Based on my experience implementing an LMS within an organization a few years back, our primary goal was to transition all in-person training onto an online platform. However, we faced opposition from select stakeholders who needed convincing that the online platform was the best option for our organization despite clearly communicating the intended outcome. Our project involved several individuals, including employees who would use the LMS for training, franchisees who would train their employees using it, and executives responsible for approving the project’s budget and allocation of resources.
Although we had a project plan, it needed more comprehensive planning to ensure successful execution. As Watt (2014) highlighted, project planning is an essential aspect of project management that involves identifying goals, objectives, and deliverables. Poor planning led to missed deadlines and misallocated resources. To avoid this in the future, we could have created a more detailed project plan that accounted for all necessary resources and assigned specific roles and responsibilities to team members.
Looking back, there were several measures we could have taken to ensure the success of the LMS implementation project. For example, we could have created a comprehensive project plan that identified all necessary resources and assigned specific roles and responsibilities to team members. Watt (2014) emphasizes that effective resource planning is critical in project management as it ensures projects are completed within budget, on time, and with the desired level of quality. In addition, the project team can anticipate potential resource conflicts and develop strategies to optimize resource utilization by developing a well-defined resource plan. This can help minimize the risks of missing deadlines and mismanaging the project budget. Therefore, investing time and effort in resource planning is crucial as it can significantly contribute to a project’s success.
To increase the success rate of our project, we could have interacted with stakeholders more effectively by giving them updates regularly and addressing their concerns beforehand. Furthermore, if we had carried out a pilot test before launching the platform, we would have been able to make necessary changes and boost the chances of succeeding. This experience taught me the significance of proper planning, efficient communication, and stakeholder involvement in successfully executing a project. For upcoming projects, I intend to adopt a more structured approach that involves detailed planning, frequent stakeholder communication, and risk management techniques. I also plan on implementing agile project management strategies to deal with changes or obstacles during execution flexibly.
References:
Watt, A. (2014, August 14). Project Management – The Open Textbook Project provides flexible and affordable access to higher education resources. Opentextbc.ca; Pressbooks. https://opentextbc.ca/projectmanagement/
Hi Jess,
I enjoyed your post about your process of implementing an LMS into an organization for training purposes. When you said you received resistance from stakeholders regarding the shift to an LMS, I wondered who you were referring to. Any chance you can expand on which stakeholders and reasons why they were opposed to the LMS?
Hi Giulia!
Thank you for your questions. When I mentioned stakeholders, I was referring to the franchisees. They resisted the change primarily because:
1) They were accustomed to doing things a certain way, and switching to a new method was challenging.
2) Some needed to gain digital literacy skills, making it difficult to use technology and causing them to lose motivation from the start.
3) Some franchisees were “anti-corporate” and viewed any initiative by the company with skepticism, which resulted in resistance to the change.
Thanks for your post, Jess.
I like your suggestion of carrying out a pilot test before launching; in the K-12 arena, there are many opportunities for staff to test out the tool before it goes live, at least with our bigger tools such as e-portfolios.
Your point about convincing stakeholders interests me; how do you show the need for a tool/technology when there is real, engrained resistance? Initially, I imagined using data for tangible evidence, but I am unsure if this was possible in your case.
Hi Terry!
Thanks for your comment! Convincing stakeholders to adopt new tools or technologies can be tough, especially if they resist change. In my experience, showcasing the benefits and how it addresses a problem can effectively demonstrate the need for a tool. Gathering feedback from staff who have tested it out can also help address any concerns. Another approach could be involving stakeholders in decision-making and seeking their input. This could help them feel invested and more likely to support the initiative. Communicating clearly and consistently about objectives could also help gain stakeholder buy-in. One thing I would do is address any underlying concerns or fears driving resistance moving forward.
Thanks for sharing Jess,
Your post is all too familiar when it comes to resource allocation, lack of accountability and role specification. As you have identified, many of these risks can be mitigated by engaging with the right stakeholders early in the process, I think this too, would have added insurmountable value to so much of my personal experience around change and technology adoption. I also like how you reference agile project management; we use Jira at my work, which is a software used to plan, deliver, and project manage the many iterations of product development. One thing I appreciate the most is that we follow sprints which are two week timeboxed periods of time and allow for feedback throughout the project; one downfall is that we seem to welcome scope creep into our previously defined projects and, if unchecked, can create delays, additional costs and frustration among all stakeholders and product managers. Are you familiar with using agile in any of your workplace settings so far?
Hi Nicole,
Thanks for commenting! I have yet to have many opportunities to use agile methods at work. But, after diving deeper into it during this program, I’m eager to experiment with it on my next project. While sprints are new, I’m excited to research and become more familiar with this process – I appreciate project management software, but I find that they must be used properly in most cases, and deadlines/tasks get missed.