We’re halfway through our project management series for eLearning developers! In this series, we’re taking a deeper look at each step of the 7 Tasks Rockstars Check Off Before Kickoff.
Our custom eLearning development team has refined their process over the years and developed a strategy we refer to as the "Readiness call." This is a meeting that happens before we kickoff of a project. We use this time to gather information and get our custom eLearning development projects off to a good start. Hear all about it in this webinar.
During a Readiness call, we go over 7 specific areas with our clients, gathering information and details that will help us stay on target to meet our scoped budget and timeline.
Step 1 determined the roles and responsibilities of all the key players on your project.
Step 2 defined your client’s success criteria.
Step 3 outlined the project scope.
Today we’re talking about Step 4: Explain Project Phases
You or your team most likely have settled into a standard order of events that you go through as you’re working on an eLearning project. It probably goes something like this:
- First, you determine the look and feel,
- then you storyboard out your design,
- from there your developers begin work, and lastly,
- you do a final round of quality assurance.
Most clients will be familiar with this process, but a key thing to talk about here is the review process. Unplanned rounds of reviews can destroy a project’s timeline and budget, so it’s essential to set limits and agree upon a system that works for both sides upfront.
At eLearning Brothers, we do two rounds of reviews on each project to ensure our clients have a chance to see their changes made and approve them before the project is completed.
Alpha and Beta Reviews
To make it very clear, we call these our Alpha and Beta reviews. Alpha is the first time a client receives a deliverable. For example, when we first send a storyboard, we will say, "This is your Alpha Storyboard. This is the time to show it to EVERYONE who needs to provide feedback. We want you to share this now. Here's why..."
Once we receive feedback on that Alpha delivery, we will implement that feedback and send an updated version back to the client, which is the Beta round. We would say, "Here's your Beta storyboard. Please double-check that we implemented all of your requested Alpha edits to your satisfaction. If so, please provide your final approval of the storyboard."
Other terms we have heard used instead of Alpha and Beta are Silver and Gold Delivery, First Draft, Final Draft, etc. You can use any term you like, just remember to explain during your Readiness call what you mean by each term and what you’ll be asking of your client during that stage.
Typically, step 4 is one of the shortest parts of the Readiness call.
We’ll be talking about planning for contingencies on the next post, but until then, download the Top Strategies to Avoid a Change of Scope checklist to start implementing these techniques in your eLearning development.
Download the checklist to see all the steps rockstars check off before kickoff.
