One of the interesting things about being a part of Learning Agency is that sometimes a project tests your patience more than it utilizes your skills. Even with extensive knowledge of curriculum development and learning experience design, success depends more on scope clarity than on that expertise. I recently worked on a multi-stakeholder bilingual project that began as a straightforward editing assignment. Though after the first meeting, the project quickly evolved into something more complex. It was a living example of how collaboration, scope, and feedback can shift much more quickly than the tools we are using. The process wasn't easy, and it was very stressful as a novice, but it taught me more about boundaries and leadership than any learning design course ever could.
When Roles Blur
At the start of the project, my role was clear: video editor. The main issue was that, as an English speaker, I was working on a project conducted entirely in Spanish, which would complicate transcription for captions and determining exactly when to splice clips. Even before the project began, my responsibilities had expanded to include both video editing and Spanish editing, a tricky, but doable combination.
After the first meeting, the project scope dramatically shifted. It was revealed that the deadline would be two weeks late,r and the deliverables were eight polished videos from professors across the country and world presenting on miscellaneous topics related to bilingualism, bilingual teachers, and bilingual pedagogy. With the videos came specific branding requests and detailed edits for the transcription, with some complex video edits.
Some branding elements, such as the slide deck the client wanted to use, were still in limbo due to external stakeholder schedules, which pushed back my timeline for completing the deliverables. The initial strategy of using AI to generate the transcript (since I am not a native Spanish speaker) ended up working against me, as the AI produced poor Spanish captions. The clients were dissatisfied with the design of the chapter titles and subtitles, focusing on specific aspects of the aesthetics rather than the content itself. The level of indecision made the two-week deadline nearly impossible to meet.
Recognizing this, I reached out to my faculty leads for support. It often felt as though I was carrying a tray of bricks on my back, and the deadline kept moving farther away. My leads decided to pivot to another software tool to assist with transcription, which provided a slight improvement but still failed to accurately capture the Spanish language. I ended up needing to change the transcription by hand in addition to editing the videos and integrating the slides. I was trying to organize something that increasingly felt like chaos.
Everyone involved meant well, and sometimes enthusiasm and feedback outpaced the structures in place. Decisions multiply when no one owns the creative direction or is unwilling to compromise on what is best for the learner. Logos change midway through review cycles, and feedback loops expand into endless iterations.
By the midpoint of the project, my responsibilities had expanded far beyond their original scope. I was functioning simultaneously as a video editor, Spanish transcript editor, brand consultant, and project manager. Yet, none of these tasks aligned with my original role as an instructional designer. This disconnect was disillusioning for me, as it highlighted how easily production demands and other adjacent roles can overshadow design's core purpose.
Role and project clarity is not rigidity; it's a form of focus for the client. Without it, even the most organized projects can drift into an unscoped mess.
The Emotional Labor of Iteration and Turning Ambiguity into Data
Effective collaboration requires early alignment, not endless agreement. The most productive moments happen when someone trusts me to make a design call and move forward. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter if a text box fades in or out – what matters is that it remains visible enough for the learner to stay oriented and aware of the content. This simple act of trust created a boundary that became a real turning point in meeting our deadlines.
It's easy to underestimate the emotional work that goes into creative productions. Each new round of revisions requires time — precious time— but also patience and professionalism. As my scope expanded from simply editing videos to manually transcribing, adding graphics, and managing specific client feedback, I found myself managing expectations as much as content, which meant balancing competing visions and shifting aesthetic preferences.
I had to stay calm throughout this process to conserve my energy, as this project began to wear on me and to maintain its integrity. A disorganized process leads to disorganized learning.
Eventually, I stopped seeing the uncertainty as chaos and started viewing it as information and data. Every delay, every new edit request, and every debate about aesthetics reflected a more profound truth: a system only functions as clearly as it is designed to. Ambiguity is a form of feedback, a signal that expectations and processes need refinement. Seeing it that way revealed that I am not "designing" the videos, but rather the workflow.
What I Learned
This project reminded me that instructional design rarely rests on content and technology workflows alone. It's navigating people, their assumptions, and preferences. It's about designing the conditions for creativity to flow without burning out the people responsible for making it happen.
In short, I learned to:
- Document decisions before implementing them.
- Clarify feedback and its meaning before implementation.
- Treat ambiguity as an opportunity for insight rather than an obstacle.
- Protect my creative bandwith as carefully I protect deadlines.
At the beginning of this experience, I felt I was managing a messy project. Instead, it was a direct lesson in real-world design and people management skills. That's what I've learned: what it means to design in the gray.
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