Thursday, 4 October 2012
Friday, 4 May 2012
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
P2 - Resources available
A project manager needs resources to complete any task, If any of these resources are missing or lacking then the completion of the project could be hindered or even completely halted.
Financial backing and a suitable budget is vital to any projects success, with out the proper funds a manager cannot afford to pay for other resources to get the job done. A poor cash flow means that the project is unable to move forward or cover any unexpected costs that will almost certainly arise during the project life cycle. With out the adequate amount of money a project will simply fail.
People is another very important resource. A manager must ensure that his/her team members have the skill set and attitude that is needed to complete the task. For example a website company that has too many graphics experts and no enough coders will find that the programmers are being overloaded, or that the graphics designers are sitting around with nothing to do while they wait for the programmers to catch up. It is also very important that there is a high level of motivation as this is vital to the quality and amount of output that the team will achieve.
A manager must have the correct equipment at hand in order to efficiently complete the task at hand. For example, a company like pixar has extremely powerful render farms at their disposal so they can render scenes as fast as possible. With out these machines the production time is significantly increased.
If a manager does not have the software to communicate with his/her team then it can lead to massive problems with people not knowing what to do.
In terms of software there are many different packages that a manager can use to maintain control over the task.
One example of this is file sharing software, In our task we used Drop box, however there are several different alternatives. This type of software is used to have a shared folder which updates in real time on multiple machine. This makes it much easier for a team to work together on separate parts of a project.
Another example is email software such as outlook express or the very popular blackberry message (BBM), this allows the team manager to keep in contact with the team.
There are also many packages which can be used to create gantt charts or similar graphs, there are free as well as paid for solutions. A gantt chart is very useful to show the team what part of a project needs to be done and when it needs to be done by.
Financial backing and a suitable budget is vital to any projects success, with out the proper funds a manager cannot afford to pay for other resources to get the job done. A poor cash flow means that the project is unable to move forward or cover any unexpected costs that will almost certainly arise during the project life cycle. With out the adequate amount of money a project will simply fail.
People is another very important resource. A manager must ensure that his/her team members have the skill set and attitude that is needed to complete the task. For example a website company that has too many graphics experts and no enough coders will find that the programmers are being overloaded, or that the graphics designers are sitting around with nothing to do while they wait for the programmers to catch up. It is also very important that there is a high level of motivation as this is vital to the quality and amount of output that the team will achieve.
A manager must have the correct equipment at hand in order to efficiently complete the task at hand. For example, a company like pixar has extremely powerful render farms at their disposal so they can render scenes as fast as possible. With out these machines the production time is significantly increased.
If a manager does not have the software to communicate with his/her team then it can lead to massive problems with people not knowing what to do.
In terms of software there are many different packages that a manager can use to maintain control over the task.
One example of this is file sharing software, In our task we used Drop box, however there are several different alternatives. This type of software is used to have a shared folder which updates in real time on multiple machine. This makes it much easier for a team to work together on separate parts of a project.
Another example is email software such as outlook express or the very popular blackberry message (BBM), this allows the team manager to keep in contact with the team.
There are also many packages which can be used to create gantt charts or similar graphs, there are free as well as paid for solutions. A gantt chart is very useful to show the team what part of a project needs to be done and when it needs to be done by.
D1 - Communications
The first step in our process was finding out exactly what is required of our system, We chose to interview Miss Walpole to find out exactly what she wanted for our system.
Paraphrased interview with Miss Walpole
WHAT DOES THE CURRENT SYSTEM OFFER?
Saved in staff
Seperate spreadsheets (one per year group)
Password needed to edit
Shows CATS, Reading ag, MEs
Intervenction (flags up when below MEs)
Allows teachers to hide certain things
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE WITH THE CURRENT SYSTEM?
Make easier
Intervection function doesn't work
Annoying having one per year group
Make it so it is able to run reports
DO YOU WANT TO KEEP ANYTHING FROM THE CURRENT SYSTEM?
