Picture yourself surrounded by half a dozen large, unmarked boxes from IKEA. The contents are probably some sort of storage furniture, but there are no instructions and no indication of what the final product is supposed to look like. The boxes were already open, so you’re not completely sure that all of the pieces are even present. You’ve got 2 hours and a wrench. Can you build it?
In our house, we refer to building modular furniture as “Marriage Counseling.” We usually come out stronger than before; but even with the instructions and end goal in mind, it can be a patience-testing feat. I often feel the same way about learning projects that don’t begin with careful content mapping. When we deliver content without the time investment of designing a vision for the final learning experience, we waste time and patience heading down the wrong paths.
At Principled Technologies, we encourage clients to build time into each project’s timeline to hone in on the project’s overall goal and identify the behavior changes that will allow the organization to meet its goal. Similar to a blueprint, this content mapping process allows us to clearly define exactly what impact the learning experience should have. It also clarifies what we need to build to spark change.
Content mapping begins with establishing a set of specific, measureable project goals. Next, we identify the behaviors that will lead to the goals, carefully noting the current behavior trends and the desired state of each trend. Once we know what we’re trying to impact or change, we match the action with one or more learning deliverables that fit. This mapping process leads us to create tailored, effective alternatives with more impact than traditional teaching techniques.
When a new learning project kicks off, it’s tempting to dive straight into the content without planning your route beforehand. We love learning about new topics here at PT, and the content provided by clients is an important piece of our course design. However, beginning the course design before we’ve mapped out our plan leads to extra review cycles, extended timelines, and frustrated team members.
“But what about fast-paced timelines or brief, microlearning engagements?” asks our time-conscious client. While the thought of front-end planning time on a project with a short timeline can be scary, our experience is that it is always worth the long-term investment. When our roadmap for a project is clear, no matter the pace or size of the end product, we can reach our goals faster and more efficiently. This due diligence leads to more rapid development of accurate tools that drive the target performance changes. Conversely, skipping the content mapping step to save time actually adds review and editing cycles while diminishing the clarity and impact of deliverables.
In a perfect world, my IKEA purchases (and my projects) come with instructions and all of the parts. I also know exactly how I’m going to use the item before I even begin. Then, I read all of the instructions. That way, I know if I’m missing pieces or have extra parts that just won’t work in this project before I start to build. When we map out content before digging into the details, we have a better chance at reaching the desired goal in the most efficient way possible.
