How should Simply (Educational and Training Services) balance course depth versus breadth in its online learning platform?

Introduction

Balancing course depth versus breadth on Simply's online learning platform is a critical trade-off that directly impacts our educational value proposition and user engagement. This decision will shape our content strategy, user experience, and ultimately, our market position in the competitive e-learning landscape. I'll approach this analysis by examining key stakeholders, metrics, and potential experiments to inform our strategy.

Step 1

Clarifying Questions (3 minutes)

• Context: I'm thinking our current course offerings might be skewing towards one end of the spectrum. Could you give me a quick overview of our current course depth-to-breadth ratio?

Why it matters: Establishes our starting point for the analysis Expected answer: We have a mix, but slightly favoring breadth Impact on approach: Would focus on optimizing depth in key areas

• Business Context: Based on our revenue model, I assume we're looking at subscription growth. How does course depth or breadth typically correlate with user retention and lifetime value?

Why it matters: Aligns solution with core business metrics Expected answer: Deeper courses tend to increase retention but may slow initial growth Impact on approach: Would consider a phased approach, starting with breadth and gradually increasing depth

• User Impact: I'm curious about our user segments. Do we see different preferences for course depth versus breadth among, say, career changers versus skill upgraders?

Why it matters: Ensures we're catering to key user needs Expected answer: Career changers prefer depth, skill upgraders prefer breadth Impact on approach: Would suggest a personalized learning path strategy

• Technical Feasibility: Thinking about our platform capabilities, how easily can we adjust course depth or add new topics without major backend changes?

Why it matters: Determines the flexibility of our solution Expected answer: Fairly flexible, but deep courses require more resources Impact on approach: Would prioritize a modular course structure for scalability

• Resource Allocation: Given our current team structure, how would shifting towards deeper courses impact our content creation and maintenance workload?

Why it matters: Ensures solution is sustainable with current resources Expected answer: Significant increase in workload for deeper courses Impact on approach: Would consider partnerships or UGC for specialized, deep content