Information stored
Hiding system
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO WITH THIS DATA?
Enter
Edit
Export
Show to others
HOW DO YOU WANT TO ACCESS THE DATA?
Possible better spreadsheet
Decide what you want to see
During the course of the project we would bounce ideas of both Mrs Walpole and Mr Enright and we ensured that we were staying on track and providing what they both wanted from the system.
Paraphrased interview with Miss Walpole
WHAT DOES THE CURRENT SYSTEM OFFER?
Saved in staff
Seperate spreadsheets (one per year group)
Password needed to edit
Shows CATS, Reading ag, MEs
Intervenction (flags up when below MEs)
Allows teachers to hide certain things
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE WITH THE CURRENT SYSTEM?
Make easier
Intervection function doesn't work
Annoying having one per year group
Make it so it is able to run reports
DO YOU WANT TO KEEP ANYTHING FROM THE CURRENT SYSTEM?
Information stored
Hiding system
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO WITH THIS DATA?
Enter
Edit
Export
Show to others
HOW DO YOU WANT TO ACCESS THE DATA?
Possible better spreadsheet
Decide what you want to see
During the course of the project we would bounce ideas of both Mrs Walpole and Mr Enright and we ensured that we were staying on track and providing what they both wanted from the system.
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
P7 - D2
We faced many different problems in the task:
Lack of coding skills from team members - There were also long periods of time in the task were team members had nothing to do as a result of lack of skills and time to teach the skills needed, So there were periods of time in which the what to do file had nothing in.finding suitable free webhosting
Registration hosting site failed completely after a week of development - After a while of development the system was at a state of working with the sql database, however shortly after this stage the site we used for registration deleted all of out entries and refused to add new ones. We had to use our extra time to find a free source code for a registration system and make it work with our current system.
Two days before the deadline the hosting company where our site and database was hosted stopped hosting our site for unknown reasons and we didn't have time to make our system work locally.
Lack of time - We simply didn't have enough time to complete the task properly, we had to settle for a basic mockup of the site in the end as a result of the problems above and the lack of time.
Time management - We followed the gantt chart for the first half of the task, then when we faced problems we had to change and adapt our plan.
Teamwork - Team work went well through the task, the research went very well as did communication with the stakeholders. There was also a research folder in which I could post a subject that needs researching and one of the researchers would look it up and post findings in the folders.
From the stand point of project management i think the task was hard to organise and keep everyone busy simply because we didn't all have the skills needed to produce the product or the time needed to get people to the skill level they needed to be. It was hard to ensure that everyone was communicating properly about any work outside of school.
D2
We used the following tools during development:
Dropbox - We used dropbox as our main file sharing system, We kept all project files in our dropbox and it allowed one person to change a file or add a file at home, and it would update for everyone else. It allowed us to communicate effectively and share our work with each over quickly and simply. I think that this software was very effective in the manner that we used it, it kept all of the project files in one place and everyone could access it and do what ever they needed with it. The only problem that we found with the software was that it would sometimes not provide a notification when something was updated which meant that sometimes some of us did not know when something was changed or a task had been added.
Excel - We used Excel to create our gannt chart as well as basic database mock up, It was a good choice of software since all group members have and are familiar with using it. We could have downloaded some specialist software to achieve the same results but we would have had to spend time learning to use it properly, there is also a lot of support available for excel so any problems that we encountered could easily be solved.
.
Skype - We used Skype to communicate out of school, Skype was a very effective tool for us to voice call or video chat, however it was hard to get it so that everyone in the team would be on skype at the same time which is the only real problem we faced with it.
Lack of coding skills from team members - There were also long periods of time in the task were team members had nothing to do as a result of lack of skills and time to teach the skills needed, So there were periods of time in which the what to do file had nothing in.finding suitable free webhosting
Registration hosting site failed completely after a week of development - After a while of development the system was at a state of working with the sql database, however shortly after this stage the site we used for registration deleted all of out entries and refused to add new ones. We had to use our extra time to find a free source code for a registration system and make it work with our current system.
