9 proven ways to speed up e-learning development (Plus the Best Rapid Authoring Tools)

Speeding up e-learning development means cutting the time between identifying a training need and getting content in front of learners, without cutting corners on accuracy or relevance.

The good news: most of the slowdown happens before a single slide is built. Fix the process, and the content follows faster.

Here are nine ways to do it.

1. Let SMEs take the lead with Employee-generated Learning

The fastest path from knowledge to training is a short one. Employee-generated Learning shortens it by putting content creation in the hands of the people who already know the material.

When subject-matter experts (SMEs) author their own training, they skip the back-and-forth with a central L&D team. They know what needs to be said, they write it, and they update it when things change. The result is content that is faster to produce and easier to keep current.

Danone did this at scale. Rather than routing all content through a central team or external vendors, Danone gave its global teams the tools to create e-learning independently. Within two years, more than 1,000 employees were authoring on-demand training, and development time dropped significantly as a result.

How to get started:

• Identify SMEs in your teams who can share their expertise.

• Give them an authoring tool that does not require design experience to use.

• Run a short onboarding session so they can start creating on day one.

• Set up a shared space where content can be uploaded, reviewed, and updated without going through L&D each time.

2. Break the work into manageable steps with agile development

Agile e-learning development means building a course one section at a time, reviewing it with stakeholders, then moving on rather than finishing everything before anyone sees it. That approach catches problems early, before they have a chance to blow up your timeline.

A compliance course is a good example. Instead of handing over a finished product for HR and legal to tear apart, a team spends two weeks on a single module, collects their input, and fixes issues before building the next one. By the time the course is done, it is already approved in pieces.

How to get started:

• Divide the project into modules or sections and treat each one as its own deliverable.

• Hold a short review with stakeholders after each section, not at the end of the project.

• Use a project tool like Trello or Asana to keep tasks visible and dependencies clear.

• Update the plan after each cycle based on what the feedback actually changes.

3. Use tools that make content creation faster

The right authoring platform can cut the time it takes to build a module from days to hours. Built-in templates, AI writing assistance, and a shared media library are the features that make the biggest difference.

De’Longhi is a practical example. Regional teams use a standard e-learning template whenever they need to create product update training for their market. They get it done faster, and the output follows the same governance guidelines every time.

How to get started:

• Choose a tool that is simple enough for subject-matter experts to use without L&D support.

• Look for AI assistance built into the authoring flow, not bolted on as an add-on.

• Give authors a short onboarding session so they can create independently from day one.

• Keep images, videos, and other assets in one shared library so nobody wastes time hunting for files.

4. Speed things up with microlearning

Microlearning means breaking training into short, focused modules that cover one concept at a time. Each module takes minutes to complete and is faster to build than a full course.

A two-hour workplace safety course, for example, can become a series of five-minute videos, one per topic: fire safety, ergonomics, hazardous materials. You can release them in phases, so employees start learning before the full programme is ready.

How to get started:

• Split your topic into the smallest units that still make sense on their own.

• Pick a format that matches the content: a short video for a process, an infographic for a checklist, a quiz to confirm a rule.

• Store modules somewhere learners can find them without asking anyone.

• Keep each module to one concept. If you need a second concept, make a second module.

5. Leave complex training to live sessions

Use blended learning to narrow down what actually needs to be built. Facts, processes, and step-by-step procedures translate well into self-paced modules. Skills practice, problem-solving, and judgment calls do not, and trying to build those into e-learning takes far longer than it should.

Move the complex stuff to live sessions instead, whether virtual or in-person. A 60-minute workshop is quicker to organize than a branching scenario with a dozen decision points. You get the depth without the production time.

How to get started:

• Build foundational knowledge as self-paced e-learning modules.

• Move practice, roleplay, and scenario work to live sessions.

• Use pre-designed templates for fast, consistent module creation.

• Use what you hear in live sessions to sharpen the e-learning basics.

6. Let regional teams handle localization

Localization moves faster when the people who know the language and culture do it themselves. For global organizations, handing localization to regional teams cuts out translation agency roundtrips and produces training that actually fits the audience.

Jon Withrington, Global Customer & Capability Education Manager at Keune Haircosmetics, put it plainly in Easygenerator’s Localization at Scale webinar: “What they did was that they sent everything to a translation agency. And what happened? Well, of course, when the translations came back, those translations lacked the precision because, of course, we go back to the word, like lingo, it’s these local nuggets.” His answer was to involve regional people from the start, not at the review stage.

Sodexo took the same approach. With a workforce spanning 130 nationalities, its central L&D team could not keep up with training demand. Instead of routing everything through headquarters, Sodexo gave regional teams access to Easygenerator so they could build training themselves, in their language, for their context. The result: learning modules produced 22 times faster, without a lengthy translation and approval cycle.

How to get started:

• Assign localization to regional team members who know the audience, not to a central team working through a translation agency.

• Give them a design framework covering tone, structure, and must-keep content so quality stays consistent across markets.

• Equip those teams with an authoring tool they can use without L&D support for every edit.

• Schedule periodic reviews to catch drift before it compounds across markets.

7. Speed up reviews by involving your team

Running reviews in parallel cuts the back-and-forth cycle in half. When multiple SMEs and team members check content at the same time, the workload splits and problems surface faster: a compliance specialist catches regulatory gaps, a colleague from the target audience flags anything unclear.

Take a module on data privacy laws. The SME who built it knows the subject. A peer in the compliance team verifies legal accuracy. A third person from the target audience flags anything that reads awkwardly. All three review at the same time instead of in sequence.

How to get started:

• Match reviewers to what they actually know: subject accuracy, tone, or audience fit.

• Give reviewers a short checklist so they know exactly what to look for.

• Use a tool that tracks comments and changes in one place, so nothing gets lost in email threads.

• Set a firm deadline. Open-ended reviews tend to drift.

8. Use learner feedback to keep improving

Learners tell you what’s not working faster than any review cycle will. A short survey at the end of a course surfaces problems you’d never catch from completion data alone, and fixing them is almost always quicker than a full redesign.

Say learners flag that the scenarios in a conflict resolution module feel nothing like their actual day-to-day. You update the examples. The course stays relevant without touching anything else. That’s the feedback loop at its most useful: small, specific, and fast. As Anjali Saraswathyamma, Global Digital Enablement Lead at Claroty, put it in Easygenerator’s Learning in the Flow of Work webinar: “Content is king. No matter what we do, if the content is not relevant, no one is really going to consume it.”

How to get started:

• Add a short feedback survey or open forum at the end of each course.

• Check responses on a set schedule and act on patterns, not one-off comments.

• Give SMEs a clear process for reviewing and applying feedback quickly.

• Tell learners when something changed because of their input. It builds trust and keeps the feedback coming.

9. Create clear roles to avoid bottlenecks

Splitting responsibilities between subject-matter experts (SMEs) and instructional designers is one of the simplest ways to speed up e-learning development. SMEs write the content they know. Instructional designers shape it for learners. Neither waits on the other to do both.

Take a financial compliance module. An SME drafts the content, an instructional designer adds a scenario and a knowledge check, and the module ships faster than if one person had to do everything. The work moves in parallel instead of in sequence.

How to get started:

• Write down who is responsible for what: content creation, review, and instructional design, before the project starts.

• Give SMEs a simple content template so they spend time on expertise, not formatting.

• Use a shared tool where both roles can see status and leave feedback without chasing each other by email.

• Run a short checklist at the end of each module to catch gaps before they become rework.

Conclusion

Faster e-learning development is mostly a process problem, not a resource problem. Most teams already have the expertise. It’s the handoffs, the waiting, and the rebuilding from scratch that eat the time.

The approaches on this page tend to have a compounding effect. Fix one bottleneck and the next one becomes easier to see. As Nelson Sivalingam, Founder and CEO of HowNow, put it: “No one gets to keep their job for being efficient at not delivering value.” Speed only matters if the training actually changes something.

Pick one or two ideas from this page that match your team’s biggest friction point right now. The rest can follow once you’ve seen what moves.