How it all started
I didn’t realize how much I liked building and managing programs until I worked at an academic summer program affectionately known as Explo. I spent my first summer as the registrar, making uncomfortable calls to parents to pay their tuition bills and hunt down medical records. I taught courses in short story writing, rugby, and acted as a resident assistant for a delightful group of high schoolers in a dorm on Yale University’s Old Campus. From there, I went on to learn more about building curriculums, managing academic programs, and how to handle questions like “Why do I have to drink water instead of soda all summer?”
My story
From Explo to Akamai to Amazon, I’ve been focused on learning how to make a person’s job easier. I believe well-developed and well-managed training and enablement can do that. Sometimes that requires building an eLearning course with animations, activities, and quizzes. Sometimes the best approach is a live training, focused on the current issue and how to solve it right now. And sometimes, the “problem” isn’t the problem at all and a deep analysis shows another issue at the root.
My approach
I believe in the deep dive. I want to know the ins and outs of what the organization is doing and what the goals are, both long and short term. How are teams structured? How open are they to change? How much time are they given for training? How can we make sure these learners are met where they are, when they need it? Time and resources are precious commodities and I want to make sure I’m not burning out subject matter experts and stakeholders. I work as much as possible on the back end to ensure each meeting and email is detailed and next steps are logged. I build a one-stop-shop with resources and calendars to make sure we’re all on the same page and those pages are easy to find. When I introduce myself to subject matter experts, I always say the same thing: “You are an expert in this subject and I am an expert in learning design. We’re going to work together to build the best possible resource by relying on each others’ expertise.”
As a Learning and Content Designer, Allanna exemplifies dedication to human-centered decision-making — whether designing a navigation for the customer-facing documentation website or structuring content so it eased customer understanding of complicated processes, logic and permissions.
— Sr Experience Designer
allanna wood 