Two days before the deadline the hosting company where our site and database was hosted stopped hosting our site for unknown reasons and we didn't have time to make our system work locally.
Lack of time - We simply didn't have enough time to complete the task properly, we had to settle for a basic mockup of the site in the end as a result of the problems above and the lack of time.
Time management - We followed the gantt chart for the first half of the task, then when we faced problems we had to change and adapt our plan.
Teamwork - Team work went well through the task, the research went very well as did communication with the stakeholders. There was also a research folder in which I could post a subject that needs researching and one of the researchers would look it up and post findings in the folders.
From the stand point of project management i think the task was hard to organise and keep everyone busy simply because we didn't all have the skills needed to produce the product or the time needed to get people to the skill level they needed to be. It was hard to ensure that everyone was communicating properly about any work outside of school.
D2
We used the following tools during development:
Dropbox - We used dropbox as our main file sharing system, We kept all project files in our dropbox and it allowed one person to change a file or add a file at home, and it would update for everyone else. It allowed us to communicate effectively and share our work with each over quickly and simply. I think that this software was very effective in the manner that we used it, it kept all of the project files in one place and everyone could access it and do what ever they needed with it. The only problem that we found with the software was that it would sometimes not provide a notification when something was updated which meant that sometimes some of us did not know when something was changed or a task had been added.
Excel - We used Excel to create our gannt chart as well as basic database mock up, It was a good choice of software since all group members have and are familiar with using it. We could have downloaded some specialist software to achieve the same results but we would have had to spend time learning to use it properly, there is also a lot of support available for excel so any problems that we encountered could easily be solved.
.
Skype - We used Skype to communicate out of school, Skype was a very effective tool for us to voice call or video chat, however it was hard to get it so that everyone in the team would be on skype at the same time which is the only real problem we faced with it.
Friday, 20 April 2012
P4 - M2 Specification
Specification
Leader/ programmer: Ashley Coles
Design: Daniel Buckwell
Research leader: Chris Plumb
Google operative: George Bishop
Success criteria
Create a working prototype for the product specified above
M2 - Risks to the project
Time - The biggest problem we face is time, we feel that we will most likely not have enough time to create a fully functional system, for this reason we have decided that we aim to create a prototype which will show the features that would be included in the full product. We have created a gantt chart to help us complete the project in the short amount of time given which, if all goes to plan, should allow a prototype to be completed.
Communication - Another risk we face is poor communication we intend to make use of skype and dropbox to communicate using a tasks document which states what everyone should be doing. The risk is that members cannot dedicate enough time to the project so may not be available for communication, we all have other commitments outside of the project
Finance - One big problem with our project is that we have literally no financing, a budget of £0. This is a problem for us as we will require we hosting as well as a domain name, all of which generally cost money. This means we will have to find a free solutions which works effectively for us.
Skills - Another risk and possible problem is the coding part of our solution, We have not been taught any coding yet, I already have experience with Python and C++ but no one else in the group has any coding skills. This ties in with our time restraints, we will most likely not have time for anyone to learn to write code for the project.
We have decided that I will be the lead programmer and that a team member will learn a basic knowlege of the code being written (SQL, Java script, HTML) so he can help with testing and looking for problems in the code.
We have been tasked by the john Bentley school to create a system for use by students, parents and teachers which would allow them to access student grades as well as track their progress online. We have been told that this system should be able to:
· Have the ability to view the grades and other information of students easily
· The ability for students and parents to also view the grades of the student
· Teachers need to be able to edit the information
· A section for teachers to record actions taken as well as comments for the student/ parents
· Three permission levels associated with the accounts, Teacher, Student and parents
· A way to export the information in a printable format
· Filters to hide irrelevant information to the teacher, also have some fields hidden for the different permission levels.
