Plan a training project with ADDIE's five phases and know when SAM's rapid prototypes fit better.
Why it matters
Designing one workshop can be done on a notepad. Designing a ten-module onboarding program with subject-matter experts, reviewers, an e-learning developer and a launch date is a project. Instructional design models give that project a shared structure, so everyone knows what happens when and who signs off on what. The two you will meet most often are ADDIE and SAM.
ADDIE
ADDIE stands for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation. It grew out of systems approaches to training developed for the US military in the 1970s (Florida State University's Interservice Procedures for Instructional Systems Development, 1975), and the acronym became the standard label for the instructional systems design process.
| Phase | Key questions | Typical outputs |
|---|---|---|
| Analysis | What is the performance problem? Who are the learners? Is training the right solution? | Needs analysis, audience profile, constraints, goals |
| Design | What are the objectives, assessments and sequence? | Objectives, assessment plan, course outline, design document |
| Development | Build it | Slides, handouts, videos, e-learning, facilitator guide; pilot |
| Implementation | Deliver it | Scheduling, trainer preparation, enrollment, launch |
| Evaluation | Did it work? | Feedback, test results, on-the-job measures, revisions |
Evaluation is not only at the end. Good ADDIE projects run formative evaluation inside each phase (reviewing the design document, piloting materials) and summative evaluation after launch.
ADDIE for the Git workshop, scaled up
Suppose engineering leadership asks for "Git training for all 40 new hires this year".
- Analysis: interview two team leads and look at incidents. You find that the real problem is broken builds on
mainand lost work after bad merges, and that about half of new hires already know basic Git. - Design: objectives (from earlier lessons), a pre-assessment that routes experienced hires to an advanced track, assessments, a 90-minute workshop plus two spaced follow-ups.
- Development: practice repository, facilitator guide, slides, a five-minute video on recovering lost commits; pilot with four volunteers.
- Implementation: monthly sessions, booked through the learning management system.
- Evaluation: pre/post task results, a survey, and broken-build counts per new hire before and after.
Criticisms of ADDIE
ADDIE is often run as a strict waterfall: each phase finishes and is signed off before the next begins. Critics point out that stakeholders then see the real course only at the end, when changes are expensive, and that analysis and design documents can become paperwork rather than thinking. Most practitioners now run ADDIE iteratively, but the critique led to alternatives.
SAM
Michael Allen proposed the Successive Approximation Model (SAM) in Leaving ADDIE for SAM (Allen and Sites, 2012). It borrows from agile software development: build rough versions early, review them with real people, and improve in small cycles.
SAM has three phases:
- Preparation: gather background quickly (learners, goals, constraints). Hold a Savvy Start, a working session with stakeholders, subject experts and ideally learners, where the team brainstorms and sketches rough prototypes together.
- Iterative design: repeat design, prototype and review in short cycles (often three).
- Iterative development: build an alpha (complete but unpolished), then a beta (corrected), then a gold release, with review between each.
For the Git workshop, the Savvy Start might produce a paper prototype of the conflict exercise in the first afternoon. Running it with two new hires that week reveals that the instructions are confusing long before anyone builds polished slides.
Choosing between them
| Situation | Leans towards |
|---|---|
| Regulated or compliance training with formal sign-offs | ADDIE (clear documentation trail) |
| Stable content, experienced team, fixed scope | ADDIE |
| Unclear requirements, new audience, interactive e-learning | SAM |
| Stakeholders who need to see something to react to it | SAM |
In reality many teams blend them: ADDIE phases as the overall map, with rapid prototyping and pilots inside Design and Development. What matters is not the acronym but doing a real analysis, aligning objectives and assessments, testing with learners before launch, and evaluating afterwards.
Common mistakes
- Skipping Analysis because "they asked for training", then building training for a problem that was really about tools or incentives.
- Treating the design document as the goal.
- Showing stakeholders only finished work.
- Never closing the loop with Evaluation.
Quick recap
- ADDIE: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation.
- SAM: Preparation (Savvy Start), iterative design, iterative development (alpha, beta, gold).
- ADDIE gives structure and documentation; SAM gives early feedback.
- Most teams blend them; the essentials are analysis, alignment, testing and evaluation.
Try it
Answer the quiz on the Do tab. Then sketch which ADDIE phase each task in your current or next training project belongs to.