A few weeks ago there was a bit of restructuring in my company within my greater department. Several teams had been re-organized into an easier structure. This also meant a new multimedia training team was created, that’s where I went.
This new team was unheard of to the rest of the department. We were to explain the purpose of our new team and how to best use our skills.
I was in charge of creating the image below based off of a few things my group had discussed. It’s not in its original form, I made a few changes based off my own personal workflow, or at least how my ideal methodology works.
One of the larger changes I made is adding the iterative cycles to it. I added this because of my wish to work within an agile methodology and not the traditional, more linear, ADDIE methodology.
I don’t necessarily always get to work within this methodology, but in an ideal situation this is how I’d go about things. What I’m trying to say is, it’s always important to be flexible with the project.
Here goes to the best of my ability an explanation of my development process. There’s also a bit of design within the process, they’re just somewhat misnamed, such as the first step after intake.
Intake
My skills vary a lot but these are the things that I do especially well. Not that I don’t do other things like instructor-led training very well though, I put a great deal of effort and always strive to create that perfect user experience.
Develop Ideas/Style/Concepts
This is one of those steps that should be iterative and I’d also name it something more along the lines of design. Things are a little rougher at this point and it’s important to work closely with business partners/clients and subject matter experts to get this right.
It can move to the proposal stage and then roll back into the earlier stage several times before everything looks good and is ready to move into the scripting stage.
Script & Storyboard
Everything from the previous step comes together in this stage. Also, an iterative step that should be reviewed closely with business partners and subject matter experts.
I’ve done many projects in which I handle both scripting and storyboarding. I’ve also handled projects where it’s split into two, working with another person together to produce both these documents.
Going back and forth and talking through the functionality is important, even if it’s with somebody not on the project.
Development
This shows up as the largest piece of the process but I’d say it’s not. designing the project and making sure everything is a seamless user experience is much larger. In complex projects, the first few steps are much longer and more work, for good reason though.
Once everything is all figured out and ready to go, this stage is mostly short and simple. It’s iterative, yes, but if the first few steps were done properly, iterations are quick and painless, no big surprises.
I like to give a preview of how things are coming along if there’s anything that was forgotten or overlooked in the previous steps. Hopefully, nothing was forgotten though!
Final Viewing – Sign Off – Posting
Everything’s done, the business partner/client has seen a preview so there should be absolutely no surprise here. This is a courtesy so they know exactly how everything turned out before it actually goes live.
A sign-off is in-line for such a big project accomplished. If there are any changes they’ve made on their end, well that’s for another day.
Time for this project to get posted wherever that might be.
Complete the User Experience
Time should be given in the project timeline to make sure the user experience is complete and smooth. I mean you should know exactly how the user might get to the project and have each path mapped out.
No matter how your user gets there, it should be smooth, no confusion, no unforeseen problems. It’s a good idea to make sure it looks good too, nothing like having the user think it was thrown together in a week without any of it being thought through.
Project Samples
If you want to see it along with other projects I’ve done, I’d recommend heading over to my projects page where you can view a huge array of my creations.
Some of my samples are a bit cut up but that’s because I had to get rid of proprietary material. While I love showing my work and letting some eyes in the industry see it to get feedback, I also like to respect the privacy of the company I work for. What would the world be without a bit of mutual respect?