Project teamLeader/ programmer: Ashley Coles
Design: Daniel Buckwell
Research leader: Chris Plumb
Google operative: George Bishop
Success criteria
Create a working prototype for the product specified above
M2 - Risks to the project
Time - The biggest problem we face is time, we feel that we will most likely not have enough time to create a fully functional system, for this reason we have decided that we aim to create a prototype which will show the features that would be included in the full product. We have created a gantt chart to help us complete the project in the short amount of time given which, if all goes to plan, should allow a prototype to be completed.
Communication - Another risk we face is poor communication we intend to make use of skype and dropbox to communicate using a tasks document which states what everyone should be doing. The risk is that members cannot dedicate enough time to the project so may not be available for communication, we all have other commitments outside of the project
Finance - One big problem with our project is that we have literally no financing, a budget of £0. This is a problem for us as we will require we hosting as well as a domain name, all of which generally cost money. This means we will have to find a free solutions which works effectively for us.
Skills - Another risk and possible problem is the coding part of our solution, We have not been taught any coding yet, I already have experience with Python and C++ but no one else in the group has any coding skills. This ties in with our time restraints, we will most likely not have time for anyone to learn to write code for the project.
We have decided that I will be the lead programmer and that a team member will learn a basic knowlege of the code being written (SQL, Java script, HTML) so he can help with testing and looking for problems in the code.
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
P3 Issues affecting project management
Resistance to change
Many people will be stuck in their ways, for example if a client has been using a particular software tool for a long time, making them use a new one may not go down well. One way around this is training, if you teach the new users how to use the new software. You can also use motivation techniques to try and make the users happier to use your new product.
Motivation
Poorly motivated staff can have a massive impact on the project, for example team members who don't want to be there they will do much less work and at a poorer standard than highly motivated employees. It will also take longer to complete tasks which costs you more money. There are several different methods of motivating your staff. Monetary methods such as bonus or payrise is an obvious way to increase motivation. There are also cheaper ways to motivate your staff, these can be better since they don't affect your cash flow as much such as: extra praise, better working environment or free meals.
Tools
If you don't have the tools available it will be much harder and less efficient to complete your project, for example a ICT company may not have the correct software for the task, a woodwork company may not have the correct tool.
Finance
Finance is obvious, if you don't have the cash available to complete your project you will fail, you may have to look at getting more money in the form, for example getting a loan from the bank. You must ensure that you have the cash available to cover all predicted costs, plus extra for any unpredictable or uncontrollable costs that may arise.
Skills
If your team do not have the skills needed to complete the project you will have people doing nothing, you may have to outsource with external recruitment companies which costs you a lot of money and negatively impacts your cash flow. You may even have to employ new team members which is also a expensive and time consuming process.
Communication
Communication problems can completely break a project, for example: If you are relying on the internet to communicate between teams and the internet goes down on one end the teams will no longer be able to communicate.
Time
In business time is money, when you plan your project unexpected problems will arise and these will set you back time. With out a suitable amount of extra time you will simply not be able to cope with the extra work. If the time scale is too short anyway the quality of the final product will likely suffer since the team are being rushed to complete their tasks.
External factors
External factors are uncontrollable, for example, changes in government legislation can have a massive effect on a business's costs. Another example is the recession, many projects failed as a result because they could not predict it.
Managing expectations
When you are communicating with the client it is important that you keep them grounded and realistic about what to expect from the final product.
Many people will be stuck in their ways, for example if a client has been using a particular software tool for a long time, making them use a new one may not go down well. One way around this is training, if you teach the new users how to use the new software. You can also use motivation techniques to try and make the users happier to use your new product.
Motivation
Poorly motivated staff can have a massive impact on the project, for example team members who don't want to be there they will do much less work and at a poorer standard than highly motivated employees. It will also take longer to complete tasks which costs you more money. There are several different methods of motivating your staff. Monetary methods such as bonus or payrise is an obvious way to increase motivation. There are also cheaper ways to motivate your staff, these can be better since they don't affect your cash flow as much such as: extra praise, better working environment or free meals.
