Smoke Begins to Clear: Week 1

This week the smoke cleared, though the smell of ash is still in the air. Relief at surviving the wildfires was symbolized by last Sunday's Charger Game at Qualcomm. The evacuees left and the next day the 300 lb. linemen and tailgaters were brought in. The win over the Texans a chance for the community to celebrate the way it faced down disaster. Another sign of a return to normalcy was the enthusiatic return of trick-or-treaters. We had over 250 gouls, goblins, pirates and assorted others at our house. We counted the candy. The big wrinkle this year was costumes inflated by a built-in-fan, mostly Sumo wrestlers.

I celebrated my private victory of getting up early each morning and starting my day with an hour of exercise, one of my main 7 Habit goals. I also made some real progress on my to do list. There were some things I had been wanting to do for months, even years that I finally chose to do (Covey says there is time for everything we "choose" to do). Most notably, making a real start in clearing out the clutter in my office. It made a big difference looking at the week in advance and trying to schedule the most important things for both my professional and personal life first. Things seemed more balanced and doable.

Speaking of To Do Lists there's a facinating book about them by Sasha Cagen.


The 7 Habits approach also helped me be more effective at work where I started two new projects, both things where I could help innovate practices in Instructional Design. In one project we were able to sell the addition of simulations to an educational solutions, something I can help create. The second project is taking a hard look at the model we use the produce training - the ADDIE model. In fact we are hoping to "blow-up" the ADDIE model though I think a modification is more feasible.

The 7 Habits and ADDIE have a lot in common. It stands for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation. These are the steps used when creating learning solutions. They are tried and true method of putting First things First. However, it can be a frustrating experience for Instructional Designer and client alike, becuase in the corporate world the ADDIE process can be long, drawn out, overburdened with needless paperwork, and tends to produce risk-adverse, cookie cutter results. We want to find more ways to put First Things Fast, as my teacher and mentor, Allison Rossett might say.