ADDIE – Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate – is the most popular instructional design model by far. ADDIE became popular because it provided people with a structured approach to developing quality training. In essence, it is a road map with all the details defined to insure training developers get the right things done in the right order. Ultimately, ADDIE has improved how people develop training.
Developing quality training is important but delivering quality training on time and with minimum resources is just as vital. Meeting these needs requires a structured approach, just like ADDIE. This is where project management comes in to help you manage the training development project.
Project management is concerned with predicting the time and cost of developing a product and then influencing future activities to meet those predictions. It is performed by an individual who is traditionally called a project manager, project lead, or the unlucky sucker in charge.
Let’s now discuss the three main areas of project management: planning, execution, and control.
Project Planning
When it comes to project planning ADDIE is a key contributor to establishing the project objectives and deliverables. It also helps identify all the tasks that need to be completed and in what order. From there project management is used to estimate the time required for each task and assign the person or persons who will be responsible for completing each task. This leads to a schedule that reveals the overall estimated project duration and number of resources needed to complete the project on time.
Project Execution
Project execution involves taking the schedule and telling project team members what they are supposed to work on each week. At the end of the week team members report back to the project manager on what was started, finished, and how much time is needed to complete the unfinished tasks. The project manager takes that input and updates the schedule.
Project Control
Project Control is the process of getting a project back on track when the schedule is not meeting what was predicted. Any variance in time, resource consumption, and product quality has to be addressed. This is accomplished by manipulating one or more of the following
- Future tasks durations
- Sequencing of tasks
- Adding or eliminating tasks.
Once the schedule is updated to reflect the desired outcome then it’s communicated to the project team and the stakeholders.
As you can see ADDIE and project management work great together to bring about project success. Just as ADDIE brought about a repeatable process for developing quality training, project management provides a repeatable process for delivering quality training on time without using an excess amount of resources. Both ADDIE and project management require discipline and effort, but they also lead to success. Go ahead, give project management a try.