I sat in a room while someone told everyone in the room that my approach was slow.
They looked at my production timeline for a new simulated learning course. Then they looked at theirs. Mine was triple the length.
"We can do this in less than half the time," they said.
They had experience. They had a process. They had a way of doing things that didn't involve my "unnecessary" steps.
I didn't argue. I just opened their latest module on the big screen. I put my mouse in the top right corner.
I clicked. I didn't read a word. I didn't enter any information that was requested. I didn't even look at the screen. I just kept clicking.
Sixty seconds later, the "Congratulations" slide popped up.
I was a certified expert in a system I hadn't even looked at.
Then I opened my version. I tried the same thing. I clicked the corner. Nothing happened. I had to actually click the start button to start.
I tried to skip the data entry. The system gave me an error. I had to find the right information in the learning module's support documents.
I tried to guess the workflow. It told me I was wrong and led me to the support article to help me figure out why.
Five minutes in, I had only just logged into the system with the details provided. I stopped there and asked if people could see the difference.
The room was quiet. They realised the other person's method of development was just ticking a box for completion with no idea if anybody had taken the time to think.
It certainly wasn't guiding anyone to learn.
My point was further made when I released my first module.
I got a number of complaints that the module was frozen after clicking start.
Nobody had read the instructions, nobody was using the supporting documents. They were all just expecting to click 'next'. But there was no next button.
They had to stop and apply the knowledge from the articles and supporting documents. I had to educate them further on how to follow these new modules but once they got it, they were much better prepared to start using the system.
If you want to design better learning experiences it starts with understanding the problem and who needs the solution. To do that you need to map learning needs and you can grab the template or join the discussion in the Free Changing with Confidence Mini Course.
If you want to learn more about how provide design a learning experience that actually builds knowledge for your people then grab Changing with Confidence or book a call with Adrian.
