In late 2019 I was privileged to work on a project with Optimum HR, a local Human Resources group providing job training within our community. Having lost my job at the time, I had received training from them on my own job search, training that included an in-class game called The Strategy Game. In The Strategy Game participants would travel between multiple stations representing different phases in a job search and making choices on how to proceed. The ultimate goal is to receive three stars, with each star representing an interview opportunity with a company. Not having work at the time, and desiring to move more directly into an instructional design role, I proposed creating an online version of this game. This was something they had desired to pursue for some time and so we began working together with the trainer and office manager to bring this to life.
Having identified the problem, namely translating an in-class game to an online resource, we set to work on the project. We started by gathering the existing resources, including the relevant Word document and graphics, as well as discussing both roles and how they would like to present the final product. Given the choose-your-own-adventure format it was determined that we would need a solution that allowed for branching decisions between slides. The final product was to be resold to others throughout the industry, meaning it would need to be self-contained and integrate into multiple platforms. Once complete, Optimum HR would take ownership of the product and perform any future edits. With these overall goals communicated we were able to decide on tools and a presentation format. In this instance Articulate Storyline was chosen as the appeared to have a more visual and structured presentation of the slide flow.
On receiving this clarity I developed a storyboard and flowchart in order to better understand the decision tree that would need to be recreated. Based on this information, prototype slides for several scenarios were created and presented to the client in order to garner feedback on visual style and direction. These prototypes received positive feedback, I began to flesh out the project within Articulate.
Around this time we received some bad news regarding the company and project. KNOLSKAPE notes that projects may close prior to completion due to failures in the process (2013). In this instance Optimum HR, who at the time had a partnership with local government to provide services, closed their doors due to governmental funding cuts. At the time of closing, all communication was then directed to the head of the company with whom I had not had a previous relationship. Sadly, I was unable to connect with them and, as a result, the project remains unfinished. While this was a sudden change and could not have been foreseen, one thing that could have been done to improve the outcome was for the owner, who was a significant stakeholder, to be involved more directly from the outset. In particular, meeting with them initially, gathering information on their reporting needs and frequency, as well as discussing the development phases would have created a more open communication channel that might have kept the project running (Watt, 2014).
An additional difficulty, I believe, was with regard to the project plan. KNOLSKAPE notes that various phases of the project life cycle exist, namely initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and control processes, and closing (2013). While some of these processes can be said to have been present to varying degrees, none of this was explicitly documented and detailed clearly. Even with frequent communication, without this information being clearly documented it was difficult to maintain a consistent workflow which can lead to mismanaged expectations and stakeholders not being informed (Watt, 2014). Working through a stakeholder analysis template, for instance, will provide a clearer understanding of the expectations, providing a clearer road map for meeting them. Similarly, working through a standardized project plan including scope, schedule, resource and budget planning, will also help in this regard. While this was structured more loosely in order to accommodate time and try to push it forward quickly, not having these documents and systems in place could be seen to have negatively affected completion.
Finally, I do like the idea of using the Collective Action Toolkit (Fabricant et al., n.d.) in order to facilitate understanding the team on a project, and to gather more information through which to problem-solve. Moving forward I think this will be a useful tool to help make meetings more productive overall.
References
Fabricant, R., Gardner, J., Gershbein, D., Göransson, O., Gudmundsson, C., Hoyt, K., Meier Lewis, S., McKinley, T., Muntzert, E., Pecknold, K., Quigley, K., Sherwin, D., & Wiles, R. (n.d.). Collective Action Toolkit. Frog Design. https://info2.frogdesign.com/hubfs/frog%20Collective%20Action%20Toolkit%202019.pdf
KNOLSKAPE. (2013, June 18). Introduction to Project Management. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOU1YP5NZVA&feature=youtu.be
Watt, A. (2014). Project Management. BCcampus. https://opentextbc.ca/projectmanagement/
That is so true. Sometimes even with the best planning a project can fail because of things outside of our control.
Do you think you could continue this project using another provider other than Optimum HR?
If you were to pick another company to partner with to complete the project would you do anything differently having the previous experience of your previous partner not being able to complete the project?
Thanks for the reply. These are some great questions, Patrick!
With regard to continuing with another provider, unfortunately I don’t believe I would be able to simply as it was based on their intellectual property. What I have thought about might be useful is to flesh it out on my own just to have it on my portfolio, since I do have their permission to use it in that way. If I were able to, however, one of the first things I would want to do is to meet with all stakeholders to ensure that I have a means of continuing should the need arise. It would certainly have been helpful in this instance.