How to Start an E-Learning Project Right

The question most e-learning projects skip

A manager walks into your office and says they need a course. Before you start thinking about slides, there’s a more fundamental question to answer.

Is a course actually the right solution?

Start with the real problem, not the requested output

People don’t sit around waiting to take e-learning courses. They do their jobs. Sometimes they need to know something new. Or sometimes their work objectives change. And that’s where training could be a potential solution.

Courses exist to solve something. The goal is to know what it’s solving. A lot of e-learning gets built by repurposing content that is already available with no real connection to any objective. For some reason, the organization thinks they need a course. Why?

Your first conversation with a client should focus on outcomes. What are they trying to change or improve? What does success look like? If they can’t answer those questions with observable actions or measurable outcomes, you’re probably not solving a training problem yet.

Questions to ask before you start building

Getting your client to think before you meet saves a lot of time. Send over a few core questions in advance so they come prepared. The initial conversation will go further when they’ve already considered the audience and what they want to achieve before meeting with you.

Here are the key areas to cover:

• Objectives: What does success look like? What should learners be able to do differently after the course? Often the answer is fuzzy because they want explainer content and not real training.
• Timeline: When is this due? How much time is available for development?
• Existing resources: Are there existing materials, data, or subject matter experts to work with?
• Budget: Does this project have funding for assets, media, or outside expertise? If not, and you need to create assets, make sure to include that in your time budget.
• Sign-off authority: Who has final approval? Get that person involved early, before you build anything substantial. It never fails that the final authority steps in to review things when you’re almost done.

Nail down next steps before the meeting ends

Leave every meeting with clear action items. If a meeting doesn’t produce at least one decision, it probably wasn’t necessary. The goal is to keep momentum and avoid the late-stage surprises that come from unanswered questions.

Here are some free project documents to help you get started.

Key takeaways

Starting a project well is mostly about asking the right questions early. The more clarity you establish upfront, the fewer major revisions you’ll face later. As you take on more projects, these questions become second nature. Your clients will start to see you as someone who helps them think, not just someone who builds slides.