Analyzing Scope Creep

As a Project Manager I deal with scope creep issues daily. Why? You ask…I work with many Project Team Leaders, contractors, designers, and printers and there is always a scope creeping up on one or more any given project. In 2007 I had to take on all the projects for the institute and the only Production Manager, managing all the publications for the entire institute. In 2007-2008 I produced more than 25 publications -- most of the publications were 4-color process and some were over 400 pages and a budget of over $800,000.

I learned from one project in particular, of the many projects, I had on my plate. The Latino Manual and Picture Cards was an exciting and challenging project. One because it was bi-lingual and two it was someone else’s project and I had to take over the project after the Project Manager left the agency and moved on to another job.

I had a press inspection schedule a day before I had to leave for a two-week trip out of the country. I thought the press inspection went well. I found out after returning to the office and sharing the color proofs with the Project Team Leader that the press inspection had not gone well. The colors were wrong and the Project Team Leader was very upset. Although she had signed off on the color proof the day before the press inspection, she was very unhappy with the proofs from the press inspection. I had to fix the problem ASAP. Project managers are always planning, monitoring, and controlling various project aspects ( Portny, 2008)

What made this project a little frustrating is that the project team leader signed off on the color proof however the press inspection showed a different color from what we all had approved. Project manager should always expect changes and be able to deal with it in a professional manager, that’s part of the PM’s job. (Portny, 2008)

This particular project went through a “Scope Change” there was a modification to the deliverables or work process as outlined in the original project plan. Greer (2007)

There was another project that had more than enough scope creeps and that was the Filipino Projects which consist of a 425 page manual, with handouts that were bi-lingual, 125 Picture cards, that was a 4-color process, and 12 health educational booklets, six in English and six in Tagalog. This project was the last of one of the set of multicultural projects and the team ran out of money. The materials were printed however because so much time and money was spent on some of the other projects before I took over there was not enough money or time left in the contract to convert the publication to meet 508 compliances and therefore we were not able to post the publications to the institutes website.

The Project Team Leader for this project was more than a little upset to say the least, not with me but with the Project Officer for the contract. It was known throughout the other team members that the money for each of the multicultural projects was mismanaged. There were a number of scope creep with each of the projects and they were different for each of the projects and me taking over and being the only PM for the entire institute was another major scope creep for the Project Team Leader and me as the PM because I still had my own project; therefore I had to remember that Project managers should approach changes of scope in a business-like (as opposed to emotional) fashion. Greer (2007)

Although these particular projects went through a “Scope Change” there was a modification to the deliverables or work process as outlined in the original project plan; Greer (2007) all the publications turned out beautifully. If I had to do all over again, it would probably be done exactly the same way because when you inherit someone else projects and you are the only Production Manager for the institute the only thing you can do is step in with confidence and continue to do your best and produce high quality products and stay as close to the timeline as possible.

Reference:

Portny, S., Mantel, S., Meredith, J., Shafer, S., Sutton, M., (2007). Project management: Wiley

Greer, M. (2010) Project Management Minimalist: Laureate Education Ed. © Copyright 2010, http://michaelgreer.biz/?page_id=636

Blog Assignment: Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources

Amy's Blog: Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources: This site is to Amy’s Blog Site and it has great great information for Instructional Designers and Project Managers. She included a link to Builder Au and this site gives information on how to create your project budget and where to begin. She has another link for project management and the tools of managing a project. I love this site because all the information on this blog site is everything we are doing in this course and it is extremely helpful. Great job Amy! Thanks for sharing too!

I must say I found another blog site I love and with great information. I think I love these two sites is because it is exactly what we are discussing in this course and I believe it is the same class could or could not be from the same university. http://instructionaldesignvillage.wordpress.com/2010/12/02/estimating-costs-and-allocating-resources-in-instructional-design/ The model this blogger has in his blog to estimate costs and allocating resources is user friendly and I will be using it.

Both the blog sites discusses costs and allocating resources for instructional design how appropriate and the information is very useful for me and I hope you find it useful for you as well.

In this weeks lesson what I like the most and found more interesting was in chapter 7: Estimating and allocating resources and that was the information on: Describing people’s skills and knowledge using the Skill Roster. This roster gives a breakdown of staff primary capabilities, secondary capabilities, and interest. Portny (2008) This is the type of chart most companies and large organizations should use when it comes to job assignments to certain projects.

