3.10.1. Improving flight plan usability#
Tip
Separating operational data from instructional content improves both documentation quality and usability.
What we learned#
The flight plans have changed significantly since we started working on the course.
Our original flight plans tried to be everything: participant roster, observation notes, chat logs, and delivery guide all in one document. This created multiple problems. Documents became unwieldy to read and update. Data protection requirements meant we couldn’t share examples freely.
We found that separating the standard instructional content and session data into separate documents makes it easier to share and update documents. Participant lists, observations, and could be stored separately, to ensure compliance with data privacy.
We applied strict version control to the flight plans, and created a process to update the flight plans when we made changes to the course.
Why it matters#
This evolution enables:
Easier sharing of flight plans
Data privacy compliance without compromising quality
Cleaner version control and updates
Easier pattern extraction and improvement
Reduced work when updating flight plans
Practical implications#
Based on this learning, we:
Developed an app to manage session data, including participant lists, booking flows, and session records
Developed a process to update flight plans when we make changes to the course, which has evolved into an app which automates a lot of the process
Have audit trail of changes to the flight plans, which is useful for tracking changes and understanding the history of the flight plans