Thoughts on PM and ID Roles

I think we have to be careful to think about the role of the PM and the ID separately, even though one person often takes on both roles. The role, and primary responsibility of the ID, is the instructional solution. The usual role, and primary responsibility of the PM, is to get the project done on time and on budget. Meeting acceptance criteria is also important for both roles.

Various versions of the ADDIE method and ADDIE process help guide the ID in developing the instructional solution, and by extension, the “project management” of developing the solution. However, this is a very different focus than the role of the PM. The PM role does not deal with ADDIE, or any similar ISD model, directly. This is why you find references to stakeholder information already being gathered before the ADDIE analysis phase. The PM deals with the overall project acceptance criteria, project resources, and project evaluation. Thus, it is the PM role that deals with the Project Charter and getting sign-off from the sponsor and other management approvals. The PM role deals with hiring and firing SMEs. The PM roles sets up meetings with outside vendors and stays on top of them regarding turn-around times and deliverables and payments. The ID role just reviews the deliverables and confirms they are up to standard.

Often a PM will not have much choice in their stakeholders. The project sponsor brings the PM the project. Upper management is upper management. You may get to hire a development team, but often you just use what your business unit has in place. You may get to choose outside vendors, often this will be from a company approved list. You may get to choose SMEs, but often there are political implications that make that tricky. With instructional solutions you probably want some sample learners, but these should probably be selected at random. You could replace representatives that fail to provide feedback, or cause other issues, but you can’t really cherry pick the initial crop.

Mostly you just need to learn how to manage the stakeholders you get, as best you can.

Robin