As the title suggests, this book focuses on the Agile methodology. But specifically, Torrance discussed how to reconcile Agile with ADDIE, an instructional design methodology. I am a fan of Agile, but there were some aspects of it that seemed a little clunky. Torrance helped fill in the gaps. I am excited to put it into action this fall as we put together our project plan.
Agile for Instructional Designers is 212 pages long. It has a very relaxed writing style making it a quick and inviting read. Torrance arranged the fourteen chapters over an introduction and three major parts. These parts include:
- Kicking off the project
- Managing the project
- Applying Agile in your organization
I entirely agree with Torrance as she highlighted the shortcomings of ADDIE. While I do agree with the elements that make up the ADDIE model. I have never had success running a design project using a pure ADDIE waterfall model. I like how Agile requires regular input to ensure the project is on track.
Kicking Off the Project
This part of the book focused on getting the project up and going. Torrance offered suggestions for defining the instructional goal, objectives, and outcomes. Importantly, “the goal is to improve performance,” not develop training.
Part of the startup process is fully understanding who the learner is. I thought this was well written. It is a part of the process that I certainly can do better at. Torrance provided a worksheet and a series of questions to use to help better define the audience. I recently helped someone work on a project and we ended up with a program that is lackluster because it is trying to do too much for too many different audiences.
Another section I really liked was on developing user stories. I am familiar with them from a programming aspect, but it was nice to see how Torrance applied them to instructional objectives.
I also liked how she developed an action map to flesh out the program. This is a spin on backward design. Torrance often referred to Cathy Moore’s book, Map It: The hands-on guide to strategic training design. Naturally, I picked up this book.
Designing the project does not happen in isolation. Torrance outlined how to conduct a design meeting and who should attend. She also provided guidance on the other types of meetings that will occur and the membership.
Managing the Project
Torrance dedicated five chapters to managing the project. In this section, she showed how to break down the project and plan the sprint cycles. She provided several different examples of visualizing the project tasks in both analog and digital formats.
She also described how her team iterates on a project and maintains a steady work rhythm. Additionally, she shared ideas for meetings and communications to keep the project on track. I liked the examples of burndown charts. Naturally, these are based on accurate estimations on work.
Applying Agile in Your Organization
The last section of the book focused on scaling Agile in an organization. The section was rather short and did not necessarily apply to me at this time. However, Torrance did include a discussion on managing multiple projects that is worth reviewing.
Overall Thoughts
Each chapter has consistent elements to include an “In This Chapter” list of topics and key takeaways. Torrance uses bullets, headings, and callouts quite effectively to guide the reading. She also used storytelling to add depth to the topic. She would share the experiences of her company as well as other organizations. I also thought the examples for implementation of the strategy were detailed enough that I could replicate them. This is something I don’t often see. She also includes warnings for what could go wrong when steps are skipped. I think this is important because there is a tendency to eliminate steps that are not fully understood.
My only criticism was that the actual photos were hard to see. It would have been nice to have a long shot as well as close-ups.
All in all, Agile for Instructional Designers is going to be within arms reach. I expect I will be referring to it regularly until I have incorporated the strategies into my systems. I believe other instructional designers could benefit from this book. It will help to improve productivity in your processes.
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