www.epic.co.

uk
Scaling up development:
lessons from the e-learning industry

eLRC e-Learning
Higher Education Academy, York
22 March 2005

John Harris
Director of Education
Epic Group plc
About Epic Group plc

An e-learning business with:

 Clients in public and private sector
 Shareholders
 200 employees
 Content and web services projects
 Processes to mitigate risk of project failure
 PROJECT FAILURE = BUSINESS FAILURE
Who are our clients?
Small projects Big projects

 Few stakeholders  Many stakeholders

 Low profile  High profile
 Self contained  Complex
 Low risk  High risk
 Hands on  Hands off
 One person – multiple roles  One person – one role
 Ad hoc processes  Clearly defined processes
 React to risk  Mitigate risk in advance
 Artisan  Industrial
 Risk of project failure  Risk of business failure
What is a successful project?
Risk: over delivery
Risk: over budget
Risk: late delivery
Nightmare!
Mitigating risk through processes
Setting up a project to succeed

Joint Project Initiation:

 Objectives and success criteria
 Scope
 Stakeholders
 Project Team
 Communication
 Escalation Procedure
 Risk analysis
 Change Request procedure
What are you planning to achieve?

What are the aims of the project?

 Widen access? Improve quality? Reduce cost? Increase
flexibility?

What are the objectives for the piece of work?

 Production of X hours of learning? Covering A, B, C
learning outcomes?

How will you know if it is successful?

 In the short term? In the long term?
How are you going to get there?
Who is your client accountable to?
Who will undertake the work?
Communication: weekly progress

 Schedule
 Achievements
 Outstanding issues
 Risks
 Next steps
 Invoicing status
Communication: project extranet
Some checks and balances

Timesheet recording
 Time spent measure against time allocated
Internal review of all deliverables
 Epiclabs
User consultation and persona development
 At requirements definition stage
User testing
 Use of iterative prototyping
Change control
 Measure impact of any change on cost, time, quality
Continuous improvement

 Review the project with the

client and the project team

 Ask your client how well you

did

 Offer to evaluate the success

of the project against the
success criteria

 Adapt your process in the

light of feedback
The BIG lessons

 Understand what you are trying to achieve

 Work in partnership to develop a shared vision
 Share the vision with the whole team
 Be methodical in management and monitoring
 Provide timely information to all stakeholders
 Understand the performance of the project at
any time
 Focus on delivery, not process
 Don’t just manage a project, lead it!
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