Tools
If you don't have the tools available it will be much harder and less efficient to complete your project, for example a ICT company may not have the correct software for the task, a woodwork company may not have the correct tool.
Finance
Finance is obvious, if you don't have the cash available to complete your project you will fail, you may have to look at getting more money in the form, for example getting a loan from the bank. You must ensure that you have the cash available to cover all predicted costs, plus extra for any unpredictable or uncontrollable costs that may arise.
Skills
If your team do not have the skills needed to complete the project you will have people doing nothing, you may have to outsource with external recruitment companies which costs you a lot of money and negatively impacts your cash flow. You may even have to employ new team members which is also a expensive and time consuming process.
Communication
Communication problems can completely break a project, for example: If you are relying on the internet to communicate between teams and the internet goes down on one end the teams will no longer be able to communicate.
Time
In business time is money, when you plan your project unexpected problems will arise and these will set you back time. With out a suitable amount of extra time you will simply not be able to cope with the extra work. If the time scale is too short anyway the quality of the final product will likely suffer since the team are being rushed to complete their tasks.
External factors
External factors are uncontrollable, for example, changes in government legislation can have a massive effect on a business's costs. Another example is the recession, many projects failed as a result because they could not predict it.
Managing expectations
When you are communicating with the client it is important that you keep them grounded and realistic about what to expect from the final product.
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
P1 / M1
Here is an example diagram of a project life cycle.
The project starts with the initiation, this is where you need to define what your project is so you have a clear specification of what you want to achieve at the end.
The next stage is planning, when planning it is important to make a clear and simple action plan. With this it will be easier for you to not only follow the plan, but also to check back at you plan and see what you still need to do. Financial plans are also vital to achieve your goals, Clear budgets and forecasts should be made to allow you to be ready for your costs. A action plan would also be useful so you are ready in case any unforeseen costs should arise
The next stage is project execution. This stage is obvious, you build your project and implement it.
The final stage is project closure, this is where you evaluate the project and review what you could change, after a while of testing your project you can write a comprehensive review of what you need to change and fix with your project.
It is also important to communicate throughout the project. If you are working as part of a large team communication is essential to achieving your goals.
Poor leadership and lack of direction is main reason why a project can fail, this is linked with planning in that if the team members don't know whats going on they can't work.
Key reasons why a project can fail:
The first reason is poor planning. Big projects can be very complicated, if your team are not sure what they are supposed to be doing there will be sections missing, there may even be people working on the exact same thing. Also, as shown by the second example bellow, not accounting for all factors when planning can result in failure.
Financial planning is also essential for a leader to correctly budget the project and allocate each section a suitable spending limit. Without a good financial budget that allows for unexpected costs and problems, the risks are significantly raised since you may not be able to cover your costs and thus run out of cash.
Lack of communication can also result in failure, one good example of this was NASA loosing their mars rover, were one team was working in metric, and the other was working in imperial units.
If you don't release your product in time, it is possible that it will be out of date by the time that it is released. This is extremely important in the technology business, take a look at example 3 bellow. You must also ensure that the product you are releasing is fit for the times.
Here are some examples of failed projects from a range of backgrounds.
1: Apple Power Mac G4 Cube
This is an example of how Tech giants can still fail. In 2000 Apple released the G4 Cube and sales were slow.
The reasons for this were:
High price tag
Flawed design
Poor quality
Since apple had the reputation of premium quality products for a premium price, when they released the system and the plastic case cracked and had mold lines consumers were not happy. There were also several things overlooked in the design, such as the fact that you had to tip the machine on the side to connect wires and the hidden power button. These two flaws combined with the extortionate price tag resulted in a failed product for Apple.
This example goes to show that even huge companies projects can fail. Apple did all the planning right and had plenty of financial backing to push the project forward, they just messed up the product it's self.
2: Soviet missile early warning system
In '83 the soviet's had a early warning system which would warn them should America launch an attack on Russia. However the system had triggered that 5 ICBM's had been launched by America, when in reality the system had been triggered by sunlight reflecting of clouds. Fortunately the operator did not believe the warning and did not respond.
