Use Five Steps in a Comprehensive Training Approach

Training is usually provided as the project solution is about to be deployed. However, on many projects the team does not start thinking about training until the end of the project. This is much too late. The key to an effective training approach is to start the planning process early. If you wait to consider training needs until the end of the project, you will not have enough time to do it the way you would like.

Training has a mini-lifecycle of its own. Some organizations call this a "workstream". In other words, training is not project management work. It is done in the lifecycle. There are five main steps. 

1. Start with the strategy (maybe)

First think about whether you need a Training Strategy. You would want the strategy if your project is complex and there is a large training component. All strategy documents on a project are typically done up-front in the Analysis Phase. The strategy includes an understanding of the stakeholders, type of training needed, the desired outcome of the training, assumptions, risks and the overall training approach. 

2. Create an overall Training Plan (for sure)

The Training Plan is created during the Design Phase. If you have a Training Strategy, the Training Plan simply contains the additional details required to make the classes real. If you do not have a strategy, then the Training Plan typically has some initial aspects of the strategy, and then quickly gets into the details as well. The Training Plan would include a description of the classes, number of classes offered, timing, the delivery mode (in-person, virtual, e-class), content development process, etc.  

3. Develop the training content

You develop training content at the same time that you are developing the rest of the solution. Isn’t that a novel concept? 

4. Test the training content (optional)

You can test your training content and delivery in a controlled class delivery. The test training is offered to the internal team, or perhaps to an initial customer group as a pilot test. This serves as a test of the material and helps prepare the instructors so that they will be more comfortable delivering the training to customers.

5. Implementation

The training classes are delivered based on the timing specified in your Training Plan. You should have developed (and perhaps tested) your training content, and you should be ready to go regardless of when the actual training is needed.

Summary

What you see in this approach is that the training process follows a mini-lifecycle. You analyze (Training Strategy), design (Training Plan) construct, test and implement the training. This lifecycle allows you to have all of the components you need as you need them.