Finding Your Voice

I find writing highly enjoyable. So recently, when given a list of topics to consider when writing this blog entry, I was a bit mystified that I felt wordless regarding most of them. And so it hit me: What inspires us to write? Or, what prevents us?

I gave this a lot of thought. When we encounter "writer's block" as it is commonly known, is it because we don't have any inspiration to generate ideas? Or is something internal or external clogging up our creative pipeline? Perhaps it’s both.

Writing is an important part of my life. As an instructional designer, good writing keeps the clients pleased and ensures my own job satisfaction. And when I'm in the groove, it's good. But when I'm stuck, it's really like the voice in my head is paralyzed on the tip of my tongue.

So I thought I would draw on some of the noble and great ones (writers, that is):

According to William Makepeace Thackeray, "There are thousands of thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen and writes." I know that's an old standby: just start writing and something good is bound to come of it. Begin in the middle, write what you know. This has worked for me numerous times.

James Michener relates, "I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter." Ah, revisions. Inevitably if I just begin to write, I need to tweak and fix. I think we have all experienced the delicate balance that ensues when our thoughts morph and refine as quickly as they materialize.

Sometimes I just need a break. I need to get up, take a walk, eat something, and then come back. Even Agatha Christie suggests, "The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes." I am much more creative when I let the ideas flow rather than forcing them out. Some of my best writing is the most spontaneous.

Finally, I think we must believe in ourselves and be willing to share a piece of who we are with the reader. This is the most intimate, vulnerable part of writing. There is always a bit of ourselves in our written words, whether we're crafting a poem or scripting compliance training. I think Sylvia Plath said it best: "And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt."

What inspires you?

Design with Risk in Mind

Although instructional designers’ daily focus is often to design and develop courseware, they can make a vital difference in how risk is managed. I am wrapping up an online Project Risk Management course this week. My instructor asked us to post thoughts about how the knowledge we’ve gained in the course can be applied in our workplace.

So, I thought I’d create a list of risk management best practices for instructional designers. This list is based on the collaborative model we use here at Allen. Designers are familiar with the training content and applications and work onsite with team members to design and develop courseware. Our Allen teams are like families. In addition, as we partner with clients, they become part of our family. Each person has a unique perspective and set of skills, so each person’s input and attitude of teamwork are needed to manage risk well and make project journeys successful and enjoyable.

Procurement and Kickoff

• Assist sales and marketing to identify and rank risks and opportunities.
• Use the identified risks to apply risk-scheduling techniques (PERT) and cost estimates.
• Include high-level risks in the SOW.
• Discuss concerns and risks with clients before and/or during the kickoff.
• Clarify roles and responsibilities, especially regarding approvals and decision-making, and discuss them in the kickoff.
• Review the WBS or task list and recommend associated risks; assist in revising the risk list.
• Recommend tasks in which contracting would mitigate risk.

Design

• Include key risks and contingency plans in design approval documents.
• Monitor design tasks that relate to all identified risks and notify the PM about low or medium risks associated with tasks that look like they might merge onto the critical path.
• Coordinate with other designers to ensure that the design mitigates risks related to their tasks.
• Involve all stakeholders in the review of the proposed design solutions to avoid costly changes during the development stage.

Development

• Carefully monitor all risks that relate to this phase and communicate the risks to team members responsible for associated tasks.
• Prioritize revision requests so that they match risk rankings that are associated with the task/revision.
• Include stakeholders and team members who have decision-making responsibilities in courseware reviews.

Implementation and Evaluation

• Work with programmers and IT personnel to understand custom work that is needed.
• Meet as designers and PMs to discuss lessons learned throughout the project.
• Document lessons learned. House them in a place that PMs and team members can easily access.
• Share lessons learned, project designs, and successes at company meetings.
• Follow-up with clients to find out if there are any risks that they would include on the list if they were to create the training again.

These best practices highlight two key ways instructional designers can support effective project risk management: communicate risks early on and collaborate to monitor and manage risks throughout the project. If you have best practices that you’d like to add to the list, we’d love to hear from you.

What did you say?

"Make sure the dialogue is authentic."

I am sure many instructional designers have heard such a request. It is after such a comment that I inevitably sit in front of my computer and wonder how to create truly authentic dialogue.

The truth is that authenticity is subjective. One person’s authenticity will be very different than other person’s.

Inevitably, we have client’s who feel that using contractions makes dialogue authentic, and others who insist that the dialogue shouldn’t include contractions. The levels and variations of authenticity are vast.

Here are some reminders for writing good, solid dialogue:

1. Do your homework. Ask how the client would define authentic for their audience base. Find out the demographic of the audience and the characters represented through dialogue. That is the first step toward authenticity. Good dialogue begins with creating characters. If you have a character in mind, then the dialogue will flow from that individual character. Think about the character—create the character.

2. Listen to the way people talk. When I teach dialogue to my writing students, I tell them to politely eavesdrop on their friends or other people around them. Of course, I tell them to stop if it get’s too personal. But, it helps to listen to the way individuals discuss topics together. It is easy to create characters who all speak similarly—and far too often, they speak far too similarly to the writer. Before you sit down to write dialogue, spend some time listening.

3. Create a character. Don’t skimp on creating a persona for the characters. It will save you time in the long run by giving you enough fuel to keep the character going.

4. Make the dialogue meaningful. Be sure that what you include in dialogue is best expressed through dialogue.

5. Be sure to have action mixed in with the dialogue. The dialogue should support the entire interaction, so including staging directions is important.

6. Read it aloud. For my current project, we read all the dialogue aloud as a team and work on capturing the style and voice the client wants. As soon as you hear the dialogue you get a real sense for your authenticity and pacing.

7. Everyone speaks differently. Keep in mind that individual preferences always crop up in dialogue. Be willing to give and take as you work with clients.

Easy Authoring Tools=Designers Out of Work

Yes it's true...

At least it's true that some instructional designers worry about being pushed out of an already crowded market by "user-friendly" authoring tools. After all, doesn’t it seem intuitive that with the advent of new, increasingly easy-to-use technology that fewer and fewer designers will be required to support training needs? Add to this concern the influx of Gen Yers practically born with laptops and the simultaneous increase in demand (and respect) for cheaper and easier production modalities and even I admittedly become a little worried myself. Will instructional designers, like the computer programmers of the late nineties, eventually be viewed as well qualified, but overpaid and outmoded answers to the training production question?

I doubt it.

No matter how easy a tool becomes to use, the craftsman utilizing the tool still creates the masterpiece. Sound instructional design is so much more than a set of tools on a belt. It is the sum of theory, clients’ needs, and an understanding of the audience. Whether using PPTs or high-end flash to convey a message, sound instructional design will remain as it was intended, an art form. And this masterpiece can only be purchased in the economy of ideas and pedagogy–not the tools wielded to create it. Long live the Instructional Designers!