The problem
Global company needs to launch its Docebo learning management, but the project is behind schedule and the team has had employee turnover.
Fifteen months after executing a contract for a new Docebo learning management system, the platform still has not launched at a global corporation. There has been turnover on the project team. Some positions have turned over more than once. The previous teams have lacked experience in the LMS platform. Previous project managers built labyrinthine spreadsheets to map out their work on the project. The planning tool being used has tasks noted, but they are vague and lack detail.
After over a year since the contract has been signed, project sponsors and leaders are wondering if this project will ever deliver.
How can an at-risk project be stabilized and then executed for a successful launch?
How might we apply project management expertise and get the project back on track, while also delivering some wow-factor to users with product management best practices?
Results
Like a good Bon Jovi song, let’s get to the chorus.
Leveraging my dual certifications, which include PMP for project management and CSPO for product management, the team inherited a project that was livin’ on a prayer, but we weren’t runaways, we took our bad medicine, kept the faith and delivered.
Less than three months after joining the team, the company launched their Docebo LMS platform to sales teams and new hires. Using an agile project management approach, the “small but mighty” Learning & Development team delivers and continues to iterate and to improve the product with more value-add features.
The platform launched with courses supported in five (5) languages including: English, Chinese, Hebrew, Portuguese, and Spanish. Content was modernized and translated into supported languages.
Inheriting page designs and graphics from the previous team that did not look and feel like the company’s other systems, I executed a rebranding with page designs that meet brand standards so learners feel more “at home” with the platform.
Work continues as additional value-adds from the contract are deployed as we approach Q4 2026.
Project Management and Product Management best practices unleashed
Using a combination of Project Management methodology (PMP certified) and Product Management best practices (CSPO certified), I get to work on bringing this project back on track.
The project has a Microsoft planner board with various tasks listed, but the tasks are lacking key details. Many tasks have literally no description and just say vague categories like “Marketing”. Even worse, most tasks have not been assigned to a team member or have a due date.
My first week on the job, I fly to the company headquarters and meet the project team in person, and have multiple days of in-person meetings to get up to speed and ask questions.
During these meetings, we do the deep thinking and align on product vision and strategy, plus get in the weeds on a task level. Old-fashioned tools like index cards become our friend as we write out the tasks and detail them, and then organize the tasks.
Using project management concepts like the Critical Path, I begin to rebuild the project board by fully delineating the tasks. Every task has an owner, key details including notes and screenshots and links to relevant documentation from Docebo. Since our team is fully remote and spread out across multiple locations, the index cards must become tasks, organized in relevant “buckets” on our team’s planner board.
The team starts to think about the LMS in terms of “Jobs to Be Done” for the learner.
The First 30 Days: Alignment & Turnaround
It takes a team to accomplish meaningful work. Joining me as fellow new team members in March are terrific team members in the role of LMS administrator and a learning & development manager. The three of us work closely with our leader, who is three months into her new role as Director of the team. We build a healthy work environment with a foundation of trust and honesty.
As Project Manager on the team, I establish daily standup meetings, where we talk through the work we have in front of us. Meetings with additional stakeholders and product teams uncover additional needs that were not previously surfaced and documented by our predecessors.
In addition to organizing and planning the project work, I take an active role and get hands on in the grunt work needed to execute the project including course creation, organization, page design, and technical configurations.
Implementing LMS Best Practices
To make the platform a delight for learners to use, industry best practices for page design are implemented. Key learnings for elegant and intuitive page design, shared from fellow customers from industry conferences, make the platform look and feel like a premium learning environment
CSS coding unlocks full-width layouts and user-friendly “color blocks” that visually organize the course content into stories. To scale page development, style sheets are developed.
I deliver friendly training sessions followed up with persistent evergreen “how-to guides” for learners and power users.
Lastly, to make the platform fun, gamification elements including badges and leaderboards are implemented. To highlight monthly winners of the leaderboards around the globe, a fun campaign celebrates the winners and rewards them with the iconic green glasses of our LMS mascot.
Launching is just the beginning
Three months after joining the team, we have launched the Docebo LMS platform. Work continues thereafter to continue to iterate and improve the platform. More third-party learning systems are being integrated. And the rest of the Docebo contract features are being onboarded and rolled out.
Project management, product management, and work ethic combine to make a triple threat to get any job done the right way.
Final Thoughts
If you read my Case Study 1, these final thoughts will reiterate a few key points. For companies seeking to deliver a world-class learning experience to their teams, you must select the right technology partners and also find the right people to build and deliver the solutions.
Reflecting on this Docebo implementation, the success of the turnaround extended far beyond simply bringing software live. If you are implementing Docebo, partner with an experienced professional like me and you get extra:
Deep systems expertise and the communication skills to make the complex understandable.
Certified project management and product management credentials.
A love for learning and helping others (including previously working at an executive coaching company as their director of product).
Thanks for reading this, and please feel free to email me at BenBauman3@gmail.com or send me a text to kickoff a conversation.
Let’s build and launch something together. It’s the final countdown!
