eLearning Project Management - A Different Ballgame!

“There was an instructional designer who was bright, analytical, and smart. She could write well, she could design well, she could manage her time well; she also could communicate well. She was given an option of continuing as an instructional designer or becoming a project leader. Since she could communicate well and prided herself on her organizational skills, she opted for becoming a project leader. Although her heartstrings were tied to creation, she found team-management simple to handle. Her performance and her project manager’s sudden resignation led her into the coveted seat of project manager. Then things changed! She realized that underneath the seat burned a fire – a fire so intense that it could burn her up; especially if she didn’t wear the armor of correct project management skills!

The options for her were clear – either hone those skills fast or turn into ashes. Project management doesn’t allow you the luxury of learning at your own sweet pace. You need to do things right, right from day1. The instructional designer in our story realized that she preferred the cognitive challenges of instructional design to the temperamental ones of project management. She decided to step away.”

This is not an uncommon story in our industry. Instructional designers; by virtue of their work tend to become so conversant with the project requirements that they end up becoming project managers. The fact that project management requires skills other than instructional design expertise becomes secondary! This is not to say that instructional designers do not make good project managers, on the contrary they often turn out to be better managers than those who come from other disciplines, yet many fail. Let us try to understand what project management entails and find out what great project managers do to make their projects succeed without losing their sleep or health.

The eLearning Project & the eLearning Project Manager

A project can be defined as a set of activities carried out in order to achieve a predefined objective; it has a clear beginning and a clear end. When the objective of a “set of activities” is delivery of an eLearning product, the project is called an eLearning project. The five stages of a project as defined in the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBoK) as initiation, planning, production, monitoring, and completion. An eLearning project manager is a person who is responsible for managing the above five stages in order to take an eLearning project to a successful conclusion.

Before we continue, let us see what type of activities project managers engage in. To get a glimpse of what an eLearning project manager does with his or her time let’s see what Suzanne Mathews, a project manager with a Delhi-based eLearning company, does with her day.

Suzzane Mathews - A Window in Time

8:30 AM
Suzanne rushed through the corridors of the office. She reached her cubicle at the end of the second floor hall and lunged at the phone that was already ringing. She was an hour before time, yet they knew. They were the vendors she had selected to be the media team on her project. The contract was signed last week, and according to the statement of work (SOW) they should have received the script on Friday. Unfortunately the design had come back from client with some major changes, stalling the script-writing work. She explained it to the vendor, promising to revise the SOW.

9:00 AM
Suzanne now opened her daily planner and added the task to a 15-point list that she hoped to check completely before leaving for the day. She looked at the first task on the list. “SME selection.” She had short-listed some and had scheduled their meetings today. But she needed to check her email first.

9:30 AM
Suzanne logged into her email account and waited for the emails to download. As the emails began to arrive in her mailbox, her nervousness increased. There were three ominous looking emails from the Sales office in LA – emails with subjects such as – “Respond Immediately,” “Issues with NRO_Mod1” could be nothing but trouble. But the floodgates were just opening…

“Suzzane, the new ID has joined, which module should she work on?”
“Can I talk to you for a few minutes? My team is idling away. They should have received Module 2 for testing yesterday.”
“Can you sit with me today to finalize the Q-Plan?”
“Can you send me the revised project budget in an hour?”
“You have two course kick-off calls tonight, and the ID for one of the courses has called in sick. You will have to manage the call.”
... ... ...
Her day had begun.

The only fictitious part in Suzanne’s case is her name. If you don’t believe me, ask a project manager. To determine the nature of a project manager’s job, let us first understand the project team structure and explore a rough outline of the project life cycle.

The Project Team

For an eLearning project manager, a project usually comprises a collection of courses for a client. These courses are usually made of different elements such as textual content, graphics, animations, video, and audio. These elements are then integrated into a course, which is reviewed and tested before it is delivered to the client or, in some cases, the audience. All this requires that a team of professionals work together to produce the course. A typical eLearning project team includes the following:

• Instructional Designers
• Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
• Graphic Designers
• Programmers or Course Constructors
• Editors and ID Reviewers
  

In addition to these, the project manager interacts with some other people within and outside his organization. These are:

• Client
• Sales Team
• Finance Department
• Quality Assurance Team
• Senior Management
• Vendors
  

So what does a project manager do with so many of such diverse individuals? Simply speaking, the project manager manages the project through all or many of them to ensure its successful conclusion. Let’s take a quick look at a typical eLearning content development project life cycle.

