Company X Tutorial Module

The Company X Tutorial Module was the first and most extensive project that I planned and executed from beginning to end with little guidance.  There was a client to please and stakes were high.  In my case, the client was my husband's company and both our reputations could suffer if things went badly.  The principles behind the design of the tutorial are sound.  Place learners in the environment they need to learn and guide them through the steps they will be performing.  We created several videos to introduce them to the architecture and interface to get them started.  In principle, all elements should have come together successfully.  Two things went wrong.  First, the current user interface is vast and sprawling.  It is difficult to capture and place in a frame where users can see all the elements in one picture.  The result is small, crunched and very difficult to read.  Second, there isn't any easily discernable work flow within the software that can be taught in steps.  While we focused on a couple of common processes, depending on user preference, there could be dozens of ways to get to the same or similar information.  Shortly after this module was completed, and partly because of the shortcomings it demonstrated, the client company began the process of revamping their user interface entirely.  Unfortunately, that means this module will likely never be used.  It was still a great exercise for both myself and my husband in working together and in developing a software training oriented tutorial.  There are a number of things I would do differently with this version including breaking the videos into smaller segments to guide the learner.  Some of our testers seemed confused by the point of the videos and what they were expected to do next.  We added instructions in the beginning but smaller segments of video interspersed with experiential elements might be more engaging.