SOAR Course Progress Review — 2026-03-13

Overview

Weekly progress check on the SOAR course development with Gus Donelson (Agility Recovery) and Isalia Ramirez (Asymmetric). Primary topics: Co-Pilot demo recording access and editing, course restructure from 4 weeks to 2 weeks, upcoming Abby meeting to finalize the sales tool outline, and Gus's evaluation of Vyond for future content production.

Attendees:
- Gus Donelson — Agility Recovery (client)
- Isalia Ramirez — Asymmetric (project lead)
- Mark Hope — Asymmetric

Key Decisions

Course Condensed to 2 Weeks

The SOAR course will be restructured from a 4-week to a 2-week schedule. The original 4-week design assumed a cohort model (10+ people, 40 hrs/week) that doesn't reflect reality. The actual delivery model is 1-on-1 or 2-on-1, with a few hours of engagement per day. Feedback from Agility Recovery's new CPO — who found the course "exhausting" and "just stupid reading" — accelerated this decision.

The revised schedule should reflect lighter daily loads with discussion and activities built in, not just reading. Isalia had already begun adapting the facilitator guides for the 1:1 format; this work now extends to the full program agenda.

Co-Pilot Demo Recordings: Access Resolved

Gus recorded five Co-Pilot demo recordings in Microsoft Teams. Initial access was blocked because permissions were set per-file rather than at the folder level. Gus granted Isalia full folder access during the call. Isalia confirmed she can now see all five recordings.

One recording contains a profanity blooper near the end of an otherwise usable segment. Isalia will edit it out. Gus also prefers his webcam feed removed from the recordings — screen-only output is preferred.

Abby Meeting Confirmed

A meeting with Abby (internal Agility Recovery stakeholder) is confirmed for the following week to finalize the sales tool outline. Isalia will review Gus's comments on the outline before that meeting. Gus will nudge Abby to upload any missing documents to the shared folder — a quick check before the call found no new uploads yet.

Action Items

[ ] Isalia — Review all five Co-Pilot Teams recordings; edit out profanity blooper from recording 1; remove Gus's webcam feed if possible; integrate into course module
[ ] Isalia — Review Gus's comments on the sales tool outline; prep for Abby meeting next week
[ ] Isalia — Draft revised 2-week 1:1/2:1 course agenda; send to Gus ahead of his business review on the 20th
[ ] Gus — Review Participant Guide and Facilitator Guide shared by Isalia earlier this week
[ ] Gus — Nudge Abby to upload missing documents to the shared folder
[ ] Gus — Attend Vyond sales call (Monday)

Topic Notes

SOAR Course Restructure

The original agenda was built for a classroom cohort that never materialized. The new CPO's candid feedback ("change up your training") gave Gus cover to push for a redesign. Key parameters for the revised agenda:

Duration: ~2 weeks (not 4)
Daily load: A few hours, not full days
Format: 1-on-1 or 2-on-1 with Gus; learner does some independent work between sessions
Modules: Foundational content (agility history, storytelling, verticals, products); presentation skills and other electives are separate

Isalia noted she already reworked the guides with the 1:1 mindset after an earlier conversation — the agenda restructure is a natural extension of that work. Target: draft ready before Gus's business review on the 20th.

Co-Pilot Demo Recordings

Five recordings exist in a Teams meeting folder. Access issue was a permissions misconfiguration (individual file permissions vs. folder-level). Resolved during the call.

Editing notes from Gus:
- Recording 1 has an F-bomb near the end — otherwise usable
- Gus's webcam appears as a picture-in-picture; he prefers screen-only
- "Honest, open feedback of bleh is completely acceptable" — Gus acknowledged the recordings are rough

Sales Tool Outline & Facilitator Guide

Sales tool outline: Gus left comments; Isalia will review next week. Notes are mostly verification items and additions to confirm with Abby. A sales rep with production experience has agreed to help record content — he brings both on-camera comfort and strong tech-stack knowledge, which may surface angles Gus and Isalia wouldn't think of.
Facilitator guide: Isalia shared the Participant and Facilitator Guides earlier in the week. Gus will review; plans to start same day (his last meeting of the day).

Vyond — AI Video Tool Evaluation

Gus is evaluating Vyond (AI video production software, ~$1,000–$1,200/yr) to simplify future content creation. His wife uses it at her company and finds it easy. Gus has a sales call scheduled for Monday. Goal: produce training videos without requiring video editing expertise. If approved, Vyond would support both the SOAR course and a future ongoing education program.

Ongoing Education & Learning Culture

Gus wants to build a recurring education program for existing employees but hasn't landed on a format. Challenges:
- Two distinct employee groups with different skill development needs
- Inconsistent demand makes it hard to build a sustainable cadence
- He doesn't want to launch something he can't maintain consistently

Separately, Gus is actively working to shift Agility Recovery's culture away from reactive "build a one-pager" thinking toward proactive self-education. Current state: no learning culture existed before Gus joined (he is the company's first trainer). Leadership defaults to requesting training for issues that aren't training problems (e.g., reps not pitching a product — a motivation/coaching issue, not a knowledge gap).

A coaching conversation Gus initiated with an AE that same day illustrated the gap: the rep panicked, assumed she was in trouble, and called Gus immediately rather than waiting for the scheduled debrief. Gus and Isalia flagged this as a potential future conversation topic — how to embed learning culture messaging into the course materials themselves.

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