Primary Site Interview

Face-to-Face Interview with Mr. Miles Ford, Manager of Learning Content and Technology, and Mr. Doug Dillard, Senior Developer of Learning Content, February 11, 2020. 
Interview conducted in the office of Mr. Miles Ford


Name of technology coordinators being interviewed – Mr. Miles Ford, and Mr. Doug Dillard
What is your title? (Miles Ford) I am the Manager of Learning Content and Technology Shaw Industries. (Doug Dillard) I am the Senior Developer of Learning Content for Shaw Industries
What type of degree is required for your position? (Mr. Ford) The position required at least a Bachelor’s degree, but also required at least 5 years of experience developing learning content.
(Mr. Dillard) My position kind of evolved. I was in the sales force, and realized that we could better utilize the technology available, so I developed methods to incorporate Sales Force ™ into a platform our sales force could use. Now, the job title requires a degree and experience. I do have a BS in Computer Technologies from Colorado Technical University.
Where do you obtain your degree? (Mr. Ford) I have a Bachelors in English from the University of Illinois with a minor in Education.
(Mr. Dillard) Colorado Tech.
What are your job responsibilities? (Mr. Ford) My responsibilities are to design, develop, build, implement, assess, and revise all learning content for the entirety of Shaw Industries. This includes content for logistics including trucking, transportation, machine operators, nurses, legal departments, sales departments, onboarding, building maintenance, education departments, and all of the ethical and policy implementation that so enriches all of our lives (sarcasm indicated).
(Mr. Dillard) I develop what Miles tells me (laugh). I mostly deal with developing the actual content and making sure it is formatted correctly for any device – or for a particular device if that is what is required.
What platforms do you use to develop and produce your learning content?
(Mr. Dillard) We use several platforms. Articulate, Lectora, VYond for animation, Captivate, Snagit and Camtasia, Google suite stuff like Slides, you tube… several. I’m sure I’m leaving some out.
What are typical daily activities associated with your job?  (Mr. Ford) Well, we covered a lot of it, but we spend a lot of time evaluating the training requests and devising a means of assigning values to the requests. We spend a lot of time in the plants and mills observing what is done and how it is done. We do time studies, we look through case notes and studies, and we keep up with human resources needs.
(Mr. Dillard) I spend a lot of my day developing and revising content. The fun parts of some days are testing and evaluating software that might help us do our job more efficiently.
Do you have a budget that you control? How do you make decisions on selecting resources for your stakeholders? (Mr. Ford) No, we do not have an official operating budget that we control. We do try to be good stewards of our time and resources. In that way, we control part of the budget. Our budget concerns go through our boss Rhett Smith, Director of Learning Coordination.  
Have you had an opportunity to impact technology implementation throughout your business? Would you describe a specific example? (Mr. Ford) Yes. I got to develop an e-learning authoring tool. I saw a need for a hosted learning site. I proposed a solution, and was given the authority to design the tool and work with web developers on content and hosting. So, be careful what you suggest to your boss!
(Mr. Dillard) I have gotten to work on a lot of projects. I began developing learning tools when Iwas in the navy, and I actually got to bring some of the same things to Shaw. I developed a training application for the sales force to use on the iPad. They needed a means of connecting to the Workforce ™ platform while in the field. I got to work on a Bloomfire ™ iPad app, and developed a sales LMS.
Do you have a technology committee? How are technology decisions made? (Mr. Ford) Information Technologies department decides what technology we are going to use. The machinery has to work within the organization, and standardization is important. We do get to make suggestions and requests. The iPads that our salesmen carry is an example of a suggestion we made. The laptops and Surface ™ machines were too big to carry around.
What is the best part of your job? (Mr. Ford) The best part is that it is never the same job twice. We get to work in so many departments and with so many people, that the job is constantly changing. Your appointment is the most time I’ve spent in my office this week. I get fulfillment from being a real resource for the company.
(Mr. Dillard) The same for me. What we do has a lasting impact on people’s lives and helps them get the most from their time working. The biggest thing we do is improvement. Everything we do is an attempt to improve situations and outcomes.
What do you find to be the most challenging part of your job? (Mr. Ford) Time management is the most challenging part of my job. Everybody wants their training developed and delivered quickly. Most do not really understand all that goes into designing and delivering a quality training product. Add to that that we are woefully understaffed. We have a lot of projects that get delayed. Priorities change, projects get pushed back. They are all important to us, but what is most important gets put forward.
(Mr. Dillard) True! And we field the problems of the entire company. That is several thousand employees in several countries and multiple states. It can be a pressure cooker, but all of the challenges make it an exciting job.
After completing the Q/A session, we spoke about the project and what they envisioned. They liked the screen cast idea and wanted me to be sure and include cell formatting, show online templates, show the search capabilities, show the included tutorials, and include some quality tutorial sites that students could access for more learning.

Mr. Miles Ford:

Mr. Doug Dillard:



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