Too often the approach to the overall training and learning strategy is vague leaving last minute or on-the-job training the only option. In some situations this is adequate, but a cohesive strategy will often be more cost effective in the long term and provide your team with an understanding of how their career development fits with the business strategy.

Knowledge Age can work with HR, Training and IT departments, as appropriate, to develop a Training and Learning Strategy that is pragmatic and in-line with the business strategy.

Our approach

No two training and learning strategies are ever the same - the current “as-is” position and the desired goals are normally different amongst organisations due to their organisational size, budgets, culture and geographical spread. Knowledge Age consultants can work with your team to understand the nature of the training and learning requirements, the business background and the general scope of the strategy.

Our approach would be holistic, with the scope extending beyond training to encompass any relevant skills-acquisition and skills-management process, such as: career-planning for key team members; managing and grooming key team members; recruiting; training and new skills required (technical and business skills); training options (including e-learning, self-paced, intranet reference etc); use of contractors. These recommendations would enable a skills strategy to be devised to fully support the business needs.

Training is most effective when focused on a specific need. Knowledge Age can perform training needs analysis at the corporate, departmental and individual level to uncover the skills needed to meet the strategic business objectives as well as those of the department and individual.

Our approach

Knowledge Age can work with your team and your management to understand what the goals of the business are.

The format of the individual training needs analysis depends on the number involved and the training goals, but will range from one-to-one interviews to using computer-based analysis tools. The depth of detail of the training-needs analysis will have been agreed on in advance and will depend on whether the aim is to provide training to meet a specific need or whether it is taking place as part of an overall skills-development process.

We present the results in an agreed format, ranging from an informal presentation/workshop through to more detailed analysis in a database or spreadsheet. Our findings are presented with recommendations for courses of action to address the identified skills gap.

While off-the-shelf training courses are readily available, their "one size fits all" approach can mean that delegates have to learn many topics which are not relevant to their needs. When training larger groups of people, it can be cost-effective to develop a course for that specific audience. Knowledge Age can customise and develop courses on a wide range of software project management and software engineering topics, with content focused specifically on the business need.

Our approach

Knowledge Age will first work to help to define the training requirements and then ascertain whether there is a standard course which would meet the defined need or whether a tailored course should be created from elements of current courses. Where a bespoke course is required, we will work closely with the client to understand what the course must cover, before proposing a course structure – to include key topics, learning points and logistics, such as duration and workshop elements. We would then develop the course, feeding sections of the course back to the client, as appropriate, for input and improvement. Once the developed course is complete, it can be piloted with a test audience, the feedback from which will help to further refine the course. The finalised course is then delivered to the target audience, along agreed timescales.

Because the course is being developed from the ground up, elements of different training media can be combined into one cohesive training program – for example, using CBT, self-paced books or e-learning, to support the classroom training. If required, the entire course can be non-classroom.

Knowledge Age follows a structured approach to deliver this service to ensure that content is:

• relevant to the needs and expectations of users
• accessible to the range of technology available to users
• useable and functional
• pedagogically sound and cohesive

The main principles used in our approach include:

• the active involvement of users, such as trainers and users (User Focus Groups (UFGs))
• obtaining feedback from users at all stages of development, from simple paper mock-ups to online prototypes
• the use of multidisciplinary development teams to ensure both pedagogical and technical quality
• using the most appropriate media for the content, taking into account the context of use, audience skills and access to technologies

The client will receive the exact course required, of an agreed duration. Delegates will also receive any developed courseware, with associated self-paced commercial training books, if appropriate.

• Do you have problems keeping abreast of new developments, trends and their business implications?
• Confused by thousands of acronyms and their relevance to your business?
• Do you need to raise awareness or initiate a discussion about particular methodology?
• Do you want to better understand benefits and risks and current trends?
• Do you need to get some ideas on how your competitors could use trends as a threat?

Knowledge Age can provide a service to keep organizations updated with methodologies, technologies and trends relevant to the business strategy. This can be on a one-off basis or as a regular proactive service. The information is presented in a lively, business-relevant way as part of interactive briefings.

Our approach

Our approach depends on whether you require a one-off briefing or a regular service.

