taming large projects with planning and processes - td … · taming large projects with planning...

Taming large projects with planning and processes Karen Orso, MBA, Senior Director, Marketing and Education, Apexus

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| 2© 2017 Apexus. Reproduction without permission is prohibited

Agenda

Background on the project

Use pre-planning to define processes and set clear goals

Harness tools to enhance your project

Identify strategies for building, supporting an motivating a

strong team


340B University On-Demand

•Small, mostly internal team

• 12 minute modules

• Low tech, built in PowerPoint

•Basic level, free education

• Feedback – love it, but gap - need higher level of education

• Dual production

– Started next level education June 2015

– Completed this one Nov 2015


Apexus Advanced 340B Operations Certificate Program (Operations Certificate/Ops Cert)

• 100% online

• Large, geographically dispersed team

˗ 8 employees

˗ 33 external SMEs across the country to co-author

and review content

˗ 17 contractors: 6 employed directly & 11 through

2 third-party vendors

• 24 modules that take 1 to 2.5 hour to complete

(1.5 hour average)

– 3K pages of source material

• New, more complex technology


Operations Certificate

• Customer: pharmacists, vendors, consultants in

340B industry

• Pharmacist’s personality: detail-oriented, taught to

find errors

• Complex subject

˗ In-depth review of 340B policy requirements

˗ Guidance on how to apply that policy to support 340B

operational integrity

• Timeframe:

˗ June 2015 production planning started

˗ May 2016 first module release

˗ Feb 2017 final module release


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How will we tame this large project?

340B

University

OnDemand

Operations

Certificate

New:

product

processes

technology

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Use pre-planning to define

processes and set clear goals

for large projects


Use pre-planning to define processes and set clear goals for large projects

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• Define roles

• Create processes that work, ensure

excellence and overcome obstacles

• Set clear goals

Two-year project; six months pre-planning

Rapid Improvement Event (RIE)Another option: in-person kick-off meeting


• Everyone in the same room, focused

•Talk about the process from beginning to end

• Who does what

• How long will each step take

•Hand offs

• Technology

• How frequently you will meet

•Documentation

Production Team Roles and Responsibilities


The production team roles:• Executive sponsor

• Business lead

• Production director

• Project manager

• Subject matter expert (SME)/authors

• Module coordinator

• eLearning developer

• Miscellaneous roles: graphic designer, editor, voiceover talent and audio

production, video production, whiteboard production, and LMS administrator

Written roles & responsibilities

Written process with each hand off


Written documentation

• Module Style guide (example right)

• Role descriptions

• Process – step-by-step with hand-offs and timeline

• Cross walk

• Change control log (changes that impacted timeline or budget)

• Storyboard template

• Maintenance log

• Decisions, including the rationale

Production call every morning


Day-to-day production

• 15-20 minutes

• Grid on office whiteboard wall

• Skype shared screen

• Excel spreadsheet production schedule

• Basecamp

• Weekly production meeting for discussion and decisions

ADDIE model: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation

Excel production schedule

March 24, 2016

20 modules in process at one time

Another option: WIG meeting – FranklinCovey


Wildly Important Goal session – 15 minutes weekly

• Team members account for the previous week

• Review the scoreboard to see where they stand towards the goal

• Plan the upcoming week

Leader can help identify where people are struggling and how

they can “clear the path” to help people execute on the lead

measure

In-depth complicated modules brought a lot

of challenges


• Great amounts of important information being shared

• High priority for quality

• Up to 20 modules in production at once

Challenges & Solutions


As the projects progressed:

• Module scripts and storyboards grew longer

• Perfectionist; edit logs averaged 200 to 300 lines

• Development company not used to such strict oversight and course length

Guiding principles

• Quality over timeline

• Work on the modules in numerical order

• Edit now versus add to maintenance log:

– Noticeable to learner?

– Change context?

– Impact functionality?


Share: What has worked for you?

Self reflection: what would your pre-

planning be in a perfect world?


Harness tools to enhance your

project


Tools considerations

What problem are you trying to solve with the tool?

What are the tools in your industry?

Pre-planning selection, implementation, budget, etc.


Technology Stack

Audacity audio editingAdobe After

Effects animation

Chatter discussion board

Elearning authoring program

Tools used to build modules and give users access

Tool used for learners to talk to each other

Tools used for project communication

Basecamp


What tools have you found helpful?


