The EBD Show

The chapter where a simple task becomes a six-module prequel trilogy nobody asked for. In this episode, we crack open Chapter 10: The Curse of Conditional Learning — the moment your “quick refresher” turns into a full-blown academic saga with prerequisites that have prerequisites. This is the symptom where we, as learning designers, panic that learners “won’t understand Topic A without Topics B–Z”...

Your LMS has become Alcatraz and your learners are doing hard time for clicking too fast. In this episode we read along with Chapter 9 and unpack how “tracking everything” + “forcing everything” turns a course into a digital prison. Timers. Locked slides. Pop-ups that scream “NO SKIPPING.” It’s the perfect storm of EBD. Steve also shares his own epic failure where he built a course so controlled i...

“Complexity: now available in six confusing formats none of which you asked for.”   Ever built something simple… then sabotaged it because it looked too easy? Welcome to The Anti-Simplicity Bias — the sneaky EBD strain that convinces learning designers that “simple” means “lazy.”   In this episode, Steve Corney cracks open Chapter 8 of The Enough Bucket and confesses how he’s turned clean, functio...

In this episode of The EBD Show, Steve reads Chapter 7: The Pathway Paradox from The Enough Bucket. The Pathway Paradox is what happens when our obsession with personalisation and “choose-your-own-adventure” learning runs wild. We spend months building multiple pathways, alternate routes, and branching logic — only to discover that most learners click whatever’s fastest to get to the end. This cha...

In this episode of The EBD Show, Steve reads Chapter 6: Interactivity Fever from The Enough Bucket. Interactivity Fever is that contagious condition where learning designers can’t resist adding more buttons, sliders, click-and-reveals, and drag-and-drops — not because the learner needs them, but because the designer can. It’s the moment where creative ambition quietly replaces purpose, and suddenl...

In this episode of The EBD Show, Steve reads Chapter 5: Justin Case from The Enough Bucket. Meet Justin Case — the overly cautious learning designer who can’t stop adding just in case content. He’s the voice in your head saying, “We should probably include that… just in case someone needs it.” And before you know it, your neat five-minute module has turned into a 45-minute labyrinth of definitions...

In this episode of The EBD Show, Steve reads Chapter 4: The Clutter of Care from The Enough Bucket. The Clutter of Care is what happens when good intentions go rogue. It’s when you care so much about your learners that you give them everything — every detail, every link, every download, every “just in case” explanation — until the message drowns in noise. This chapter unpacks how compassion can qu...

In this episode of The EBD Show, Steve reads Chapter 3: Perfectionism in Disguise from The Enough Bucket. Perfectionism in Disguise is the sneaky form of Enough Bucket Dysmorphia that pretends to be “quality control.” You tell yourself you’re polishing, refining, making it better — but really, you’re just stuck in endless tweaks and “just one more” revisions. The module doesn’t get sharper, it jus...

In this episode of The EBD Show, Steve Corney reads Chapter 2: The Stakeholder Super-Spreader from The Enough Bucket. The Stakeholder Super-Spreader is the villain who can turn your neat, focused learning design into a bloated monster. One stakeholder wants their pet policy added, another wants a 20-minute video, and before you know it the whole thing is infected with extras no learner ever asked...

In this episode of The EBD Show, Steve Corney reads Chapter 1: Kitchen Sink Syndrome from The Enough Bucket. Kitchen Sink Syndrome is what happens when a simple brief — “help new starters find the bathroom and log into their computer” — turns into a 47-module epic with drag-and-drops, branching scenarios, and a Vyond animation no one asked for . It’s the purest symptom of Enough Bucket Dysmorphia:...

In this episode of The EBD Show, Steve Corney explores the EBD Severity Assessment and how Enough Bucket Dysmorphia creeps beyond learning design and into everyday life. From rating just how far gone you are, to spotting EBD in the wild, this chapter shows that none of us are immune. Laugh at the symptoms, recognise the signs, and keep the conversation going on LinkedIn with #EBD.

Welcome to the first episode of The EBD Show, the read-along companion to The Enough Bucket: A Field Guide for Learning Designers Suffering from Enough Bucket Dysmorphia. In this episode, Steve Corney kicks things off with the Prologue, unpacking what EBD is, why every learning designer suffers from it, and why it all comes from good intentions. Being a learning designer makes you weird, and this...