Project Management Skills for Instructional Designers: A Practical Guide

I have been unable to locate project management information targeted toward instructional designers so was very happy to see this subject addressed. I found this guide to be comprehensive and well organized considering the breadth of the topics. As each sub-topic was addressed, I like the way it was defined and broken down into sections titled; Essential Ingredients, The Method, The Results. The template examples for organizing various projects were relevant and general enough to be useful for a wide range of topics. I notice that at the end of each chapter, there was a Q&A so the guide could easily be used as a textbook. This is a really good deal for a textbook in a subject that is addressed every day by professionals responsible for managing training development!

I honestly haven't ready it like I'm supposed to. I had a hard time getting through the first chapter. There are example typos which typically turn me off from a text. The content itself is good overall, and it would likely help guide someone with limited project management experience.

Great book for those new to the field. Very practical advice!

This book helps to organize projects from start to finish.

This book is disappointing. We really need a new book on project management for instructional designers. But this isn't it. Too many chapters are lists of definitions with no linking to what a project manager should actually do. There is no index, an unpardonable omission. I acknowledge a book on this topic is hard to write. I just wrote a chapter on project management for another book. It's complicated. There are a lot of details to keep track of and the author is dealing with two related subjects. But even at the low price, skip this one. Someone will write a good book on this topic, but this isn't it.

Book was in great condition

This is an excellent book for folks who are new to instructional design but old hands at project management or vice versa. That being said the book remains at a fairly high level on the instructional design side. It doesn't really delve into the complexities of eLearning ISD or hybrid learning - and how those choices impact a project. Also this focuses on the Critical Path Method or CPM. CPM like ADDIE is the most conservative view of those disciplines. Much more likely is an iterative adaptive model. This book doesn't focus on those types of models. Instead it uses a generic method of the Navy supplier Booz, Allen, Hamilton and Lockheed Martin's project management methodology. Both methods are more than 50 years old and don't weather the storm very well. Most admit that both ADDIE and CPM are not really observed. Microsoft Project roughly follows a generic methodology that's closer to CCPM than it is to CPM - so in effect, because so many have invested in Microsoft's expensive software solution - it becomes the de facto standard - and therefore influences the stakeholder's project management methodology. In most organizations that I've worked in the dog (the customer, the major stakeholder (internal or external) wags the tail (the instructional designer). This book is a thorough overview, however, I was disappointed that it didn't do a better job of integrating project management and instructional design. The ADDIE model does have a kinship with CPM, however, the book doesn't really dig deep into that. For instance the Analysis phase really must take place before the project begins when money and resources and initial goals are explored. Often the ID is brought in later in the CPM lifecycle and this can cause considerable issues. For instance if an external vendor other external stakeholders make decisions that input into the project.

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