Every engagement runs through the same five stages. The depth of each stage changes with the work, and the last one changes shape depending on whether you are building a system or running one. The order does not change.
Discover
Clarify the audience and the roles, the performance need behind the request, the source material that actually exists, the constraints, the deadline, and the definition of done. This is also where we say so if the problem is not a training problem — a process, tooling, or supervision failure does not improve because someone builds a course about it.
Architect
Set the structure before anything expensive is produced: objectives tied to observable performance, curriculum map, format selection for each objective, assessment approach, dependencies, approval points, and an explicit boundary of what is in and out of scope.
Build
Produce the material to the agreed structure. Storyboard or prototype review happens before full production, because the cheapest time to change a decision is before it has been built forty times.
Validate
Check accuracy with subject-matter experts, test function in the target platform, and confirm accessibility and assessment decisions against the standards agreed at Architect. This supports accessibility improvement and alignment with agreed standards; it is not a certification.
Improve
Review what the feedback and the completion data show, then correct, update, or retire content deliberately rather than by accumulation.
What changes by commercial line
Build. The five stages run once, in sequence, and end at handoff: packaged files, organised source material, and written maintenance notes. Improve is the last stage.
Operate. Discover and Architect happen once, at onboarding, to establish the inventory, the ownership map, and the agreed boundary. Improve then becomes a continuing cycle on a fixed cadence rather than a final stage, and Build narrows to maintenance and scheduled revision rather than new production.
Partner. The stages run inside your process, not alongside it. Discover and Architect may already be done by your team, in which case the engagement starts at Build against your structure, your templates, and your review cycle — and Validate reports into your acceptance gate rather than replacing it.
What is fixed regardless
- Objectives are agreed before anyone estimates production.
- Assumptions, dependencies, and approval points are written down and visible.
- Review cycles have a defined number of rounds and a defined close.
- Accessibility is considered at Architect, not retrofitted at QA.
- Change is version-controlled, and what changed and who approved it is recorded.
- Source files are handed over organised, so the work can be maintained without us.
Have source material, a deadline, or a training problem?
Tell us what must be learned, what source material exists, who the learners are, and where the work is blocked.