The Life of a Project

The project life cycle for the project manager begins with client requirements. The next step is to get the core team together. The kick-off happens next. This marks the formal initiation of the project. Based on the kick-off and project requirements, the project manager plans the implementation. Schedules are created for all activities that the project team will need to carry out. The project manager also plans for scarce resources and decides whether or not he needs to outsource. He also networks to bring in subject matter experts for the courses. Quality plans are also laid out.

Once everything is planned and the project enters the production phase, the project manager closely monitors it for any deviations from plan. In event of deviation, he analyzes the reasons behind them and implements remedial plans. Finally, when the project reaches completion, the project manager closes it after ensuring that all data pertaining to the project has been organized and added to the organization’s knowledge bank. The project manager also reviews the actual performance of the project against the budgeted performance.

With so much to handle, how can project managers make sure that their day doesn’t burst open at its seams?

Well, I have seen some project managers manage it all marvelously well. Here are some of my observations on what great project managers do to make sure that their projects flourish.

Project Manager's Recipe for Success

A recipe for success in eLearning Project Management! I can see some project managers laughing their heads off. They are partly right. Project management entails a lot of on-the-spot decision-making and requires that project managers continue to devise new tools to handle never-before challenges. Yet, I present this basic recipe with a reasonable degree of confidence, as I’ve seen these things work. Figuratively speaking, this recipe can help keep your head above water; so that you can think of better management ideas. Here you go.

Successful Project Managers-

1. plan meticulously from day 1 (Sometimes, some project managers may be brought into projects that have part-submerged – the day 1 then is the day they join.)
   They plan for:
   • Team meetings (weekly or bi-weekly meetings to review progress and discuss issues)
   • Quality checks and audits (when and how?)
   • Project Administration work (budget sheets, management presentations, and so on.)
   • Work Allocation (based on individual team-member’s strengths)
   • Contingencies (especially that may be expected! Such as SME to SMA realization.)
   • Communication (with team, client, top-management)
2. share the project plans with their teams and collaboratively arrive at individual delivery schedules for the whole team.
3. carry out a SWOT analysis for their project by identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of their project in terms of:
   • Skills that are required for project execution
   • Attitudes and Behaviors of various team-members
   • Time required for completing the project
   • External sourcing of expertise
   • Support from other departments
4. familiarize themselves with the content area of their current project. This is extremely important to gain client’s confidence.
5. use project finances judiciously while making outsourcing decisions, and follow their plan closely.
6. induce confidence in their teams by creating an open, honest environment within the project teams.
7. foster a sense of fairness in the project team by recognizing good and honest work.
8. are vocal in promoting their project’s achievements and requirements to the top-management.
9. understand the need of recognizing and respecting talent in others.
10. establish themselves as not just vendors but consultants to client, thus creating a healthy development environment.
11. “listen” more than “say.”
12. stay calm in the face of a “project fire.”
13. don’t become passionate about any one aspect of the project. Quality, delivery, and cost; all three are equally important.

The above list contains some of the characteristics that I found in most of the successful managers I’ve met in this fascinating industry. At this point, I would like to add that each project manager has his own strengths and weaknesses; being an efficient project manager is more about aligning one’s strengths with those needed for project management and eliminating the weaknesses.

A Note:
I would like to add some thoughts on the differences between IT project management and eLearning project management.

The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), which is followed for software development projects is implemented differently from the CDLC followed for eLearning courseware development. The SDLC uses Structured System Analysis & Design (SSAD) and since the advent of object-oriented programming languages, Object Oriented Application Design (OOAD), to formulate the project output. The eLearning projects, on the other hand, use variations of Systematic Instructional Design (SID) by Dick & Carey or ADDIE (a more flexible model than Dick & Carey’s SID) to determine the project output.

The project lifecycles of IT projects and eLearning courseware projects are also different in the amount of objectivity that goes into the process. This leads to some skill gaps when eLearning project managers move into the IT industry and vice-versa.

Author: Shafali R. Anand