Yell, Yum, Yes!!!

Yes, I am a South Indian, and yes, that is how many South Indians would pronounce LMS (Learning Management System), but that is not what this post is about.

Having interacted with a variety of stakeholders who want to get on the LMS bandwagon, I can broadly categorize them into the following three types.

The Yell type, the Yum type and the Yes type!!!

Yell
These are the ones who make a lot of noise. For them, the LMS is yet another means to publicize the work that they are getting done. Typical things you will hear from the Yell varieties:

• I need to make sure that I can justify to the board / top management etc. the investment that has been made in the LMS.
• How can we ensure that all people are enrolled in the system from day one?
• What kind of reports can be published to show usage?
• We need to populate this with as many courses as we know!

Yum
The yum varieties are those who are looking for the yumminess in the LMS. For them, this is another thing that must look good, feel good and be marketable. Typical things you will hear from the Yum varieties:

• We need the best-in-class LMS. Cost is not a consideration.
• Let's only upload high-end courses. All courses must have plenty of 3D animations, video, multimedia, the works!
• The interface must be customized to suit our company colors etc.
• We must have a learning companion / avtar throughout the course.

Yes

The yes varieties are the ones that we love. They are the ones concerned about the learners and learning! Typical things you will hear from the Yes varieties:

• What type of tracking is available?
• How easy is it for learners to search for courses?
• What types of assessments are available?
• Can learners retake the courses as many times as they want?
• What types of media are supported?

So, while I am sure, as an e-learning professional, you would love to have as many of the Yes varieties as possible, remember that you will come across a mixture of the above. Also, since typically, you will be dealing with multiple people in the same organization, you will find predominant Yells, predominant Yums and predominant Yesses.

The challenge with the Yells and the Yums, is as Stephen Covey would say:

The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing

And in an LMS project, the main thing is to ensure managed learning!!!

Just did it!

Yes, you may have guessed it right! That is indeed an obtuse reference to the Nike ad!! At my first job, one of the senior managers had put up the Nike motto Just Do It all over the place. A few years down the line, I was reporting to him, and he was still advising me to do it! And doing it is what has always been a problem for me - I am waiting for the right moment!

But hopefully, no longer...

Here I am, at the close of Deepavali, the festival of lights, which signifies a new beginning, having given up the comfort of a salaried job to jump into the unpredictable world of freelancing!

Image taken from: http://danieltay.me/what-you-should-know-about-freelancing-adam-byrnes-freelancer-com/

Why have I done this? Will I be any different from the white pen above? Will I still be doing what I had been doing, but without strings attached? Or will I be able to do different things? Was the string chaining me down, or providing me support?

Well, that only time will tell. But, what I do know is that and I adapt a quote of another boss of mine:

"Off the merry-go-round; onto the roller coaster!"

I hope you follow me on my travails...