Task Analysis and Action Mapping Training for LXDs
Overview
For this professional development-focused project, I created a task analysis template and conducted an upskill training for the Learning Experience Design team at DoorDash. The virtual training guides Learning Experience Designers (LXDs) to conduct a task analysis through hands on practice.
Responsibilities
Learning Experience Designer
Workshop Leader
An Area of Opportunity
As a company, DoorDash runs on efficiency. Food is delivered quickly, and so are business initiatives. Due to tight project timelines, there is not much time to linger in the design phase of any assignment.
When I joined the DoorDash LXD team, there weren’t any formal task or needs analysis processes in place. Noticing this as an area of opportunity, I led a professional development workshop session and built a task analysis template for the team.
Keeping in mind the push for speed, I wanted to create an easy-to-use template for LXDs to implement within a truncated design phase.
ADDIE and Action Mapping
The first step in the ADDIE model is to analyze a performance issue or training goal. This step helps pave the way for a clear understanding of the problem before beginning to design a solution.
When starting a new project, two important questions need to be asked in sequence:
Are we building the right “thing”? [Analysis phase]
Are we building the “thing” right? [Design and development phases]
When teams are able to focus on the first question by conducting a needs analysis, they are assured that the solution truly fits the problem.
Design Question
How might we design and implement a DoorDash-specific task analysis/action mapping process?
Research
To research our own needs as an LXD team, I collaborated with several senior LXD teammates to begin brainstorming. I helped draft and administer a task analysis survey to check the pulse on prior task analysis experience.
Results from the survey indicated that 64% of our colleagues had never worked on a task analysis before. Many of those who had previous TA experience reported not feeling confident to perform a TA on their own.
Task Analysis Template
The template has been used for more than 10 net new learning experiences.
Professional Development Workshop
I wanted to create a task analysis learning experience that would be memorable for LXDs. The book “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive While Other Die,” author Chip and Dan Heath describe the importance of multiple hooks to increase the stickiness of an idea which leads to better retention.
“The more hooks an idea has, the better it will cling to memory.”
I was inspired to create a “sticky” scenario based activity where LXDs would use the task analysis template to solve an out-of-the box training problem: Teach an Alien to Make a Salad.
To activate schema and reduce cognitive load, I created a mock Asana task (the project tracking tool used by our team). By using a tool and format the participants were already used to, they could start to see the connections between the scenario activity and their day-to-day tasks.
Featured below are the presentation slides used in the professional development workshop.
