Agile/Scrum

Project Management Leading I.D. and I.D.T. Projects

Many lead instructional designers would affirm that those who lead Learning & Development projects greatly benefit from project management know-how. Agile is a project management ethos and Scrum is a project management task framework that, combined, allow for an iterative lifecycle. While I have led many projects with a diversity of deliverables (including research reports, data visualizations, presentations, white papers, and other reports), the majority of the projects I have led have had learning and development deliverables (e-learning tools, documentation, etc.).

The purpose of this page is to demonstrate knowledge of the Agile/Scrum project management methodologies and practical application of these methodologies to L&D. As an iterative methodology (as opposed to linear), the decision to use Agile/Scrum is made based on the preferred lifecycle for a specific deliverable. For example, if a deliverable is a learning analysis report, an iterative approach would not be preferred, as the tasks associated with producing this deliverable (researching, for instance) must be done linearly. However, for some deliverables such as virtual learning (e-learning) solutions, there has been a guarantee of iteration — since I have taught the same class multiple times — and this means that evaluation and adjustment can occur before reiteration.

As most I.D.T. professionals will know, this is not only similar but nearly identical to the successive approximation model (SAM) of creating an e-learning solution: