 Managing the TBT project
|
|
Who's
coming to the party?
YOUR PROJECT
PLAN is still not complete - you still have to decide exactly who is going to carry out
each of your tasks. In doing this, it’s important not to get confused between roles
and people - they are not the same thing. Before we go further, here’s a list of
typical roles in a TBT project:
Roles in a TBT project
| Project manager |
Responsible for co-ordinating the
work of the other team members, setting budgets and schedules, monitoring performance and
liaising with clients, funding bodies and other third parties. |
| Subject matter expert |
Responsible for providing
accurate and up-to-date content for the training materials. |
| Writer |
Responsible for developing any
text, narration or dialogue for inclusion in the script. |
| Instructional designer |
Responsible for analysing the
training need, setting learning objectives, designing instructional strategies and putting
together the design document and script. |
| Graphic designer |
Responsible for implementing the
graphical design elements of the user interface and sourcing or preparing any required
photographs, illustrations, diagrams and animations. |
| Programmer |
Responsible for preparing any
custom code required, using languages such as JavaScript, Java, Perl and C++. |
| Author |
Responsible for assembling the
course materials (text, images, audio, video, program code) into their final form,
typically using generic web development tools or CBT authoring systems. |
| Audio-visual specialists |
Depending on the nature of the
training design, other specialists may be required to source, produce or post-produce
audio and video content. |
| Tester |
Responsible for alpha and beta
testing the course materials to identify any bugs or other technical irregularities and to
ensure conformity with the interactive script. |
| Production assistant |
Responsible for providing
administrative and logistical support to the team. |
| Tutor |
Responsible for providing human
support to an online training course when in operation. The role could include reviewing
student work, providing advice and counselling, initiating discussion topics, scheduling
synchronous collaboration activities and pointing students to sources of additional
content. |
The relationship between roles and people
A person can perform more than one role in a project, if they have the
necessary skills. Multi-skilling provides you with greater flexibility in scheduling,
although specialists may be more effective at some tasks than generalists. More than one
person may be required to fulfil a single role.
Allocating people to tasks
Your human resources may be allocated from full-time or part-time permanent
employees or contractors. The latter may be charged at a fixed or variable rate. Remember
to factor in lead time if you choose to use contractors or recruit new permanent
employees. And you may also incur recruitment fees.
It is not necessary to apply resources consistently
throughout a project. A person may be applied to a role for a limited period.
Alternatively, a person may devote only a part of their time to a role.
Resources other than labour
Sometimes other resources are in limited supply and need to be allocated
with the same care as people. Possibilities include:
- office space
- computer equipment and associated software
- audio and video facilities
These may or may not be charged to a project directly,
depending on your organisation’s accounting policy.
|
