They suggest that authoring tools are now so easy to use that the team should skip the step altogether and move directly into authoring. Many training organizations have reported that it takes up to twice as long to author when the storyboarding process is skipped. This has significant advantages over using a series of fields to describe an undefined number of media objects. Object orientation requires fewer data fields and actually creates data fields on demand. What this means to the storyboard writer is that each interaction in the instructional sequence is empty until the writer adds an object, or media element.
Writers choose from the menu to place objects into the context of a frame.
One of Allen's challenges in creating a new storyboarding metaphor was to make it easy enough for writers and subject matter experts to use. This was done knowing that the primary purpose of storyboarding is team communication and that it would defeat that intent to re-create the technical environment of an authoring system. Object-oriented authoring systems do have a significant learning curve. This was a key consideration in designing the storyboard tool. When adding objects, the writer communicates to other members of the team the screen location.