The Course Is Becoming the Exception, Not the Default

A course is a heavy response. It takes time to design, build, review, launch, complete, maintain, and measure. Yet many teams select it before they understand the problem.

01The default is expensive

A course is a heavy response. It takes time to design, build, review, launch, complete, maintain, and measure. Yet many teams select it before they understand the problem.

The request sounds like training, so the machinery starts moving.

02Many problems need a lighter response

If people already know what to do but cannot find the steps, give them support. If the process is confusing, fix the process. If managers send conflicting signals, align expectations. If the tool makes the right behavior painful, improve the tool.

A course should not absorb problems the organization is unwilling to own.

The course earns its place when the work requires sequence, practice, feedback, and protected attention.

03Some capabilities need a course

Courses remain valuable when people need a structured mental model, repeated practice, meaningful feedback, protected time, and a safe place to make mistakes.

Complex judgment cannot always be reduced to a checklist. New roles may need a deliberate path that builds capability over time.

04Use the smallest sufficient system

Start with the performance moment and design backward. Combine only what the work requires: practice, guidance, examples, coaching, reminders, or workflow changes.

Sometimes that system includes a course. Sometimes the course is one small part. Sometimes it does not appear at all.

05Change the burden of proof

The course should no longer be the default that alternatives must argue against. It should be an option that earns its cost.

That shift does not diminish instructional design. It frees designers to solve the actual problem instead of decorating the same answer every time.