Activity: 10 minutes

As a table group, use the flip chart & markers to write down your tool suggestions

1. Each person name one tool that is getting your attention right now

2. Write tool on flip chart & 2-3 word notation about tool type

Don’t spend a lot of time describing or discussing

3. Use remaining minutes to have each person name a second

tool or discuss a particular tool of interest

Flip chart list from all tables will be shared post-conference

Tools

WorkZone –

Project Management

Tools Gathered from Activity


• Project management

software

–Smart Sheet

–Jira

–Trello

–Quick Base

–Trello

–Office Timeline

–Toggl

• Team communication

collaboration

–Slack

–OneNote

–SharePoint

–Confluence

–Jabber

–WebEx

–Adobe Connect

–ReviewMyElearning

–Skype for Business

• Creation tools

–Articulate 360

–Capitvate

–GoAnimate

–Pictochart

–Grovo

–Screencast-o-matic

–Animoto

–Storyboard Squad

–Kahoot

Tools Gathered from Activity


• Learning Management

Systems

–Success Factors

–Axonify

–People Soft

–Moodle

–Cornerstone

• Misc Tools

–Luma Institution

–Tableau

–Recording Studio

–Lynda.com

–Survey Monkey

–SnagIt

–Shutterstock/Adobe Stock

–Google Classroom

–Poll Anywhere

–Net Support School


Identify strategies for building,

supporting an motivating a strong team


Understanding the Stages of Team Formation


Building

• Did you pick your team or was it picked for you?

• RIE or kick-off meeting – define roles

• Identify the strengths of people on the team, synergies, and weaknesses

Biggest setbacks - personnel changes and limitations

• Sometimes people claim a skill they don’t have

• Sometimes you have difficult attrition

–No other options

–Experienced person replaced by novice


Supporting

Keep the team high-performing

• Have you honored their strengths? Don’t beat on weak point; figure out how to

help them

• Are you providing appreciation and recognition?

• Do you do after action reviews? (What went well? Why? What can we do

differently?)

• How can you get strong SME support and leadership buy in

• Are you coaching? Are you setting an example for coaching and supporting

each other?

• Manage up


Supporting

Challenges

• Making conflict positive. Not letting negativity

fester.

–Blame the process, not the people

• Helping people work out their issues with

each other

• Finding solutions for difficult problems

–Ex. Bottleneck with Storyline developer – used

instructional designers to do minor Storyline edits


Motivating

• Treat everyone as part of the team – employees, contractors, vendors, people

on other teams that support you, people who have moved off the team.

• Celebrate the wins

–Develop rituals

–Include everyone

–Take pictures

• Support a team member when there is extra effort

• Acknowledge when you make mistakes

• Remind people of the vision – future state – the pride you will feel when done

Product Results


• Learner feedback is overwhelmingly

positive

• Course satisfaction rating between

4.25 and 4.5 on the 5-point scale for

all modules

• Rate your overall satisfaction with

this program: 95% rated the program

a 4 or 5

• Entrance exam completions: 1,714

• Enrollees: 455


The project endFinal release: Feb 23, 2017. (Computer: one person on Skype)

Team Results: why the team considered the

project a positive experience


• “…able to identify team members’ strengths and capitalize on them.”

• “…listens to the team’s needs and advocates to see the best possible solutions.”

• “…recognizes the importance of balancing project priorities…without overwhelming or

causing undue pressure on her staff.”

• “….freely expresses sincere appreciation of everyone’s efforts to achieve the established goal.”

• “…the right amount of rigor and cheer to champion and rally the team.”

• Called to check in and make sure I have the tools and resources I need (paraphrased)

• Contractors are usually ready to move on halfway through a project, but we enjoy being part of

this team and want to see it through (paraphrased)


Summary

Use pre-planning to define processes and set clear goals

Harness tools to enhance your project

Identify strategies for building, supporting an motivating a

strong team

Resources


• Marshall Goldsmith – author, executive educator and coach

–“Using Feed Forward for Development” (I want to get better at X. Give me a couple of

ideas.)

• George Bradt – executive onboarding expert, writes about teams

–“…The only three true job interview questions” (1. Can you do the job? 2. Will you love

the job? 3.Can we tolerate working with you?)

• Myquickcoach from athenaonline.com – under free management lessons, sign up for

newsletter to get a free leadership video lesson every week

• North Texas Articulate User Group, [email protected]

© 2017 Apexus. Reproduction without permission is prohibited | 36

Karen Orso

[email protected]

[email protected]

www.linkedin.com/in/karenorso/

taming large projects with planning and processes - td … · taming large projects with planning...

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