Recently we have acquired one a big client from USA who has approached us for the redevelopment of courses which they have kind of developed with one of the vendor few weeks back. During the call I realised that the project was completely messed up and needless to say the client was the sufferer since they lost some valuable time and resources. In my experience of 14 years I have seen this happening many a times that the eLearning projects fail if not managed properly from the beginning. This has prompted me to write some Key Reasons Why eLearning Projects Fail.
1.Poor Documentation
Documentation is the key for the success of any project. This documentation could start right from the beginning of the first call where in teams on the call are expected to create an MOM and a follow up action plan post the call for next steps. This has to be shared with all the stakeholders for the common consensus. The documentation allows to capture every detail discussed between the client and the eLearning vendor teams and helps to narrow the gap. Various types of documentation advised during the project are-
- MOM for all the calls
- Requirement Gathering Document
- Requirement Specification Document
- Proposed Solution Document
- Proposal and the commercial Document
- Testing Report Document
- Change Request Document
- Sign off Document
2. Inefficient Project Planning
90% of the project failures happens because of the inefficient or poor project planning. Project Planning lays down the roadmap for the next activities, deliverables and timelines. A good project planning will help to anticipate the risk well ahead of time and leaves sufficient time for any damage control. Some of the key factors to consider while doing a Project Planning are-
- Well defined Project Plan with timelines
- Defined expectations from the team
- Defined timelines
- Communication frequency
3. Wrong Choice of Technology and the Unavailability of Resources
Many a times in eLearning development it is assumed that we need a very different technology to build a high end, high engaging, interactive courses. Matter of the fact is that the every course needs a different treatment and hence the technology also needs to vary. Also, before suggesting any technology or tool one must ensure that they have the required skillset available in that technology or tool.
4. Communication Gaps
One of the study recently conducted indicates that more than 70% of the projects fails due to lack of appropriate communication with the stakeholders of the project. During the project it is bound to happen that the issues are going to happen. However, instead of dealing with those issues in isolation, one must communicate those to the required people well in time. This will allow to minimise the effect of damage which may occur due to non communication. One must ensure to reduce the communication gaps at all the stages of the project as much as possible.
5. No Timely Reviews
This is a very common phenomenon which can drag the project to ages. The stakeholders involved in the project must ensure that they do the timely review at all the defined stages in the project plan and adhere to it. Yes, there could be business exigencies, however the reviewing the deliverables as per milestones is also equally important. Timely reviews helps to ensure that the deliverables are inline with the expectations and there are no surprises towards the end.
These are some of the steps we at Knowzies ensure that we strictly follow the corrective actions at all steps. It helps us to maintain our success ratio of repeat retention of the clients almost 95% and hence we have a highly satisfied clients with us. I am sure you also will get benefited because of this. In case if you wish to know more about our Best Project Management practices for eLearning projects, please do not hesitate to contact us on info@www.knowzies.com.
