Project Management and E-Learning - a lesson in keeping your sanity

If your world is anything like mine, my internal customers think that e-learning grows on trees. Or, I may have a magic wand that when I wave it and sprinkle some fairy dust, 3 hours of online training appears, integrated with the LMS, free of errors and fully engaging to the learner.

I'm fairly good at making things materialize out of absolutely nothing, but I'm reticent in making myself a name from it within my company. It only breeds bad habits amongst my project teams and the expectation that I will work many weekends and while having pneumonia.

True story.

I'm not a project manager, nor do I want to be one. However, to make my life a little easier, I've decided to start thinking like one and learning their language.

Currently reading Project Managing E-Learning: A Handbook for Successful Design, Delivery and Management by McVay Lynch/Roe . It seems to be the best Project Managment to E-Learning Development dictionary on the market. Wonderful structure, great online resources to jumpstart your own project plans and documentation strategy, as well as a Kindle/iPhone download for the impatient.

The IEPCC model aligned with the ADDIE model equals an interesting approach towards controlling the "project" of the developing instruction, be it e-learning or anything else. I want to go so far as to say my work is a "subproject" of any project that I may be asked to develop training for and is equally important to be managed.....

- by more than one line on the project developers gantt chart.

I will post an example of my project plan and documentation in the future once I work some of the kinks out. If there is anyone reading this (!) that would like to collaborate or compare methods, drop me a line.