Odd Request: Cutting Production Time

Apr 25, 2018

We are a small shop and most of us have other duties other than course creating. It takes a good 4 weeks to develop an hour-long course in Storyline. This is ok for most of our material. But, for some, it's too long and too daunting. Other than video-based courses what are ways you have cut production that is cost-effective and doable?

Also, have you ever done a webinar type? If so, how did that work? We aren't able to hire more people and our demand is up. What do we do?

Any help would be appreciated. 

6 Replies
John Hanson

Hi Erika! 

 

This is a real passion of mine...I grew up in the world you describe...but if I built at that rate today, I couldn't survive. There are a lot of factors that go into how long it takes to develop an hour-long course in Storyline.  Here's some things to consider that may reduce the time required:

  • Use the right tools. As Allison calls out, there are features in 360 that can really help reduce design time.  The same it true for the other tools we often use for various elements we create.  Having a powerful tool that takes forever to make something is great if you are a specialist.  It's not so great when wielded by a generalist.
  • If you are using ADDIE or something similar, consider moving to Agile.  There are a lot of steps called out in an ADDIE style development process that don't add value to the learner...they are more about the vanity of the developer or about us trying to protect ourselves against our client (which never works...and it's the wrong attitude to begin with).  Agile can get you through the process much more efficiently.
  • Are you building to the minimum viable product level?  MVP drives the outcomes the business needs without wasting time (and money) on frills that we as designers enjoy but which don't impact the metrics the business cares about.
  • Are you doing your first set of storyboards in PowerPoint, getting SME corrections/feedback and then moving into Storyline, or are you building straight into Storyline? 360 does make it easier to get feedback if you are going straight into Articulate, but I'd rather correct content before I code it, from an efficiency point of view. Then all you are doing when you are reviewing stuff you've built is User Acceptance Testing, not content testing.
  • Are you working from a good, rich set of templates that carries the branding you want (either yours or the clients, depending on the circumstances)?  
  • What sorts of interactions and media are you including?  I find this is an area where you can waste a load of time if the process isn't managed well.
  • Are you taking time to either understand or to create the learning architecture of the overall experience before you get into the individual modules?  I find a lot of time can get wasted in re-doing work because the LA isn't good from the start...or you are being asked to cobble together modules with no LA to speak of.
  • This one is controversial at times...are you requiring your design team to stay within their swim lanes? ID's probably shouldn't be doing graphic design, coders probably shouldn't be doing ID work, etc.  I know people like to learn how to do all the stuff required, and if you do that cross-training in an intentional way, it's fine.  Usually what I see is an ID futzing around with info-graphics because it's a cool thing to play with...and they take days longer than a graphic designer would, and with just so-so results.  Obviously in a one-person shop you don't have that sort of talent pool to work with, but you can be smart about what you out-source and what you keep for yourself.  
  • Along those same lines, if you are working with a design team, do you have a content coordinator (sometimes called a project manager) tracking progress on a daily basis?

Those are just a few top of mind ideas on how to get your design time down, without really understanding your business model, the work you are doing, who is doing it, and who you are doing it for.  If you want to chat, give me a shout and I'd be happy to discuss.

John

Dave Goodman

A few more comment from the bleachers :

1. have a requirements document produced especially with expectations, deliverables, terms, reviews, processes, etc known and clearly understood by all. For example - if I say to you, we will design and develop a 10 screen prototype. Do you know what that means? Is is 10 random screens, is it 10 screens that represent all of the types of screens that will be used throughout the course, does it mean one continuous flow of a 10 screen module, etc?

2. Ask the project leader if it is 6 months in the future and your course is being used, what will the course look like? How will you measure success? What are you concerned about?

3. As the designer/developer, how will you protect your reputation and that of your client? What guidelines will be set in place throughout the process and beyond?

It may seem that these few comments aren't about the design and development process from an efficiency/effectiveness or performance pov, but I think if you don't answers these, you are heading for trouble.

Erika T

Thank you all for your great responses. John, it took me a minute to process all the great information that you provided. And I'm still looking through it and may contact you soon.  I think our biggest challenge is that we are such a small team and we all wear many different hats. We have a streamlined process for the development of content including reviewing and editing. Once the content is ready it typically takes 4-6 weeks for development in Storyline. Also, we are different because we are the client. We only create courses in-house for our own platform. So, in that regard RISE is out. We may be so different that we are going to have to rearrange (not recreate) the wheel. 

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