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Major process and production reviews are key to eliminating the bottlenecks, burnout, errors, gaps in service, non-scalability, poor quality control, unresponsiveness to needs of users that typify the "cottage industry problem" in e-learning programs. Specialization and division of labor are not actually employed. Most institutions are unaware that what masquerades as a streamlined, high-tech "factory" is, in fact, a series of discrete, unconnected silos, where information is hoarded, valuable instructional technologists are hand-inputting what should be an automated process, content and learning objects are reinvented unnecessarily or trapped in legacy applications, and increases in volume cannot be easily accommodated.

Division of Labor. Perhaps the most dominant characteristic of the cottage industry problem in e-learning programs is faulty division of labor. Either there is very little division of labor, and one person is hand-crafting the entire course or program by himself or herself, or there is too much division of labor, and individual talent is being wasted by reducing tasks to mind-numbingly boring data entry, or by developing elements for "legacy" systems that are not object oriented.

Coordination and Sharing Instead of Siloing. This may seem a matter of common sense, but it is truly amazing how often it takes place. Instead of coordinating, sharing, and re-using objects, multi-use items (including logos and learning objects), departments often develop their own. This is a class example of "reinventing the wheel," which leads not only to inefficiency, but also to territoriality, "not invented here" syndrome," negative rivalry, secretiveness, and information hoarding. Leadership must step in and take a firm position, and actively defuse rivalry and suspicion so that people will be in a positive frame of mind and able to live outside their silos. It is important to keep in mind that silos were created for a reason. Silos protect, preserve, and camouflage. They are the natural way of conducting business when the organizational culture is typified by a feeling of vulnerability and outside threat, and individuals feel a need to barricade themselves against losses of revenue, information, personnel, or influence. An organizational restructuring is often necessary in order to make coordination a reality. The flow of information and activities should be clearly mapped out, with a diagram that everyone understands.

Work Flow Analysis. Finding out what work is being done and who really does the work is not always an easy task, particularly if individuals believe that their job performance could be evaluated, and the jobs that they have could be eliminated. For that reason, it is vital to conduct a work flow analysis in more than one way. The first analysis can consist of evaluation instruments, with an overt analysis with a combination of self-assessment and self-description, simultaneously with an assessment by the supervisor of the processes, staff competencies, and sequences of tasks. The second analysis is more "stealth" and involves "shadowing" an applicant or an actively enrolled student as their files progress through the system; and, by tracking what goes on in the actual development of a curriculum, course, or course template. Once the flow is defined, it is important identify the following:

1. Where and when does work "ping pong" (bounce around from one person to another, unproductively;
2. Where and when does work "double back" or "circle" — instead of moving forward, it moves back in the process;
3. Where do work processes funnel and hit "pinch points"? Once identified, it should be first priority to add additional staff in order to eliminate pinch points, bottlenecks, and funnels.

Task Families Identified. By assigning tasks to "task families," it is possible to cluster the work, and to assign specialists to related tasks within a family. This is at the heart of specialization and division of labor.

Task Responsibilities Identified. Rivalry and turf wars often result when more than one person has been assigned responsibility for the same task. This can result in conflicting instructions, frustration, and poor morale. Clear lines of responsibility should be established and communicated.

Tasks Assigned. Assigning tasks should be made with an eye to the overall sequence of events and flow. Further, even though there may be one person who is more adept at handling certain tasks, the tasks should be assigned with future needs and potential growth in mind. Assigning all the tasks to the most qualified person leads to silo formation and bottlenecks. Tasks should be distributed, with scalability in mind.

Task Frequencies Determined. Inefficiency is often caused when poor time management is employed, and tasks are conducted at too high a frequency. Instead, the tasks should have a sequence, and a schedule — not too rigid (don’t destroy responsiveness), but organized in a logical manner.

Inventories of Objects to be Created. In order to facilitate retrievable and reuse of reusable and sharable content objects, it is important to develop a classification scheme, together with a clear method for naming the files, and assigning them to shared, accessible archives.

Non-Variable vs. Variable Content. When developing templates for courses, and reusable objects, it is important to identify the variable and the non-variable content. Then, develop a method for clustering the variable content so that updates can be made efficiently. The more non-variable items that can be made, the better. These can be developed then reviewed and updated when deemed appropriate.

Appropriate Granularity. Content objects that are too small in size (the granularity is too fine) take too much time to organize and are difficult to manage. On the other hand, overly coarse granularity means that the entire object must be updated, and it becomes bulky and difficult to assign tasks. Coarse granularity results in silos and bottlenecks, because only one person may be able to work on the item as a whole. Once the large object is cut into smaller objects, it is easier to delegate and assign tasks.

Tasks and Objects Coordinated with Learning Objectives. It is easy for the entire organization to turn into a machine that begins to lose sight of the original reason for the various elements within the online program — the interfaces, the databases, the online course functional elements (discussion boards, chat, grade books, etc.), course content, course interactivity. One must constantly evaluate each element in terms of learning outcomes and objectives.

Instructional Design Corresponds with Inventories. Tasks and elements should be periodically reviewed by an instructional designer to make sure that as tasks are broken out and division of labor and specialization occur, they adhere to best practices and accepted standards.

Templates, Style Sheets. Use templates and style sheets in order to be able to assign tasks to more than person, and to streamline processes.

Doing It Right the First Time. One of the most maddening "cottage industry" traits is the fact that tasks often have to be repeated and redone because they are not done correctly the first time.

LMS-Independent Learning Objects and Approaches. Institutional decisions may result in frequent changes of software solutions, including the student portals, database programs, and learning management systems. As a result, it is often necessary to migrate data and/or repurpose objects. The more platform-independent a learning object, the better. Further, some scripts may not be as functional within some platforms, and thus it is often important to minimize or use the most basic possible in terms of java, javascript, flash, or domino applet applications.

Integrative Database Solutions (Fiscal / Registration / Courses / Payroll). The same process and productivity issues that surround a learning management system also apply to integrative database solutions. It is vitally important to understand the flow of tasks, and to build in checks and balances, as well as quality control.

Focus on Scalability. Making things functional at current volumes is nice, but stopping at that point is ill advised. It is important to move ahead and think of expanding and increasing volume in terms of users, content, objects, software solutions. Scalability is the key to success.

Mentored Tasks. Training should be continuous and based on experience and need. Mentoring is perhaps one of the best ways to transfer skills, as well as operational philosophies. Mentors and new mentees should be provided with appropriate incentives and rewards. 

Locus of Control: Avoid Unnecessary Intermediaries. Accountability for processes should stay as close as possible to the person who is using the elements. Introducing unnecessary intermediaries creates bottlenecks, or unexpected circumventions.

The topics listed above are vital in solving the cottage industry problem. Vigilance should be maintained, and process should be subjected to constant review and quality assurance. Ironically, division of labor and specialization taken to extremes can be, in the global environment, a contributing factor in another risk: "distributed sweatshops." Distributed sweatshops will be defined and dealt with in a future article.