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Learning Development Prioritization Process

Dual-Track System: Maintenance + Development

This process separates maintenance work (updates to existing courses) from development work (new courses and major initiatives). Each track has its own intake, prioritization, and approval workflow to ensure the Learning Development team balances operational needs with strategic growth.

Guiding Principles

This process is built on industry best practices and core principles that ensure strategic alignment, resource efficiency, and execution discipline:

Process Overview

Track 1: Maintenance

10-12% Team Capacity

Updates to existing published courses, bug fixes, minor content changes, regulatory updates.

  • Managed by Head of Learning Development
  • RICE prioritization framework
  • 48-hour triage, clear SLAs
  • No presidential approval needed

Track 2: Development

Remaining Capacity

New course creation, major redesigns, new product lines, platform capabilities.

  • Capital investment (requires approval)
  • Weighted scoring framework
  • Presidential review at weekly L10
  • Quarterly commitment cycle

Maintenance Process

Maintenance Workflow

1
Submit Request
Via Maintenance Request Form
2
Triage
Head of LD reviews within 48 hours
3
Prioritize
RICE scoring, added to backlog
4
Execute
Assigned within capacity allocation
5
Complete
Requestor notified

RICE Prioritization Framework

RICE Score = (Reach × Impact × Confidence) / Effort

Factor Scale Description
Reach 1-5 How many learners/courses affected? (1=Single low-enrollment, 5=Multiple high-enrollment or regulatory mandate)
Impact 1-5 What happens if we don't fix? (1=Minor cosmetic, 5=Critical/blocking/non-compliance)
Confidence 50-100% How certain are estimates? (50%=guess, 80%=some data, 100%=verified)
Effort Hours Estimated hours to complete (actual number, e.g., 2, 8, 16)
Maintenance SLAs: Critical (1 week), High (2 weeks), Medium (4 weeks), Low (8 weeks)

Development Process

Development Workflow

1
Submit Brief
Complete Development Project Brief
2
Review
Head of LD validates feasibility
3
Score
President scores at L10
4
Prioritize
Ranked in Development Pipeline
5
Commit
Quarterly commitment, project launch

Weighted Scoring Framework

Total Score = (Strategic × 0.25) + (Financial × 0.20) + (GTM × 0.20) + (Urgency × 0.15) + (Risk × 0.10) + (Efficiency × 0.10)

Criterion Weight Scale (1-5)
Strategic Alignment 25% 5=Core to strategy, 3=Aligned, 1=Tangential
Financial Return 20% 5=>300% ROI, 4=200-300%, 3=100-200%, 2=50-100%, 1=<50%
Go-to-Market Readiness 20% 5=Complete validated plan, 3=Partial plan, 1=No GTM plan
Time to Market / Urgency 15% 5=Critical deadline, 3=Seasonal opportunity, 1=No urgency
Risk / Feasibility 10% 5=Proven/low risk, 3=Moderate risk, 1=High risk/experimental
Resource Efficiency 10% 5=Small (<200h), 3=Medium (200-800h), 1=X-Large (>2000h)
L10 Integration: Development pipeline reviewed weekly at Leadership Team L10 meeting (15 min agenda slot after Scorecard Review, before Rock Review). Includes GTM plan review before committing resources.

Supporting Documents & Templates

📋
Maintenance Request Form
Standardized intake form for all maintenance requests. Captures course info, request type, urgency, and requestor details.
View Form Template
📄
Development Project Brief
1-2 page template for development requests. Includes strategic alignment, SPICED business case, ROI estimate, and dependencies.
View Brief Template
📊
Maintenance Backlog (Kanban)
Live view of all maintenance requests by status: Submitted → Triaged → This Week → In Progress → Done.
View Backlog
🎯
Development Pipeline
Ranked list of all development projects with scores, status, and quarterly commitments. Updated weekly at L10.
View Pipeline
📈
Capacity Dashboard
Real-time view of team capacity utilization: maintenance allocation, development hours committed, available capacity.
View Dashboard
📚
Process Documentation
Complete process guide including workflows, scoring frameworks, roles & responsibilities, FAQs, and implementation roadmap.
View Full Guide

Key Roles & Responsibilities

Head of Learning Development

President (Glenn Bosch)

Leadership Team

Head of Revenue (Primary GTM Owner)

GTM Ownership Rule: Request sponsor owns GTM planning by default. Since Revenue owns markets (B2C, B2B, partner channels), most GTM plans will be owned by Head of Revenue. Exceptions: Internal-facing projects (platform tools, delivery improvements) where sponsor owns internal stakeholder adoption.

Success Metrics

Metric Target Tracked
Maintenance capacity utilization 10-12% Weekly
Maintenance SLA compliance >90% Monthly
Development projects on time >80% Quarterly
Development projects on budget >80% Quarterly
Team capacity utilization 85-95% Weekly
Pipeline velocity 3-5 projects/quarter Quarterly

Implementation Roadmap

Week 1: Setup

Weeks 2-4: Pilot

Week 5: Refine & Lock In

Ongoing: Quarterly Reviews

Alignment with WKT's RevOps Model

This process enables WKT's RevOps revenue model (Demand → Revenue → Delivery) by ensuring Learning Development supports all three functions strategically, not reactively.

Cross-Functional Support

Learning Development sits at the intersection of all three revenue functions:

The weighted scoring ensures no single function monopolizes Learning Dev capacity. A Demand request (landing page) competes fairly against a Revenue request (new course) based on Strategic + Financial + GTM + Urgency + Risk + Efficiency.

GTM Ownership with Revenue

Since Head of Revenue owns markets (B2C, B2B, SFP partners), most development projects require Revenue to own go-to-market planning. This prevents "build it and hope" projects and ensures Learning Dev output aligns with revenue strategy.

Prevents Misalignment

Without this process:

L10 integration surfaces conflicts early and forces cross-functional collaboration before resource commitment.

Compensates for Missing RevOps Enablement

WKT doesn't yet have a RevOps Enablement Manager. This process compensates by:

When RevOps Enablement fills: They'll validate GTM plans with data/benchmarks, track post-launch performance vs. projections, and close the feedback loop that this process currently doesn't capture.

What's Still Missing

This process ends at "Launched." The RevOps model requires a post-launch feedback loop:

RevOps Enablement will close this loop by tracking actual vs. projected outcomes and feeding learnings back into future prioritization.