The implementation I’m exploring in this post was a project I designed and implemented when managing a flight training department at the busiest private flight training institution in Canada (at the time). I was in charge of scheduling, staffing, training standards, and also taught in the classroom, simulator, and aircraft in what amounted to a more than full time capacity. I will say, accepting no credit, that the program was immediately and 100% successful. The reason I take no credit, is because I have attempted simpler (and seemingly more attractive) programs that failed miserably. What I have learned through 525, is what the differences were.

The problem we faced, was in scheduling, and communication updates. We were a group of about 20 training professionals and were all very busy. Additionally, the nature of aviation training, particularly involving actual flights, requires an astonishing degree of flexibility. A few of the myriad issues we faced:

  • A fog bank could cancel operations for days
  • busy customers would routinely cancel with little or no notice
  • operational changes (airspace restrictions, for example) could affect our ability to function
  • Regulatory changes (rules of the air, etc.) change frequently, and at times with no notice

As a result, it was impossible to schedule staff well in advance, and information sessions (morning meetings) kept revenue generating assets (aircraft and simulators) sitting idle for unacceptable amounts of time.

Prior to my change, the system involved calling all instructors not on scheduled days off  (‘on-call’) some time in the evening regarding the next days work, and communicating any procedural or regulatory changes they should be aware of. This system, while very personal, was a legacy from when the company employed 5 people; it was incredibly time consuming, and lacked transparency. My solution was to design and implement a digital scheduling and messaging system that could be accessed via the web or even by phone, where it would be dictated to the instructors. This allowed the instructors to access the information at their convenience, rather than wait for me to call them. Additionally, as there was only one message published per day, everyone got the same info. Any questions about individuals receiving favourable treatment were easily fact-checked and I trimmed many hours per week from my task list.

The goals of the program were easily communicated. The team was eager to see a solution that offered them more ease of access and control over their time.  The massive time savings for me were of little direct consequence to the group, it was fortunate to see a solution with such strong benefits to both sides of the schedule.

The stakeholders in this case were my team. They needed to adapt to, and adopt the new system.

While there wasn’t a ‘project plan’ in place (we all worked together on a day-to-day basis and I just informally discussed my idea with them before implementation), I see that what happened by accident was very valuable, and critical to the success of the project. I gathered a lot of information about the current system, integrated concerns and feedback, and promoted a change that offered distinct benefits to the end user. I’ll re-state: I did none of that on purpose…. but I will next time!

With the success of the program I don’t see much I would have done differently. The barriers that existed (cultural momentum, required user interface training, etc) were largely overcome by having a change that was so welcome due to the limitations of status quo.

my takeaway from this example is that in the future, I’ll work very hard to explore opportunities to implement solutions to problems that offer direct advantages to the end user. I have, many times, tried to implement changes to policy or procedure simply on the premise that they are required, or ‘better’. demonstrating, or designing in, user benefits will now be a paramount item in my tasks definition list when I approach implementation. I have a particularly vexing safety management project I’ve just stepped into, I suspect this may be the missing puzzle piece to get it launched…