Root cause analysis and ADDIE

As instructional designers, when we are given a new project to do, we assume that training is the deliverable that we are supposed to create. Many of us are familiar with using the ADDIE proces to develop training: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation. However the ADDIE model has an emphasis on training as its goal, and typically the analysis pretty much assumes this as a starting point.

The system of root cause analysis is a process used to determine the underlying causes of a problem or performance gap, and what kind of intervention might be best to resolve it. Root Cause Analysis answers questions like "What's the problem? Why did it happen? and What can be done to prevent it?" It may become apparent that the best solution is something other than training, such as process improvement or redesign, or perhaps the tools used in the process made more usable.

There are often several possible points of intervention to improve outcomes. One point which is increasingly the focus of attention is the actual point of performance of a task. This is the point where Performance Support comes in.

-- From The Use of Manual Job Aids by Health Care Providers: What Do We Know? a white paper by Elisa Knebel of The Quality Assurance Project.

What is Performance Support?

• Planners are in our lives just before or after the challenge.
• Sidekicks are at our side during the task.

--[LINK]

The role of Performance Support

Benefits of Performance Support

1. Makes work simpler Performance support can take the complexity out of work processes and tools. Mobile devices that can receive up-to-date support or step-by-step procedures enables already trained workers to perform faster and more effectively.
2. Provides High Scalability As digital data, performance support can be deployed to a few people or to thousands of learners. Using the wireless Web as well as 3G technologies updates in both content and features can be distributed quickly and securely. For example, an organization can pilot a mobile application to a small group of workers for UAT, and roll it out across the business (once it has proven itself) with relatively little additional effort.
3. Provides a known baseline of competencies Performance support can reduce variability in the way workers perform tasks, which improves activity performance by underpinning an individual's judgment and decision-making abilities.
4. Allows non-experts to perform closer to the level of experts Performance support can enable individuals to perform with a similar pace and limited error rates as if they were more proficient than they actually are. Performance support can enhance the competence of an employee beyond the level of their training.
   
   
- from Gloria Gery: At the Moment of Need: Directly Supporting Doing, Learning, Referencing and Collaborating and Building a Performance Support Architecture. Moving Beyond Pilots [--view PPT]

Performance support tools

Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS)

Electronic Performance Support systems are usually online or desktop applications that are "structured to provide immediate, individualized on-line access to the full range of information, software, guidance, advice and assistance, data, images, tools, and assessment and monitoring systems to permit job performance with minimal support and intervention by others."

--from Electronic Performance Support Systems by Gloria Gery
Website: introduction to EPSS concepts