The project owner usually originates the need for the training. The outcome affects their team, their department, their numbers, and their people.

 

What they are responsible for:

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• Defining the business problem or goal the training needs to address

• Having the authority to approve the project moving forward at key milestones

• Making final calls when stakeholders disagree about direction

Project managers are usually the direct supervisors of the instructional designers and developers on their team.

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What they are responsible for:

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• Keeping the project on track, on time, and in budget.

• Removing blockers (things that get in the way of your work being completed)

• Managing schedules

• Communicating with stakeholders

For L&D teams that use agile, they manage the agile/scrum process for the team and make sure the team can do its best work within that framework.

 

What they are responsible for:

• Facilitating scrum ceremonies

• Removing blockers

• Coaching the team on agile principles

Instructional design is about communicating information to help learners learn. A large part of information is communicated visually, like diagrams, photos of examples, and color choices.  Graphic artists understand the importance of visual design.

 

What they are responsible for:

• Translating abstract concepts into concrete visuals

• Bringing a professional, cohesive tone to your course through consistent style choices

• Accessibility awareness like use of color

A stakeholder is anyone who has an interest in the outcome of your project.

 

They include:

• The Project Owner

• The learners

• The learners' managers

• The Subject Matter Experts

• The L&D team itself

• The people who commissioned but aren't running the project

• And more. Anyone who has a stake in the outcome is a stakeholder.

A Subject Matter Expert (SME) is an expert at their job, but they might not have the communication skills to teach it. That's where you come in. You are their translator, and you need to do the best job you can to take their knowledge of the subject matter, and combine it with your knowledge of adult learning methods to make it usefulto learners.

 

What they are responsible for:

• Getting you the information you need to build your learning product

• Reviewing your work for accuracy

• For organizations that do not have dedicated SMEs to support learning and development, their responsibilities include their regular job outside of helping with L&D