Beyond ADDIE: A New Target Operating Model for the Agentic L&D Team
At the Learning Technologies Autumn Forum, online this October, Lori Niles-Hofmann will introduce a new target operating model for L&D built around orchestration.
ADDIE was built for a world of relatively static courses and predictable development timelines. Today, learning has the potential to move at the pace of the business, draw from content that changes continuously, and respond to individual context in real time. In that environment, traditional linear design models can quickly become a constraint.
In this session, Lori Niles-Hofmann will introduce a new target operating model for L&D built around orchestration. Rather than designing every learning experience from a blank page, teams increasingly need to curate, sequence, and automate learning across an ecosystem of existing content, data, platforms, and AI tools. This shift changes not only the workflow, but also the role of the instructional designer — from primarily creating content to architecting experiences.
The session will explore what this emerging model means for L&D roles, processes, and content pipelines. Attendees will consider the difference between simply automating existing processes and orchestrating more dynamic learning experiences, and how to determine which elements of their current operating model should be retained, retired, or rebuilt.
Key topics include:
- Why linear design models struggle with AI-era speed and personalisation
- The difference between automating a process and orchestrating an experience
- How orchestration changes the role of the instructional designer
- A working model for restructuring L&D roles, workflows, and content pipelines
- How to identify what to keep, retire, or rebuild in an existing L&D operating model
"Beyond ADDIE: A New Target Operating Model for the Agentic L&D Team" takes place at the LTAF 2026 online event on Tuesday, October 20, 2026 09:30 to 10:30.
The Learning Technologies Autumn Forum takes place online on 13, 15, 20 and 22 October. The conference programme is available from the Learning Technologies Autumn Forum website.
Lori Niles-Hofmann, EdTech & AI Strategist, 8Levers
Lori is a senior learning strategist with over 20 years of L&D experience across many industries, including international banking, management consulting, and marketing. She specialises in large-scale digital learning transformations and is passionate about helping companies navigate through the ambiguity of change.