greater collaboration, further updating, and a solid place to house all materials, tracking reports, etc. One challenge I often find is that necessary documents maybe be housed in several places and if I do not check each folder within Dropbox, the remote desktop, or other locations, that I may miss a key step or piece of information. Maven Link removes that by allowing the pertinent project information to be stored within the tool.

SmartSheet: https://www.smartsheet.com

SmartSheet is a tool that allows for templates and various tracking sheets to be housed in one location. This makes the information readily available across the team and ensures the pertinent information is relayed as it relates to these categories and areas-schedule, budget, task hierarchies, tasks, and the use of some custom reporting as well. In addition, it integrates with a number of common tools that most companies use. SmartSheet also allows for collaboration within the tool lending to communication again being housed in one centralized location rather than a string of emails, conversations, or separate documents. This streamlines the process to ensure communication is clear and concise as well as related directly to the project.

This tool would also be a great tool to use for project management that is both interdepartment as well as cross departmental. I like the use of custom fields and templates to ensure the categories would fit what I would need as opposed to being static and unchanging which could lead to some confusion later on. 

Modes of Communication

We receive hundreds of messages daily-so how do we sift through and what do we interpret from each of them? In this exercise, I experienced the same message in three different modalities: email, voicemail, and face to face. Admittedly, I often seek to communicate via email or text in many situations but know and understand that is not always the appropriate modality, particularly in the professional environment.

EMAIL:

This message feels very rushed. The sender is obviously trying to be understanding while also pressing the urgency of the task at hand. However the second half of the message, and the lack of a clearly defined deadline means that this message would not be received as important nor urgent due to the word choice. Often this is the case in email, we are very cognizant of the fact that people interpret words and tone differently and that intention isn’t always clear through the written word, particularly when that word is also electronic in nature.

VOICEMAIL:

While the message as the same, this time I interpreted it slightly different with the voice inflection. Putting a voice behind a message lends humanity to the message. It’s far easier to dismiss written word when not associated with a person. However, voice communication and tone allows for that to come through more clearly.

FACE TO FACE:

If a voice puts more humanity into a message, face to face increases that message. Seeing Jana’s face and having to answer on the spot make it far more urgent and important. It also allows me, as the receiver, to immediately gain any information that I may need to get Jana what she needs. Even a small question may be pushed off if someone has to pick up a phone or send a response. Face to face is by far the most effective mode in this particular situation.

CONCLUSIONS:

In terms of longer term implications, or what this means for me as a project manager, it doesn’t change my viewpoints very much. I’ve long held the belief that the more personal a communication is, the more apt the receiver will be to receive and then act if necessary. In terms of communicating to stakeholders and team members, this type of communication becomes critical to ensure everyone is on the same page. It also is far easier to communicate strong messages in person in terms of knowing how the receiver is interpreting the message. However, the caveat here is the type of message. In the type of message within the exercise, this type of communication was most appropriate. If the communication was a status update, a quick check in, an update of material, etc-then it may be the most effective and efficient use of time to provide a written message.

Whenever choosing the modality of communication to use it is important to consider your user, your intention, your urgency, and the intent behind the message to ensure the communication is clear, concise, and efficient to the project as well as the receiver. 

Post Mortem Project Learning Opportunities: Lessons from the rear view mirror

The challenge? Train a large number of people (1500) spread across the country in a new customer initiative. The challenge to the challenge? The same as every project-cost! Face to face training would take people out of their stores, thereby decreasing interaction with the customers or resulting in only training half the number of employees reaching customers because the other half was needed to ensure customer needs were met during the training. Add to that the costs of renting a facility, paying the trainer, ensuring all pre-work was completed so that the participants wouldn’t be lost with the material to be covered in a short amount of time and it quickly snowballed into a budgetary nightmare. But then the idea was posed to offer the training virtually-allowing participants the ability to participate from their stores, taking only a small part of the day to devote to learning and then immediately applying the practices learned. In addition, travel expenses for the trainer, rental fees for the facilities, and loss of revenue during training all became non-issues. And in fact, adoption would rise as the training would be available to a wider audience ensuring that all members of the organization would be exposed to the learning opportunity and be able to implement new practices as a team.

