Instructional Operation Principles: Speed, Sanity, and Getting Things Done

Most instructional design work takes too long, costs too much, and ends up being overbuilt for a problem that already changed three times during development.

That’s not a failure of people. It’s a failure of operational clarity.

This is where Instructional Operation Principles come in.

These are not lofty values or high-minded theories. They’re ground rules. Constraints. Priorities. And they’re absolutely necessary if you want to build learning products that actually work and get out the door.

Why You Need Principles Before You Even Start

Designing without principles is like cooking without a recipe or a timer. You end up tossing in more stuff, hoping it’ll taste better, and hours later, you’ve made something way too complex that no one wants to eat.

Principles keep you honest.

They help you:

• Make faster decisions
• Stay focused on what actually matters
• Avoid scope creep
• Finish the thing

Without them, your team spins its wheels. Projects drag. Costs rise. Stakeholders get nervous. And worst of all, the actual problem you set out to solve is probably already irrelevant by the time you launch.

Let’s walk through my 10 principles and why they matter when building learning in the real world.

My 10 Instructional Operation Principles

1. If it’s important treat it as such. If it is not, don't do it unless you have to.

If you’re going to touch it, give it your full attention. Half-hearted effort leads to rework. If it’s not important, say no. If you say yes, act like it matters.

2. If it’s not proprietary, it’s already been built. Find it. Buy it.

There is no prize for reinventing compliance training. If someone else has already made a solid version, use it. Save your energy for the work that actually moves the needle.

3. If it’s proprietary, it should be built quickly.

If you must build from scratch, treat it like triage. Be surgical. Fast. Focused. Every delay is a risk because the business is already moving on.

4. If there is no executive commitment, then it's not important.

No support? Then treat this as a quick-turn pilot. Do it clean, do it fast, and move on. Don’t drag out a project no one’s watching.

5. If there is executive commitment, build quickly.

This is your window. You’ve got attention, access, and maybe even budget. Don’t waste it with analysis paralysis. Ship something useful while people still care.

6. The goal should be to finish a course in 1 week.

Yes, really. One week. Not to plan. To build. You’ll hit snags. You’ll pivot. But the constraint forces clarity and better trade-offs. Speed creates focus.

7. The design team has a fixed set of hours to complete the course.

No “just one more edit.” No endless cycles. Set the hours. Use them wisely. Let the clock be your boundary.

8. Assume a course may not be useful for more than 6 months.

Most content has a shorter shelf life than anyone wants to admit. Build for impact now, not for some long-term vision that never materializes.

9. If the content is a new technique or technology, build even faster.

Hot topics cool quickly. New tools get replaced. If you wait for perfect, you’ll launch something that’s already outdated. Build light. Ship early. Adjust if needed.

10. Spend the least amount of effort for the greatest impact.

This is the golden rule. No one gets points for effort. They get value from results. Your job is to maximize impact, not activity.

What Happens Without These Principles?

Simple. You build too much, too slow, for too little gain.

No principles means endless planning meetings, feature creep, and misaligned expectations. The scope balloons. Review cycles multiply. A three-week sprint turns into a four-month saga. Everyone’s tired, and the final product? Maybe decent. Maybe not.

And here’s the kicker: no instructional product is ever 100% successful.

It’s not because we’re doing it wrong. It’s because people are messy, jobs evolve, and performance problems rarely have a single cause.

But operating under these principles gives you the best shot at making something that helps within the time and resources you’ve actually got.

Instructional Design Is an Operational Game

Yes, it’s strategic. But if you don’t treat it like an operational discipline—with time limits, resource constraints, and clear rules—you’ll drown in your own good intentions.

Instructional Operation Principles are how you cut through the noise, get aligned, and get things done.

Want more impact?
Use these principles.
Want fewer regrets?
Use these principles.
Want to finish the work before the world moves on?

You already know what to do.