Joe Harless passed awayon October 4, 2012. Joe was tremendously respected by many inthe human performance technology field, from the thought leaders to those of usin the trenches. His LinkedIn profile says he was an “independent think tanksprofessional.” He was exactly that, and much more.
Harless had a hugeinfluence on the practice of performance analysis and support, instructionaldesign, and consulting for over 30 years. Much of what we do in these fieldstoday came from or was heavily influenced by Joe and the members of the HarlessPerformance Guild that he founded. Many experts attribute the origins of theADDIE model to Joe Harless; long before that acronym appeared, he proposed aperformance technology process model consisting of five elements: analysis,design, development and testing, implementation, and evaluation.
Beyond that, Harless was best known fororiginating and promoting the approach known as front-end analysis (FEA), andfor his JAWS (job aid workshop). Joe was all about being systematic and allabout accomplishments, not about an individual’s performance or knowledge. Itwas critical that the human performance technologist maintain focus on businessoutcomes—to begin, as others have said, with the end in mind—and on developinga partnership with clients.
Allison Rossett, a member of TheeLearning Guild’s Advisory Board, commented, “I admired so much about Joe. He was irreverent, smart, brash,surprising, and practical. No goal overwhelmed him. Here’s an example—the guythought he could fix the public schools and he set out to do it. From what I’veheard, he did make a difference. Joe wrote a book called An Ounce of Analysis is Worth a Pound of Objectives. True then,true now. Joe got it. It’s a major loss and I’ve been sad ever since I heard he’dpassed.”
Three of the past presidents of theInternational Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) also provided commentsto Learning Solutions on Joe’s lifeand career.
Marc Rosenberg (ISPI President 1990-1991,and member of The eLearning Guild’s Advisory Board) observed, “Joe would most likely call himself ascientist. He truly believed that performance improvement was mostly science,with a little art thrown in. His pioneering work in ‘front-end analysis,’ aterm he coined, was just the most public of his many contributions. Hisclassic book, An Ounce of Analysis,is as valid today as it was when he published it decades ago, and it is stillessential reading. He was a staunch advocate of human performance technologyand made it work—both in the private sector and the public, including publiceducation, of which I think he was most proud. Joe spoke his mind and wasunafraid to challenge unfounded beliefs, especially among those in kindredfields such as training. To hear Joe speak with such passion and humor aboutwhat we were doing right—and what we were doing wrong—you couldn’t help butreexamine your own positions and recommit to do better, more impactful work.Joe Harless was a giant in the field and will be sorely missed.”
Ruth Clark,president of ISPI from 1996 to 1997, reflected, “Joe had many clients over theyears who used his ABCD (accomplishment-based curriculum development) method.As for me, many many years ago Joe wrote me a very kind acknowledgementregarding one of my first articles in P&I(Performance Improvement Journal, theISPI magazine). I was thrilled that he not only read the article, he tookthe time to write an encouraging note to a junior practitioner. Joeseemed liked the kind of person with the energy to be around forever. Even though he is gone, his legacy will endure. I know I share grief with allat his passing.”
Guy Wallace was ISPI president from 2003to 2004. He recalls, “Joe Harlesstaught me—and others—to never say no. I recall Joe on the stage at an NSPI (nowISPI) conference so many years ago—decades ago, actually. He was complainingabout how some in attendance, and in general, were offering advice about saying‘no’ to clients’ requests for training. He said something to the effect of, “whenyour client asks you for help in developing some training, do not, repeat, donot say (in a whiny voice), ‘Are you sure it’s a training problem!?!’ Insteadsay, ‘Yes—I can help you—and I can help you even more if we can do a littleanalysis first!” The way Joe was is the way Joe is—in my mind and in my heart.He will live forever with me for the decades of lessons I learned annually fromhis example: of always being willing to invite others into the conversation,the gathering, for serious talk about performance improvement, and for fun. AndI’m sure that’s the way he will live in the minds of hundreds of others.Generously sharing with others. Because that’s the way Joe was.”
To give you a little flavor of what theman was like, here’s a video of Joe at the ISPI 50th anniversary conference inToronto earlier this year: https://eppic.biz/2012/04/30/video-joe-harless-at-ispis-50th-anniversary-conference-in-toronto/
At Learning SolutionsMagazine and The eLearning Guild, we extend our condolences to Joe’s familyand to his many friends and colleagues around the world. We continue torecommend his books to anyone who wants to learn how to be truly effective atimproving the accomplishments of human beings and organizations. Joe Harlesswill be remembered and revered for many years for his spirit and hiscontributions.