Overall, the project was wildly successful. Rather than training the minimum of 1500, we trained well over 3000. The new initiatives in customer service were adopted and implemented quickly, but more than that, participants had an opportunity to learn and apply over and over again as the training was completed over weeks rather than over hours. This lead to a greater feeling of success amongst the participants and a renewed interest in training and adapting as a whole.

When I think on the success of this project, there are many factors that come into play. First and foremost, the process did not happen overnight. There were long hours spent researching strategies and methods, finding the best tools to deploy training and the right methods to ensure understanding and application. In addition, time was spent learning about the end user. The challenges faced on a daily basis that had to be overcome before the new initiative could begin to even be practiced, let alone adopted. And of course, stakeholders across the company had to be willing to take a risk on a new endeavor, one that was not tried nor yet proven in the field. Communication across the company lead to a large list of concerns and even negativity over the changes being proposed in the delivery and seemingly “hands off” approach. As a result, pilots were held. Test runs were completed in the short term, and lessons learned were implemented into the larger plan. The pilots yielded valuable data as to length of webinar, information shared, capabilities of the chosen platform with varied numbers of participants. But the overall deciding factor was in the feedback from the participants, and the data showing the initiatives were taking hold where they were being trained.

As with any project, we know that there remains a look in the rearview mirror, seeing where we’ve been. With knowledge in hand post-deployment, some of these issues come to light in ways that hadn’t before. For example, the lack of attention paid to accommodations for out of country participants within the platform. Another challenge was that while business is conducted the same way across the system, there are certain societal constructs and cultural practices that are incompatible with the system as a whole. With hindsight, we can see that adjustments could have been made to ensure the training was applicable to all parties at all times and in all ways by setting up regional opportunities for training. Another issue was long term adoption. Over the course of the five weeks of training we saw great results, but within twenty or so weeks post training, those results were tapering quickly. Follow ups to reinforce practices and to correct errors within the processes would have been valuable adds to ensure long term success.

As we prepare for another virtual training deployment, all of these factors and more have been considered in the process. However, I am quite certain that post-project we will still be able to identify growth opportunities and ways to improve upon the project. In fact, I hope we never stop looking for ways to improve and identifying new solutions and adaptations to make learning and training more accessible to wider audiences. 

Changing Perceptions of Distance Learning

Distance learning is a term that has changed exponentially throughout the ages, but the most rapid changes have occurred in the last twenty to thirty years as the rapid changes in technology have changed the world. In fact, the use of technology for communication of information has become so pervasive that Moller, Foshay, and Huett (2008) state that “it would be almost unthinkable to perform many strategic business functions any other way.” Along with the rapid changes in offerings and platforms for learning, perceptions of quality and effectiveness of learning have evolved, though at a much slower rate. When I first began my own distance learning experience fifteen years ago, the pervasive notion was that online learning was subpar and a poor substitute for “regular” learning, but could work in a pinch. The first course I engaged in online was a course that took the face to face format and put it all online. No thought, order, or changes were made to accommodate the shift to the online sphere. However, today we see courses designed specifically for online delivery, both synchronous as well as asynchronous. These courses are a far cry from the typed lectures, shared articles, and sparse discussion boards of fifteen years ago.

As technology has become more readily available, perceptions have changed as well. What was once a fun tool to have, has now become a part of our everyday lives. With this rapid change in technology and its place in our culture, our lives have also changed with instant access to information as well as learning opportunities. Today, we find many learners engaging in online learning. Whether deployed military personnel taking online courses toward a degree, a high school student engaged in a dual enrollment class, or a busy mom of three working full time and taking courses toward her master’s degree, there are many user of distance learning engaging in a multitude of ways and for a multitude of reasons. Instructional Designers take a pivotal role in creating and implementing distance education on all levels.. Dr. Simonson (states that “Distance education should provide equivalent learning experiences to those in face to face instruction” (Laureate Education, n.d.). This means creating an experience that allows for two way communication and feedback to the learner that ensures mastery of the material is being accomplished along the way.

