Project Management for eLearning, Part 1: It’s Kind Of Like Herding Cats

By: Robin Herriff

Considered to be the Project Manager’s bible, the PMBOK Guide says that projects are “a temporary endeavor to produce a unique project, service, or result.” Another definition of a project is a problem that needs a solution. Project Managers, or PMs for short, are the leaders on the team who lead the charge for that solution. But unofficially… project management is pretty much like herding cats (Click the link. It’s worth the minute of your life). Consider that in the age of Covid, internal teams - and clients - live and work all over the United States, even throughout the world, so it can get a bit tricky. This article provides a brief overview of how to herd like a pro, and avoid getting scratched.

It’s The Plan, Right?

Benjamin Franklin once said “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” For a Project Manager, this is fundamental to understand. PMs plan, and plan, and plan some more. Before we ever begin a project, we think about two things:

What exactly is the problem that needs solving?
How do we ensure that everyone’s interests and needs are met?

And when we say everyone, that includes the client and the team. The internal team could be small or large, with numerous Instructional Designers (IDs), Graphic Designers (GDs), editors, quality assurance (QA) teams, an Art Director (AD), and anyone else who is involved in the project to some capacity. It can sure add up.

So your best bet is to always start with the 5 Ws: who, what, when, where, and why. Then add two Hs:

How long; and
How much.

PMs ultimately deal in terms of timelines and budgets, so carefully getting answers to all these questions helps start the project on the right course from the beginning.

Project Management Resources and Timing

The importance of estimating those resources and timing correctly can’t be undervalued. In Project Management, you learn all kinds of formulas and factors to determine the time and resources needed for a project. Unfortunately, when creating eLearning, these formulas and factors are challenged because so much of what we do is built on creativity and “think time.”

There are numerous variables in eLearning, depending on the end results desired by the client team. Things like:

Level of learner ~ complexity of courses
Scripting detail
Amount and depth of narration
Inclusion of video or animation
Accessibility compliance

And the list goes on and on. So when planning a project, you need to lean heavily on the team for advice and input. Ask important questions like:

How long will this take?
How much time can our folks put in every week?
How long has something similar taken in past years?

Historical data is a big advantage here, so it’s important to gather, manage and analyze actuals against your plan. Successful project management maintains an enormous emphasis on time tracking during projects in order to correctly quantify recurring efforts, so that you can better estimate future projects.

You Have To Avoid Losing Your Shirt

Risk assessment is another huge part of project management. Like the old saying goes, “what can go wrong, will go wrong.” We always hope it won’t, and sometimes the bumps along the road are minor. But you still have to be prepared, just in case the project runs into a proverbial ditch.

By recognizing that change happens, you are in a better position to keep control and steer it back on track. Good project management means building contingencies into everything, and making backup plans your bread and butter. In the eLearning world, the risks we’re most worried about are deadlines, stakeholder concerns, limited resources, and of course the dreaded “scope creep.”

You have to know how to react if a client or stakeholder wants to add additional features or functions to a project. Or if they want to expand into a new product/project, grow the requirements, or get work done that is not authorized (i.e., beyond the agreed-upon scope). All of that is scope creep.

Keeping a project within scope is always a major PM concern, and honestly, one of the things new project managers typically have difficulty with early on in their careers. Many PMs identify as a helper by their very nature, with an inclination to say “sure, we’ll make that work somehow.” However, when wearing your Project Manager hat, make sure this is the response instead: “That request is out of scope. It was not in the original project plan. We can accommodate it, but that will mean an official change request – and probably an increase in the project budget.”

As you can imagine, clients are not always fans of this response, so you need to have your numbers in place and know where there is flexibility. Because ultimately, the PM is responsible for making sure a project comes in on time and on budget, according to plan. Therefore, you have to learn how to lay down the law, but in a constructive way. Believe it or not - that’s harder than it seems.

4 Key Skills For Successful Project Managers

So, what does it take to be a good Project Manager? It’s a blend of people skills first, and technical skills second. But there’s a lot more to it…

Translation.

Most clients know their own content, but they frequently know nothing about Instructional Design or eLearning. In other words, they know their stuff, but not how to effectively teach it. Therefore, it’s the job of a project manager to bridge that gap. The PM ensures the client learns what they need to know to hold up their end of the bargain. The PM is also the conduit between the internal team and the client team. So it comes down to being able to speak both languages, and appreciate where each is coming from.

Leadership.

The need to delegate and adjust the approach is necessary for the varieties of people, situations, and circumstances involved across multiple projects. You have to ensure everyone else on each project has what they need to be successful. Otherwise, a project can spiral out of control.

Internally, much of this includes motivating the teams and keeping morale up. Because it can sometimes be a bit of a slog. Or the opposite can even happen, with things moving along at break-neck speed, with no down time. And with most teams working remotely, the team-building aspect is crucial to success. By keeping lines of communication open and operating smoothly, everyone stays engaged, focused on their piece of the project, and no one gets left behind. No one really wants to feel like they’re out there all alone, working in a vacuum.

Harnessing Good Tools.

A knack for technology is another helpful PM skill. As a firm expands and grows from one team into multiple teams, the system(s) have to scale to suit the increased demand on services. As a result, effective project managers keep an ear to the ground, on a near constant search for updated software solutions to our remote work situations. Our core PM tech stack includes:

Dropbox for document and digital asset management
Slack for communication and channel-based team collaboration
Project for resource planning and scheduling
TickSpot for time tracking
Zoom for online conference calls

Agility and Adaptability.

Finally, effective project management requires readiness for change. For instance: What worked well in the last project, may not work well in this one. And what worked well with that client, won’t work with this client. By recognizing the need for continuous improvement, a PM can remain mentally agile and not get bogged down in the minutia. Best of all, when you implement consistent evaluation, before, during and after a project, the lessons learned meeting (both internal and with our clients), will we all continue to improve our skills and our products.

Want to learn more about how we manage learning and development projects?

This article is the first of a series to delve more deeply into the world of Project Management. If you are interested in receiving the articles as they first come out, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter.