Instructional Design, Leadership, Project Management / August 18, 2023

Project Management Skills for Instructional Designers and L&D Professionals

Successful instructional designers all have and need project management skills. So what are these project management skills you need? In this post I’ll walk you through what project management is, some common methodologies you should be familiar with and tools you might be asked to use as an instructional designer.

Of course, we’ll also run through the project management skills you need to highlight on your resume! So, let’s dive into this episode of AcceleratedID!

What is Project Management?

It might be surprising for you, as an aspiring instructional designer, that I’m devoting a whole episode to project management. Maybe you’re not even sure what project management is yet, and that’s okay!

You very much wear a project management hat as an instructional designer, and even if you’re a newbie, I guarantee you already have some of these required project management skills.

Project management is the process of planning, organizing, and controlling resources to achieve specific goals within a specific timeframe.

Let me put that into plain language you can relate to. Everyday I plan my morning and figure out what needs to be accomplished. In doing that, I also think about what resources I need in order to accomplish those tasks. When it comes to my morning routine I’m thinking about getting the family breakfast, packing lunches, making sure my car is fueled for dropoff, etc…

In other words, every morning I’m managing a project. I use my resources to make sure the task of getting my family prepped for the day is complete.

What Does Project Management Look Like in Instructional Design and Learning & Development?

So now you have the formal definition of project management as well as my everyday example. Let’s apply project management to an instructional design or learning and development environment.

Project management gives instructional designers a structured approach to planning a project. Without this structured approach, it’s really difficult to take a project from idea to implementation. There are a few different aspects of this structured approach that are important to consider.

Resource Management

In learning and development, your resources might fall into a number of different categories. 

People

Your subject matter experts, stakeholders, and the team that helps you design and develop a learning solution.

Tools

This includes the software you need to successfully implement your learning solution. Not to mention the physical tools like printed materials for your facilitators or participants. Even the rooms you might need to meet in before, during and after implementation of the learning solution.

Dates

When are those people and tools listed above available to you? When does the training solution need to be delivered? These are important dates you’ll have to bear in mind as part of your project management skills in instructional design.

aching, and a whole community of like-minded instructional designers ready to cheer you on. You’ve got this!

Risk Management

In an instructional design project it’s important to consider what the potential blocks are to successfully designing, developing, and implementing a learning experience. Are there team members who have upcoming vacations? Identifying obstacles ahead of time is crucial.

Another important part of risk management is in identifying the impact on the company if the learning solution does or does not successfully happen. Is there a safety risk involved if training doesn’t occur asap?

Collaboration

Project management is not complete with collaboration. In learning and development projects, instructional designers may collaborate with an instructional design team, SMEs, external stakeholders, and other departments.

The process of project management ensures formal lines of communication so that everyone has the information they need to successfully implement the learning solution.

Quality Assurance

The last aspect of project management in an instructional design project is the review process. Determining what deliverables need to be reviewed and by whom. How long does each person have to review a deliverable? How many layers of edits will there be? Setting these expectations ahead of time sets you up for success.

Project Management Methodologies

There are three primary methodologies that are popular frameworks for project management.

Waterfall, Agile, and Lean. If you want to dive deeper into each of these methodologies, check out this article on project management methodologies.

Roles and Tasks Instructional Designers Manage

So what does all of this mean for you as an instructional designer? The truth is, it depends on the project and the organization you’re working for. In some instructional design jobs, there might be a designated project manager. 

If there is not a project manager role, it may just be quietly assumed that the instructional designer will take care of the project management tasks needed to get the project off the ground. 

Just like no one in my family is calling me project manager when I get them out the door in the morning, there might not be anyone in your organization formally acknowledging this project management role you take on. It’s just an expectation of the job. 

So let’s look at some of the project management responsibilities you might have as an instructional designer.

Clients/Stakeholders

The instructional designer needs to manage the client and/or stakeholder relationship. You’ll be responsible for making sure the learning solution aligns with their expectations. It will also be up to you to make sure that they’re looped in on decision-making and deliverable sign-off. 

You may need to manage project timelines based on when the stakeholders expect to provide their opinion. Some stakeholders want to sign off on every detail while others would be happy to wait and give their opinion on the final product. For the record, neither of those options works for successful project completion! So the instructional designer might have to drive expectations (which deliverables need review, how long can they take to review before the project reaches a standstill).

Project Team

The instructional designer also has a responsibility in leading the project team. This may include other instructional designers and developers who will help take your designs and turn them into assets. 

You’ll need to make sure the team understands the expectations set by stakeholders and is ready to work using whichever methodology is the best fit for the project. 

Just to be clear- sometimes the project team is only the instructional designer! But if you’re lucky enough to work on a team, communicating with them is key.

Subject Matter Experts

Your subject matter experts (or SMEs) are masters of the content. Without their buy in, your learning solution design comes to a halt. The instructional designer is responsible for drawing the need-to-know information out of the SMEs. A good relationship with SMEs is important, we have a whole resource devoted to working in partnership with them that you can check out. 

Project Tools

Remember the tools I mentioned earlier? To remind you, they include both physical resources and rooms and digital resources. It will be up to the instructional designer to make sure the team has access to all the tools they need in a timely manner.

This might mean requesting software purchase from human resources. It might mean scheduling offices or classrooms to ensure their availability. Technology plays a huge role in learning and development, so making sure these tools are squared away is a big task.

Tasks (Who, What, & When)

Now that we’ve talked about your team and your tools, the next big project management task that you’ll need to manage are the project tasks. 

What granular tasks need to happen, who will do those tasks, and by when will they have them complete? Defining those tasks, identifying dependencies, and establishing a timeline for them is key. Once you have that list you must communicate it with the team, SMEs and loop in your stakeholders. 

Draft Reviews

Once a task is complete, who will review it? Quality assurance is integral to project success. The instructional designer can help drive who reviews which assets and which assets need to be reviewed by stakeholders before they can move forward.

Facilitators/Instructors

This one depends on the method you’ve chosen for implementing the learning solution. If you’ve designed an instructor-led training or virtual instructor-led training, you need facilitators. 

You can’t wait until the learning solution is complete to loop in the facilitator. You’ll need to schedule them for a pilot and possibly set up train-the-trainer sessions prior to launch.

LMS Admins

If your learning experience is a video-based training or elearning experience, you’ll need a formal way to host the content. This means making sure you have access to an LMS and are in touch with the person in your organization who can set everything up. 

Now, it’s possible that you as the instructional designer will be responsible for the LMS! In that case, check out this article for everything you need to know about learning management systems. 

Project Management Skills for Instructional Designers

Now, I hope you’ve noticed a trend in all the roles and responsibilities involving project management. The number one project management skill you need is communication! Communication is key to setting up a successful, collaborative team that produces a quality learning solution. 

Here are some other important project management skills you should have as an instructional designer:

• Identify tasks that need to be completed
• Determine who is responsible for each task
• Estimate how long tasks will take
• Prioritize task work
• Communicate project updates and issues
• Use tools to manage work tasks and collaboration

Project Management Tools

As you can see, project management is a crucial aspect of good instructional design. If your head is spinning with all the tiny tasks that make up project management, don’t worry! No one can successfully project manage without some tools to keep organized. 

Here are a few popular tools that organizations use to keep track of project tasks and progress. Many of these tools offer free trials or have free versions you can use to keep track of your personal or professional projects. 

• Trello (the chosen tool of The Instructional Design and Tech Accelerator system and certificate program)
• Asana
• Jira
• Monday
• ClickUp
• Basecamp

I highly recommend getting started with a free Trello account (check out my guide to using Trello). You can use it to plan a party, plan your week, plan a portfolio project, the possibilities are endless! What’s important is getting some practice in!

Wrapping it Up

Project management skills are instructional design skills. Now that you know more about project management skills, take a look at some instructional design job postings and see if you can identify required skills that fall into project management.

I personally love and thrive in project management. Breaking down and estimating projects is my passion. That’s why I love coaching my Instructional and Design and Tech Accelerator students. Watching them go from little knowledge of the term to fully project managing their entire portfolios and getting job interviews is thrilling!