As an Instructional Designer, my role is first and foremost to meet the needs of my learners. We have to be diligent in seeking technologies that will aid in learning and serve a sustained purposes. We have to seek out learning opportunities that will meet the needs of our learners as they strive to obtain a degree, certification, or simply a learning opportunity.  Part of designing instruction is navigating he nuances in creating a learning opportunity for people from a multitude of backgrounds and experiences. “Because students are coming to the class from a variety of backgrounds and learning experiences, they may be underprepared for the content intended for a particular course, and thus will be frustrated and even unsuccessful in the learning experience” (Simonson, Smaldino,& Zvacek, 2015, p. 131). However, the converse may be true as well, “they may already be familiar with the content and will be bored and uninterested in participating in the class” (Simonson, Smaldino,& Zvacek, 2015, p. 132). When learning is tailored to the needs of the learner, is well thought out and planned, and shows proof in the mastery of learning objectives, then the perceptions of distance learning can continue to change and advance.

Through my own experience in providing a traditionally in person training through an online platform, I have learned a great number of lessons that aid in the promotion and perception of online learning. First, learners may be skeptical when they set out on their first experience with online learning. Setting expectations and allowing learners to share their own expectations is critical. Second, you must do what you say you will do-which sounds simple, but to meet the needs of the learner we have to be careful not to overpromise and not be able to deliver. Third, the learning environment must safe. “Adult learners must feel supported, and when criticism is a part of discussions or presentations made by adults, it is important that clear ground rules be established so comments are not directed toward a person, but instead to concentrate on content and ideas” (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015, p. 48) Finally, it is critical to remain open to feedback and evolution of the learning experience. The series of online training courses I just completed evolved in many ways to meet the needs of my learners and adjust to the changing demands and accommodations required to ensure we were able to meet and master the objectives we set out to meet.

Where will we be in the next 15 or 20 years with distance learning and instructional design? It’s hard to say. We could not have imagined today’s technologies 15 and 20 years ago and we cannot imagine tomorrow’s technologies and where they will take us. However, one thing remains for certain, learning will continue to grow and adapt to meet the changing needs of learners, the demands they have, and the resources they have available to them. Those who design and create learning opportunities will need to evolve and change with the growth in technologies and changing attitudes toward those technologies. In addition, perceptions of learning will also continue to evolve. Where ten or fifteen years ago, online or distance learning was considered subpar or good enough in a pinch, online learning may soon become the gold standard to accommodate the continuation of education or training in a fast paced, technology driven world.

References:

Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Coleman, C. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5), pp. 63-67

Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Theory and distance learning [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., & Zvacek, S. M. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education. Charlotte, NC: IAP - Information Age Publishing.

Moving to Blended Learning

Your current approach doesn't seem to fit anymore. Learners aren't engaged, there isn't time, it isn't as efficient. Now what? Blended learning may be the answer to ensure learners are engaged while not taking time away from other duties and responsibilities. In addition, the cost effectiveness of distance learning will make training more affordable to deliver to an even wider audience ensuring further consistency and quality within the organization.

Click here for a brief guide on beginning the journey to convert stand up training to a blended learning approach. Guide to Blended Learning Training Approach

Based on my previous post, I've created a mind map that helps to illustrate the key ideas. As you can see, my former definition of distance learning was quite simple-learning conducted outside of a classroom. It could be technology based, and quite often is technology based for delivery. And finally, there may or may not be some matter of interaction via an instructor or peers.

My post, or new definition is a little more extensive. Distance learning must be a two way process that is both collaborative and holds the learner accountable to a certain standard or completion of the tasks required to master the concepts. Finally, it should be responsive to the learner. This extends to learner accessibility as well. Learning should be adaptive based on the learner's needs and requirements to be successful.

I am sure this mind map will grow an additional arm in terms of evolving definition as the weeks move forward in this course. The resources this week have only begun to introduce the scope of distance learning as it exists today.