’Twasthe night before rollout and all ’cross the floor,
trainers were scurrying to get the courseout the door.
With stuff scattered about with no reasonor rhyme,
they still hoped it would all cometogether on time.
Instructors were nestled all snug intheir beds,
while visions of full classrooms dancedin their heads.
Designers were making their last minutetweaks,
hoping to stay clear of the programmergeeks.
Dozens of objectives written that fewwill read,
500 slides ready, just in case there’s aneed.
Handouts are copied with that sweetXeroxing sound,
and put into binders weighing more than 10pounds.
We remember how it started some 12 weeksago,
we were just sitting around, as theworkday was slow.
When all of a sudden there appeared sucha clatter,
we sprang up and ran out to see what wasthe matter.
The business was in crisis, a course hadto be done,
or the world would end, and that’s nofun.
Our VP came today to speak to us all,
and we listened intently to her clarioncall:
Now designers! Now developers!
Now SMEs too!
Now artists! Now programmers!
Now instructors old and new!
Now IT! Now HR!
Now departments big and small!
Now train away! Train away!
Train away all!
Then sometime last month the course wasupended,
when the boss decided it all must beblended.
This wasn’t the first time it was alltorn apart,
the team had a tendency to put horseafter cart.
Today it’s loaded on the LMS with care,
in hopes that enrollments soon would bethere.
The course was great, there was nothingit lacked,
except we forgot just one simple fact.
We never talked to the client, not once,it’s true,
so we never found out that their strategywas through.
Their business had changed and had allturned around,
the course we had built was no longersound.
Nobody told us, we put our heads in thesand,
we only wanted to make our course grand.
We have lots of cool stuff but won’t meetthe need,
it’s great to look at but useless,indeed.
Now the night before rollout we still haveno clue,
that the course will fail miserably,there’s nothing we can do.
Although interactivity’s such a beautifulthing,
we ignored the first rule, that contentis king.
As we shut down the office to go drinkand have fun,
our manager took off, saying job welldone.
And we heard him exclaim as he drove outof sight,
“Happy training to all, and to all a goodnight!”
(Apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)
