As an instructional designer, I was tasked with developing an
online training for an organization of 30k employees on the new ICD10 codes
that will replace the ICD9 medical billing codes. The project request was
submitted 2 years prior to the ICD10 codes usage being required by federal
legislation. This time-frame typically provided me lots of time, since the
standard development time for project completions was 12-16 weeks.
Unfortunately, the development of this training hit many snags, which caused
the project to almost miss deadline. I was able to however meet the project
completion deadline after making many changes to the initial training request,
and instead of developing 1 online module, I created 3 separate modules, in
which the first was released by the date required by the federal legislation, and
the last two remaining modules were released shortly after. There were three
main issues that was impacting the project meeting the required release date
and they include; System requirements not yet active or tested; extremely large
workgroup (30 representatives) who had different ideas and views of how the
training should be delivered and what to include, obtaining the necessary
sign-off from everyone involved on the workgroup.
What processes, project
artifacts, or activities did I include that contributed to the success of the
project?
While it is not the norm to have such a large workgroup for a
project, I went into the process understanding that I needed to be well organized,
and document everything. There were many calls with the workgroup in which
someone asked me who provided the instruction for me to do something a certain
way, in which I would quickly access a communication sent to me with the
request. In addition to being well organized and keeping track of all
documentation, I also communicated with the workgroup on a weekly or bi-weekly
basis to communicate the project status and any new developments. This kept the
workgroup aware of my progress, and provided any information they may have
needed to communicate to their individual teams. The last activity that I would
contribute to the success of the project was my ability to think outside the
box and be flexible. The legislation required that staff be trained on the
ICD10 process by September 2015, however the law did not state what type of
information must be included in the training. In order to meet the deadline, and
taking into consideration that the organization’s systems were not yet ready
for me to include simulations and screen shots in the training, I proposed that
the initial online module I develop only include background information on the
ICD10 codes and definitions. This was proposed because that was information
that was already obtained and confirmed. For the systems training and
functionality pieces, I was able to wait after September 2015 for the system to
be enhanced and create the other two modules.
What processes, project
artifacts, or activities did I not include that might have made the project
more successful?
One of the items that I constantly think about, is I did not hold anyone accountable for their participation in the project besides myself. With that said, when business requirements that other departments were responsible did not meet their deadline, I did not further probe as to why the hold up and how this would impact the project’s timeline. I just assumed responsibility and tried to come up with a workaround. This added more stress to my work, in addition to not correctly identifying problem areas and documenting that information for my manager.
Hi Daniel,
ReplyDeleteAs part of a health care organization, I remember the days of ICD-10 conversion and training well! I was one of the many stakeholders that you describe, albeit one with much less of an interest than many others. I am not sure if you ran into the same thing, but our primary difficulty was that, being an organization that provides so many different health care services, and with each of these having very different needs with regards to ICD-10, it was difficult to do any one training that would meet the needs for for all of these groups. Our project manager did end up doing somewhat different trainings for the various groups, for example physicians, home health, and skilled nursing facilities. Similar to your experience, even with all of the time alloted to get the training designed and implemented, it was necessarily done at the "last minute" because, especially with the government involvement, we were never sure that there would not be changes to guidelines prior to the date of implementation, which kept changing. You make a very good point about holding others accountable, I think that we often tend to think that if we are the project manager and therefore responsible for the overall project, we must do other people's work when they do not get it done (for whatever reason); however, in the end this leads to frustration for the project manager, resentment by the team member(s) and sometimes less than optimal project outcomes. You seem to have learned some very good lessons from this experience!
Brenda
This was a good project and though you seem to have judged yourself harshly, you did indeed meet the objectives set.Many a time,we do not factor in adjustments that we need to make to the initial training to meet the needs of the moment.I liked the fact that you were quick to make these adjustments and use 3 modules instead of 1.In my thinking,this type of training actually needed more than one module keeping in mind the numbers that needed to be trained.
ReplyDeleteYou have done a great job on this project Daniel, the whole health insurance changes from ICD-9 to ICD-10 was a nightmare for almost everyone in the industry. It is admirable that you held yourself accountable for not almost meeting the deadline, however, the other departments are to be held accountable as well. This is the part of the project where the project manager or the project management process requires a schedule, departments handing the required portions needed to complete the project on-time.
ReplyDeleteHi Daniel,
ReplyDeleteI am amazed when I see my classmates already undertaking such huge tasks. I am not sure that I would have been ready to complete a task such as this prior to the training we have received in this program. Even now, the magnitude of a project such as this seems scary. However, you seem like you are very organized. By saving all of your documentation and having it organized, you were able to quickly and accurately communicate with the necessary people throughout your project. I know that you were very hard on yourself as far as your success, but it sounds like you met your deadlines and were successful in your project. You have obviosly learned from some of your mistakes, such as holding your team accountable for their parts, particularly their deadlines. You mentioned the increased stress that this added. Just knowing what you know about that now, I am sure that you will work hard to make sure that your team is working hard to meet the requirements to avoid the added stress in the future.
Congratulations on your success.
Hi Daniel,
ReplyDeleteIt can be a daunting task when you have to work with little details and guidance. One of the first steps in project management is to ensure that the project is clearly defined and understood do that key stakeholders can buy in and you get the support that is needed.
You did a very good job at managing communication and being able to keep key stakeholders informed about your progress. This minimizes scope creep and conlicts.