Asking Questions

Keep Your Projects On Target

Our 7Q Framework brings clarity to projects by asking and answering seven essential questions early and intentionally returning to them. It’s simple, adaptable, and process-agnostic. It’s a practical way to reduce rework and improve outcomes over time.

Make Clear Decisions

Who is the audience for this training or learning program initiative?

What business and learning outcomes are we targeting in this effort?

When will this education initiative launch, expand, or evolve over time?

Where will this program be delivered, reinforced, and supported?

Why does this learning effort matter to solve specific business problems?

How will we build, deliver, and measure the program successfully?

… and then What will happen? How will the program change over time?

Across the Lifecycle

Choose a lifecycle stage to see what matters for the 7 questions during that stage.

Who is the audience?
Clarify primary vs secondary audiences. Identify job roles, experience levels, and business context. Avoid “everyone” — decide who matters most.
What are goals?
Define the outcome in terms of capability or behavior change, not just content completion. What should people be able to do differently?
When does training begin?
Align timing to real business events: product launch, onboarding, certification cycles. Avoid vague “as soon as possible.”
Where does training happen?
Decide delivery context early: LMS, live sessions, in-product, community, hybrid. This will affect everything downstream.
Why does this matter?
Tie the effort to performance, readiness, adoption, or business outcomes. This becomes your anchor for prioritization and stakeholder alignment.
How will we build, deliver, and measure?
Define the high-level approach. Build vs buy, synchronous vs async, internal vs external delivery, and how success will be observed.
… and then What?
Define what success looks like post-launch. What will you measure, what signals indicate success, and how will you iterate?
Who is the audience?
Narrow and segment. Define priority cohorts. Decide who is in scope now vs later.
What are goals?
Translate outcomes into specific learning objectives, capabilities, or use cases.
When does training begin?
Break timing into phases: pilot, launch, expansion. Identify dependencies.
Where does training happen?
Refine channels and environments. Confirm what platforms and touchpoints will actually be used.
Why does this matter?
Reconfirm value with stakeholders. Validate assumptions. Ensure alignment still holds.
How will we build, deliver, and measure?
Define scope boundaries. What content will be created? What will be excluded?
… and then What?
Decide what data will be collected and how. Plan feedback loops and early iteration checkpoints.
Who is the audience?
Design for real learners. Consider workflows, constraints, and prior knowledge.
What are goals?
Map objectives to modules, activities, or experiences. Ensure alignment between goals and content.
When does training begin?
Design for timing relevance. When will learners encounter each piece of content?
Where does training happen?
Design to the environment: classroom, digital, in-product, blended. Optimize for context.
Why does this matter?
Reinforce relevance inside the experience. Make the “why” visible to learners.
How will we build, deliver, and measure?
Define instructional approach, content formats, assessments, and engagement strategies.
… and then What?
Design measurement into the experience. Where will you capture signals of success or confusion?
Who is the audience?
Ensure content reflects real audience needs, language, and scenarios.
What are goals?
Confirm that content actually supports stated outcomes. Avoid drift into “nice-to-know.”
When does training begin?
Track development timelines against planned launch milestones.
Where does training happen?
Build for the actual platform and environment. Test compatibility early.
Why does this matter?
Keep purpose visible during build. Avoid over-engineering or losing focus.
How will we build, deliver, and measure?
Execute content production, assessments, and supporting materials.
… and then What?
Prepare measurement tools: surveys, analytics, completion tracking, performance signals.
Who is the audience?
Confirm actual participation matches intended audience. Identify gaps.
What are goals?
Reinforce expectations. Ensure learners understand what success looks like.
When does training begin?
Monitor timing in practice. Are learners engaging when expected?
Where does training happen?
Validate delivery channels. Are they accessible, effective, and used?
Why does this matter?
Reinforce value to learners and stakeholders. Drive engagement and adoption.
How will we build, deliver, and measure?
Execute delivery and begin collecting data in real time.
… and then What?
Capture early insights. What’s working? What’s not? What needs adjustment now?
Who is the audience?
Reassess audience reach and segmentation. Who benefited most? Who didn’t?
What are goals?
Evaluate outcomes vs expectations. Did behavior or performance change?
When does training begin?
Review timing effectiveness. Was training delivered at the right moment?
Where does training happen?
Analyze channel effectiveness. Which environments drove the most impact?
Why does this matter?
Validate business value. Did the effort improve readiness, adoption, or outcomes?
How will we build, deliver, and measure?
Identify improvements to approach, content, and delivery.
… and then What?
Decide next steps. Iterate, expand, refine, or sunset. Feed insights into the next cycle.