“Agile and LLAMA \[Lot Like Agile Methods Approach\] work well with any learning medium,” writes Megan Torrance in “Agile and LLAMA for ISD Project Management,” the November 2014 issue of TD at Work. The methodologies work best for projects that have a clear start and end date and deliverables, even if those dates and deliverables are sometimes moving targets.

LLAMA makes some adjustments to the traditional Agile methodology by taking into consideration the syntax and structure of learning objectives, as well as that instructional designers are likely to be working on multiple projects at one time.

Torrance suggests the following steps for instructional design project management.

Identify a business goal

Define the business goal in as much detail as is useful for the project. Think along the lines of business strategies, such as increasing revenue or income, decreasing costs, improving quality, or expanding the capacity of the organization. Connecting the project and its goals with the bigger picture and vision of the organization helps everyone stay motivated when challenges arise.

Start with the learner in mind

Identifying a primary learner persona (PLP) will help the ISD project management team make sometimes tough decisions about the direction of the project as it progresses, such as how regularly the PLP would use the training and in what context. “The primary learner is often an iconic member of the broader audience, and is recognizable to stakeholders as a realistic portrayal of a typical individual,” Torrance writes.

Define the scope of the project with learner stories

“Using traditional Agile story mapping for training projects tends to result in very information-driven courses,” notes Torrance, and this can be frustrating for the project team. LLAMA, by contrast, incorporates Cathy Moore’s action mapping, which uses proposed user actions to generate stories for project planning.

Chunk the work effort

Break the project into workable chunks. You can do this by taking each of the user stories—independent units of scope that can be prioritized, assigned, developed, and tested along the project’s path to completion—and breaking it into the tasks required to complete the story, such as identifying a location for the photo shoot or selecting the SME for the shoot.

Plan the work and work the plan

Include frequent reviews of the project, and avoid scheduling release dates for multiple projects all at once, suggests Torrance. “Remember that the project schedule is an estimate. The further out it goes, the less likely it is to be completely accurate, so plan accordingly.”