T&D: Not All ISD Deliverables Have Meaningful Utility

Sometimes We Adopt When We Should Adapt

Fixing a Poor set of Practices isn’t the place to start IMO.

And many ISD methodologies are poorly practiced IMO. And IMEx.

Find the Best Practice or Practices – and merge them – and then Improve Them.

The advent of approaches such as Agile, Scrum, Design Thinking, SAM, etc. – don’t replace the entire ADDIE project planning & management framework – they just provide a tool and methodology-set for the Development Phase.

And unfortunately too many L&D/T&D functions are too used to jumping right in to development, sans analysis and design … and even project planning.

So these new approaches are very appealing to them. But they still can leave out important up-front steps and decisions. And that’ll lead to rework and/or failed efforts.

And there are many faster, high quality methods, tools and techniques – to use prior to the Development Phase in developing Instruction.

You can tell them by their repeated success in real world efforts on tough, complex needs.

My 4 Options for Instruction

Where Instruction is more than just eLearning or Classroom education or training.

Sometimes the best approach is to do nothing at all and leave it to Informal Means – because of the Target Audiences’ incoming/current knowledge and skills due to their education and/or experience – and because the R may not be worth the I.

The Life Cycle Returns for the Life Cycle Investments.