Let’s be honest: Most learning and development teams are drowning in work.
Between managing SMEs, navigating shifting priorities and juggling five (or 15) projects at once, it’s no wonder things get delayed, scope creep sets in and momentum fizzles out. That’s why I built Lenny, the Llama Chat™, because I’ve lived that chaos and I knew there had to be a smarter way.
Lenny, the Llama Chat™ is our AI-powered learning partner, purpose-built to bring agile project management principles to instructional design. Not as a replacement for designers, but as an amplifier; tackling the administrative, the repetitive and the “can-you-just,” so our team can stay focused on strategy, storytelling, and learner experience.
I built it modeled after a few key LXD and project management principles and theories:
- Megan Torrance’s Lot Like Agile Management Approach (LLAMA) with a splash of SAM, because traditional models like ADDIE aren’t designed for the kind of rapid iteration our stakeholders demand.
- Trauma-informed SAM and ADDIE models, designed based on my own research with Integrate Trauma Informed Network; these trauma-informed models include WCAG 2 accessibility guidelines, operant and cognitive behavioral principles, guidelines on flicker rates and interaction triggers and parameters for cognitive load.
- The Kemp model of instructional design, a non-linear, iterative approach emphasizing flexibility and learner-centeredness.
Lenny, the Llama Chat™ helps our team chunk projects, align fast and iterate forward with less friction.
Lenny isn’t just another bot, it’s our learning design co-pilot.
Built to think like an LXD and act like a strategist, Lenny helps us cut through the noise and get straight to what matters:
- Writing learner-centered user stories grounded in real-world behavior.
- Prioritizing deliverables that actually move the needle.
- Coaching SMEs through scope conversations—minus the drama.
- Building sprint plans that honor both deadlines and mental bandwidth.
- Keeping teams aligned to business KPIs without drowning in email threads.
And the results speak for themselves:
Since integrating Lenny into our workflow, we’ve launched projects with 60 percent faster start-to-draft timelines and achieved strategic alignment in over 80 percent of our deliverables.
Lenny isn’t here to replace IDs. It’s here to amplify them.
This is what AI should do: elevate people, not replace them. Lenny, the Llama Chat™ frees us to lead like strategists, not just survive as task-jugglers.
It’s not magic. It’s mindset, plus method, plus machine.