3: Nokia
Rather than updating their phones to smart phones, Nokia stuck with just regular phones which were in very low demand. Nokia were not with the times and released outdated products which led to a massive fall in market share and stock prices
Relation to my project
These examples and points relate to my project and every project. I have learnt from my research of project failures, I can bare these failures in mind while I am working on my project. So, from the powermac g4 cube example I will ensure that the design meets the standards that are required as well as the quality of the final product.
From the Early warning example I will carefully consider all of the factors that i can see which would affect my project. Finally from the Nokia example I will ensure that the project meets the technology standards of the time.
The project starts with the initiation, this is where you need to define what your project is so you have a clear specification of what you want to achieve at the end.
The next stage is planning, when planning it is important to make a clear and simple action plan. With this it will be easier for you to not only follow the plan, but also to check back at you plan and see what you still need to do. Financial plans are also vital to achieve your goals, Clear budgets and forecasts should be made to allow you to be ready for your costs. A action plan would also be useful so you are ready in case any unforeseen costs should arise
The next stage is project execution. This stage is obvious, you build your project and implement it.
The final stage is project closure, this is where you evaluate the project and review what you could change, after a while of testing your project you can write a comprehensive review of what you need to change and fix with your project.
It is also important to communicate throughout the project. If you are working as part of a large team communication is essential to achieving your goals.
Poor leadership and lack of direction is main reason why a project can fail, this is linked with planning in that if the team members don't know whats going on they can't work.
Key reasons why a project can fail:
The first reason is poor planning. Big projects can be very complicated, if your team are not sure what they are supposed to be doing there will be sections missing, there may even be people working on the exact same thing. Also, as shown by the second example bellow, not accounting for all factors when planning can result in failure.
Financial planning is also essential for a leader to correctly budget the project and allocate each section a suitable spending limit. Without a good financial budget that allows for unexpected costs and problems, the risks are significantly raised since you may not be able to cover your costs and thus run out of cash.
Lack of communication can also result in failure, one good example of this was NASA loosing their mars rover, were one team was working in metric, and the other was working in imperial units.
If you don't release your product in time, it is possible that it will be out of date by the time that it is released. This is extremely important in the technology business, take a look at example 3 bellow. You must also ensure that the product you are releasing is fit for the times.
Here are some examples of failed projects from a range of backgrounds.
1: Apple Power Mac G4 Cube
This is an example of how Tech giants can still fail. In 2000 Apple released the G4 Cube and sales were slow.
The reasons for this were:
High price tag
Flawed design
Poor quality
Since apple had the reputation of premium quality products for a premium price, when they released the system and the plastic case cracked and had mold lines consumers were not happy. There were also several things overlooked in the design, such as the fact that you had to tip the machine on the side to connect wires and the hidden power button. These two flaws combined with the extortionate price tag resulted in a failed product for Apple.
This example goes to show that even huge companies projects can fail. Apple did all the planning right and had plenty of financial backing to push the project forward, they just messed up the product it's self.
2: Soviet missile early warning system
In '83 the soviet's had a early warning system which would warn them should America launch an attack on Russia. However the system had triggered that 5 ICBM's had been launched by America, when in reality the system had been triggered by sunlight reflecting of clouds. Fortunately the operator did not believe the warning and did not respond.
3: Nokia
Rather than updating their phones to smart phones, Nokia stuck with just regular phones which were in very low demand. Nokia were not with the times and released outdated products which led to a massive fall in market share and stock prices
Relation to my project
These examples and points relate to my project and every project. I have learnt from my research of project failures, I can bare these failures in mind while I am working on my project. So, from the powermac g4 cube example I will ensure that the design meets the standards that are required as well as the quality of the final product.
From the Early warning example I will carefully consider all of the factors that i can see which would affect my project. Finally from the Nokia example I will ensure that the project meets the technology standards of the time.
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