SERIOUS GAME LEARNING SOLUTION and ADDIE +
A few days ago I was having a conversation about the Serious Game for Leader Development (I am leading the design and development of the same at the Infosys Leadership Institute) with one of our Senior Delivery Managers. He listened to my narration of the different milestones, challenges, failures, successes... that I have faced in this initiative and burst out saying: "this sounds so much like Software Development"! His next question was, "So, did you use any proven framework as you worked on this solution?" I shared with him that one of the approaches I have taken is ADDIE.
I also shared that the challenges that I faced in terms of working with different stakeholders are of a different order and hence there is a need for managing this aspect more effectively, especially to avoid project delays.
While he was aghast that both the design and development processes were actively worked on by the same person (in this case, myself) right at the outset he had a strong recommendation that these roles must be isolated. Our conversation then veered to a most informative discussion about what best practices from Software Development can be integrated into the ADDIE model in any endeavour of creating learning solutions to ensure better quality of outcomes.
Here is my attempt to summarize the main points that we discussed related to software development practices that would add value to ADDIE. I have used the "question" format since when I applied this (even in a very rudimentary way to get a feel for how it works) to the current game project; I found it to be very useful to assess the "health" of the projectJ.
1. What is the solution's ultimate state? (Vision)
2. Are the various outcomes mapped to different stakeholders in a RASCI (Responsible, Accountable, Supporting, Consulted, and Informed) document?
3. Has the end-user's views/ideas been considered?
4. Are the roles of Project Management and Release Management been clearly segregated?
5. Is testing being used a s a process at every stage of pre-development and development (as against only final stages)
6. Are the teams doing development and testing distinct and separate teams and not the same people?
7. Is the practice of risk management being followed diligently throughout the process?
8. Is version control in place?
While I realize that the presence of someone like my colleague from delivery (he wishes to be anonymous!) would have been a great asset to the game project, I am grateful for the insightful conversation. I would recommend that anyone working on learning solution design / development does integrate the aspects mentioned above. Or, better still; ensure that they have an excellent Project/Program Manager from the field of Software Development in their team!
My anonymous colleague from delivery referred to the resultant model as the ADDIE+ and I am inclined to wholeheartedly agree with him.
