Please refer to Part 1 of this series for an overview and context of this effort.
Literally almost 2 years ago, I am amazed that is was that long ago, I was asked to consult with people from the program. They had an outline and they wanted to create training based on it. I reviewed the outline and found that it was different than the content that I usually work to develop training for. My experience had been centered around training people to use technology, web applications etc. This was different. This wasn't something that I could spin up on and churn out some training. In short, I realized that I could not create the content. So I created a work statement that would acquire services to create the content.
Typically if I'm bouncing around an application, that is the visual component in my training, the human interaction with the application. In this instance there is no application, so I needed something to provide the visual. I chose PowerPoint. I knew that I would need a script to direct the audio portion of the final product as well. As a result, the work statement looked like this:
1.0 Tasks
The three Tasks are designed to achieve the objectives of the acquisition and provide the government with the right level of visibility into the project to both protect the investment and implement course corrections.
1.1 Task 1 Project Initiation
The contractor will work with FNS to describe in detail the content for each of the modules indicated in Section 1.5 of this document. Storyboards indicating the flow of the presentation shall be delivered and reviewed. Course corrections and adjustments will be implemented before proceeding with the development of the presentation.
The contractor will develop a template to be used for the PowerPoint presentations. The colors and format shall leverage, to the greatest extent possible, the design considerations indicated in the USDA Web Style Guide. The Contractor will develop a template for Case Studies in word. All templates will be submitted to the government for consideration and review and all comments shall be implemented before considering the deliverables to be final and complete.
1.2 Task 2 Instructional Design
The contractor will work to develop PowerPoint presentations, narrative scripts, explanative case studies, quizzes and a post test to teach processes and competencies to the audience. The contractor shall also develop a course evaluation to help inform future decisions about the training. The government shall consider and review each deliverable and all comments shall be implemented before considering the deliverable to be final and complete.
1.3 Task 3 Project Management
The contractor shall assign a single person to be the primary point of contact for this engagement. All information flowing to the government shall be from that primary point of contact and all information flowing to the contractor from the government shall be to that primary point of contact. The contractor shall develop a schedule and submit it to the government for review. The schedule will indicate the dates for the initiation of work on each of the twelve focus areas for instruction. The schedule shall indicate the estimated date for delivering each of the components for the focus areas including the storyboard, PowerPoint, script, case study and quiz. The schedule will also indicate the estimated date for delivering the PowerPoint design and Case Study design.
2.0 Schedule of Deliverables
Deliverable
Due
Quantity
Project Schedule
1 week of award
1
PowerPoint Design
In the schedule
1
Case Study Design
In the schedule
1
Storyboards
In the schedule
7
PowerPoint presentations
In the schedule
7
Scripts
In the schedule
7
Case Studies
In the schedule
TBD
Quizzes/Post-Test
In the schedule
8
Course Evaluation
In the schedule
1
Remember, I'll always be a Project Manager, so I never write about work without writing at least a little about how the work must be managed. But you can see in this excerpt a progressive elaboration in how the things we'll need take form and build momentum. I didn't simply say, deliver the PowerPoints and the scripts. Instead, we started with the design of the PowerPoint (which, I must say, looks very good in the final product). I think the storyboard was the critical deliverable for getting the contractor and the business to achieve consensus. That was the deliverable in which the magnitude and specificity of the content was agreed to.
I also think that calling the Case Studies out as discrete deliverables added value to the overall effort. This forced the contractor to treat that portion of the content differently than the rest. It also allowed the Agency to review and tailor the case studies independent of the content and to use them as the mechanism for driving home specific points in the PowerPoints and the scripts.
A word about the PowerPoints and the scripts here, I'm generally satisfied with the overall product, but if I had one regret it is in the construction of the slides. Some of the slides have 200 words on them. They are not slides, they are pages from a book. This series isn't PowerPoint 101, but if you have more than 50 words on a slide, you have too many words. I think in many instances the script simply reads the PowerPoint. That is not what is intended. In my opinion, the PowerPoints should have been pruned to be more simple and in most instances bulleted lists. The script will be visible in the close caption, so you wouldn't need to worry about fleshing out the details on the slide.
Lastly, I will say that there was one section in which I feel like I didn't do the content justice. The Case Study in Module 7 at about the 17 minute mark, the content goes through some spreadsheets. If I was developing this section of the content, I probably would have done it differently because I don't think it is as effective as it could be. I probably would have used some animations in the PowerPoint to more clearly highlight the areas to focus on.
All in all though, if I have one or two instances in about 5 hours of content, I think I can live with that. Those are the things that give me something to blog about.
Thus, the work was eventually awarded to a contractor who delivered all the products and I integrated them later to create the content. More later.
No comments:
Post a Comment