For a one-off briefing, we would quickly ascertain those trends which are of interest to you. Then we would research and prepare a briefing of an agreed duration. This may be a technical briefing or maybe non-technical, focusing on the business impact of new technologies or methodologies: how can trends be exploited; how will competitors use these as a threat; what are the overall benefits and risks? The briefing would then take place, using a format which facilitates discussion, rather than being a one-way process. The goal at the end is to draw some practical conclusions and actions about the technology or the methodology.

Where a more regular service is required, it is important to determine the strategy of the business to assess which technologies the organization should be monitoring and aware of.

Briefings are scheduled as required, perhaps once each quarter, to keep companies updated about all relevant technology issues which affect their business strategy.

Where required, Knowledge Age can make recommendations about how the company can exploit technology and the skills implications of such implementations.

Some Previous Briefings:

• Why all the buzz about Agile?
• Benefits of PMO.
• Methodologies Quagmire.
• CMMI ROI.
• Agile methodologies and capitalization policy.
• Driving innovation through agility.

Training provides a basis for knowledge acquisition and a level of practical experience that can be used immediately on the job. However, even from the very best training there is still a requirement to consolidate the newly learnt skills through practical experience and working alongside experts in the area who can provide advice and guidance. Experienced Knowledge Age consultants can provide guidance, answer questions and resolve problems as projects are started or new methodologies used. The emphasis is on skills transfer to support and coach the person or team rather than the classic consultancy approach.

The benefits of mentoring include reduced risk, additional management support mechanisms, rapid project initiation, on the job knowledge transfer and consolidation of classroom knowledge in a safe environment.

Our approach

The first task will be to understand the requirement and to identify the most appropriate solution that Knowledge Age can provide. A mentoring project definition plan will be produced which will clearly show the business objectives and the associated activities required by Knowledge Age to satisfy them.

The mentor(s) will work directly with the individuals or group, providing guidance, reviewing documents, facilitating workshops and resolving problems.

Depending on the nature of the work, a review of the project is often undertaken at project milestone phases comprising a written report and review sessions.

Mentoring projects are by their very nature flexible and no two engagements are ever the same. A mentoring project may be a short duration consisting of a number of review sessions or it may be for a few days per month for the whole duration of the project. Knowledge Age will work closely with the client to ensure the most appropriate and cost effective service is developed.

A benefit of an on-site course is that you decide where and when courses are held. All our courses are modular and new material can be created if required.

Knowledge Age can tailor its courses to reflect your industry, corporate culture, goals and schedule. We can also create customized course catalogs that reflect your organization's specific course offerings, schedules, training objectives and professional curriculum path.

At Knowledge Age we are rarely impressed by latest buzzwords, "hot new methodologies" or anybody's "wave of the future" marketing spin.

We realize that each company has unique issues and there is no one-size-fits all solution. We believe in a customized approach based on each client's business driven needs, people, current policies, processes and procedures.

Our approach is best described by "we learn". We constantly learn about all the latest technologies, methodologies and buzzwords. On the assignment, we learn about your organization, your business needs, your people and your problems. We harness all that knowledge, take into account the unique challenges of your project and then team up with you to create the best possible solution.

Our approach varies from case to case, but some fairly typical sample steps in our consulting approach are:

• We begin the process by qualifying and quantifying your business goals and your expectations.
• Usually, we perform an introductory meeting with all or selected members of your staff on which we introduce ourselves, present our view of the goals we are trying to achieve and explain how we plan to move forward, what they can expect from us and what we expect from the organization.
• We then interview your staff, investigate your procedures, tools and templates; review your documents and artifacts and learn about your processes. We always try to build on top of the processes actually being used because acceptance and success chances of our changes are greater if there is a commonality with the established processes in your organization.
• By comparing the current situation with the desired goals, we can make specific and detailed Action Plan.
• We publish the Action Plan, gather feedback, develop it further, approve it and start the implementation.
• We determine, develop/acquire and deliver appropriate training and mentoring and evaluate and propose tools to be procured.
• We also implement measurements and processes that will be used to track the success of the Action Plan. We constantly monitor those measurements and track risks and adjust the Action Plan accordingly.