Your Study Guides and Strategies starts here!

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds
discuss events;
small minds discuss people.
Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884 – 1962
American civil rights activist/author

Options in resource management

Project planning

Project planning/organizing class projects

This sequence will help you to consider your project in stages,
whether a group or individual project.
You may need less detail, but at least consider each action category.

  • Begin early: It is never too early to start.
    By starting early you simply get started!
    have more time to finish the project,
    and guarantee yourself adequate time to do a good job.
  • Determine the time commitment.
    Estimate long the project, presentation or paper will take to develop and complete
  • Determine how hard the material is to research
  • Break the project down into manageable sections.
    Use the tasks below,add a column "done by" date to help you organize yourself and the project.

Identify Project

  • Project title
  • School/organization name
  • Class/course and teacher
  • Assignment requirements (in the words of your teacher)
  • Requirements as you understand them

    Operations (when the product is deployed into its working environment)
    Consider: Feasibility/ Analysis / Design / Build / Implement / Operation
    Consider: Initiate/ Requirements Definition/ Technical Design/ System Construction/ Installation/ Production/ Defined Deliverables/ Formal Reviews
    Estimating: timing meeting schedule, budget

Detail Objectives

Do not confuse the project with its objective:
Objectives summarize why. They can be:

SMART: Specific | Measurable | Attainable | Relevant | Time-bound
from Blanchard, Zigarmi, and Zigarmi, Leadership and the One Minute Manager

or

DUMB: Doable | Understandable | Manageable | Beneficial

Brainstorm resources to complete deliverable

  • project planning tools
    (Gantt, Critical Path, PERT)
  • project production tools
    (word processing, demonstration software (PowerPoint), etc.
  • Time
  • Money
  • People and experts
  • Resource centers and organizations
  • Technology and software applications
  • Existing systems
  • Information accessibility:
    literature, books, Internet,
  • Team: number, skills, motivation, turnover
  • Technical expertise
  • Physical (meeting) spaces

Evaluate Project

  • How familiar are you with the subject matter? Its complexity?
  • What lessons have you learned from similar projects?
  • What alternative topics and projects can meet the objective?
  • Can the size of the project be refined?
  • What are the risks?
  • Impact on stakeholders
  • What are the environmental constraints?
  • Are our resources adequate?
  • Are resources spread too thin?
  • Are our time estimations accurate?
  • Are there too many concurrent tasks?
  • Is this a proven plan?
  • Is the plan realistic?
  • Design--how the specifications will be met)
  • Implementation--how will you develop the final product
  • Integration--are there important components that will need to work together

Establish project timeline in phases

  • Identify each phase's milestone/deliverable and cost
    Prevent runaway projects and scope creep with planning, vision, leadership
  • Identify each phase's work units by tasks and approvals
  • Identify who is responsible for what
    if a group project
  • Allocate resources
    especially restraints and control
  • Track progress and contingency plans
  • Verify all with instructor

Research--identify what resources are available

  • text book research
  • library research
  • field research
  • Internet
  • Professional associations
  • other:

Analyze research/findings

  • plan for gaps
  • request assistance
  • mid-stream check-in with team members and/or instructor

Outline finished product

  • thesis statement
  • individual topics/sections

Write/compile document presentation

  • opening paragraph
  • body
  • closing arguments/statement

Final project identification

  • Project title and code
  • Project objective clearly stated (one sentence)
  • School/organization name
  • Class/course and teacher
  • Project leader and group members
  • Date
  • Deadline
  • Assumptions
  • Identify related projects

Test
Document & create bibliography
Review and evaluate

  • product
  • process

Summarize/digest/Executive summary

Objectives, Scope, Possible Courses of Action, Pro's and Con's, Recommendations

Create, rehearse, present final product

Celebrate


Helpful guides referenced:

Project management .pdf form | Time management | Organizing tasks |
To do list | Managing by exception | Problem solving overview |
Seven stages of writing assignments | Completing a class assignment |
Developing case studies | Budgets and spreadsheets | Presenting projects