References:

Amy’s Blog: Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources (2011) Retrieved June 1, 2011, from: http://amysnews.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/estimating-costs-and-allocating-resources/

Life by Design: Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources in Instructional Design ( 2010) Retrieved June 2, 2011, from: http://instructionaldesignvillage.wordpress.com/2010/12/02/estimating-costs-and-allocating-resources-in-instructional-design/

Portny, S., Mantel, S., Meredith, J., Shafer, S., Sutton, M., (2008). Project management: planning, scheduling, and controlling, projects: New York: Wiley Publisher

Communicating Effectively

Blog Assignment: Communicating Effectively

The tone in all three messages was very business friendly and professional. They also convey the same message; I noticed there wasn’t any extra detail information in any of the messages. I believe all three messages conveyed the true meaning and intent; that was that, Jane wanted Mark to know that he had information she needed in order to meet her deadline; however I think that the message was missing specify information. She should ask that he send the report by a certain date; give him a deadline when her report is due; since this seems to be a team effort. Written communication should begin with clear purpose and state the situation, include as much detail as possible. Stolovitch (2010)

It is important to give dates and do not give the exact date your report is due but the date you want to be done with the report. This will give you enough time and not rush the project. Effective communication is sharing the right messages with the right people in a timely manner. Stolovitch (2010)

Communication isn’t just words; 93% communication is non-verbal; tonality and body language; effective communication is timely. It is important to document oral communication; after an informal or formal meeting summarize the discussion and send it out to the team. Stolovitch (2010)

Reference:

Stolovitch, H. ( 2010) Communicating with Stakeholders: Laureate: Walden University

Learning From A Project “Post-mortem”

In October 2007, I became the sole Production Manager, for my agency; therefore my workload more than double. In 2007-2008 I produced more than 25 publications -- most of the publications were 4-color process and some were over 400 pages and a budget of over $800,000.

I learned from one project in particular, of the many projects, I had on my plate. The Latino Manual and Picture Cards was an exciting and challenging project. One because it was bi-lingual and two it was someone else project and I had to take over the project after the Project Manager left the agency and moved on to another job.

I had a press inspection schedule this publication, a day before I had to leave for a two-week trip out of the country. I thought the press inspection went well. I found out after returning to the office and sharing the color proofs with the Project Team Leader that the press inspection had not gone well. The colors were wrong and the Project Team Leader was very upset; although she had signed off on the color proof the day before the press inspection, she was very unset with the proofs from the press inspection. I had to fix the problem ASAP. I ran to my office and called the printer and stopped the press! We had an emergency meeting and conference call with all the stakeholders. The job had to be put on hold until I returned to the office.

What made this project a little frustrating is that the project team leader signed off on the color proof however the press inspection showed a different color from what we all had approved. Meeting with all the team players we found out that the contractor had built the colors wrong and the color proof we original signed off on before the press inspection was on a different paper therefore the colors looked different. Something like this rarely happens but to avoid something this in the future it is best to use PMS colors only and NOT built colors because built colors are always hard to match. I also asked the designer to give me the numbers to build the colors and which PMS color they are trying to match and get those numbers as well. The end results were very successful, The Project Team Leader was happy, the designer was happy and I was happy, the publications looked beautiful.

This particular project went through a “Scope Change” there was a modification to the deliverables or work process as outlined in the original project plan. Greer (2007) I had a flight out of the country the next day, less than 24 hours and was just dealt a major crisis and I needed to take care of things before leaving work on that February 2008 afternoon. I had to do something fast to diffused the mistake and assure the Project Team Leader, that everything will be ok. Project managers should approach changes of scope in a business-like (as opposed to

emotional) fashion. Greer (2007)

Once we (the team) narrowed down what the problem was and how it happened, it was easier to fix the problem. I had to document all the changes,this included adjusting the timeline. Since a perfect plan may not result in the desired outcomes due to unexpected changes, it is important to stay calm.

The publications turned out flawlessly and everybody was happy with the finish products, especially the Project Team Leader. What made this project successful, even when it appeared to be a crisis was making sure all the stakeholders and all the team members were involved from beginning and we all came together and brainstormed what had gone wrong and what we need to do to fix the problem. There were no finger pointing and blaming –the goal was to fix the mistake and we did that with no cost to the agency and along a few hundred dollars from the contractor.

Reference:

Greer, M. (2010) Project Management Minimalist: Laureate Education Ed. © Copyright 2010, http://michaelgreer.biz/?page_id=636

Project Management and Distance Learning

Hi Online Classmates and Welcome to Terri's Instructional Design Corner! I am excited about starting the Project Management course; the eight course in the Instructional Design Master Program.

Please leave a note and/or suggestions. I welcome feedback.

Converting to a Distance Learning Format

Converting face-to-face training modules to a blended learning format, which would provide trainees and trainers the opportunity to interact with each other and learn the material in both a face-to-face and online environment. To be effective, e-learning designs must balance a stimulating, interactive environment with manageable levels of learner mental effort. In distance learning, it is more difficult to achieve because once course material and tasks have delivered to students, designers have a very limited control over student perceptions and learning process. There is often a gap between what designers expect will happen in a course, how materials are used, effectiveness of materials, and actual student opinions. Lambert, J., Kalyugas, S., & Capan, L. (2009).

It is important to think about all the elements when redesigning learning tools or when deciding to make any changes to any learning format. The ADDIE is a good starting point; including storyboard and mapping will help with ideals and making major changes before implementing the learning tool. Just like other kinds of teaching, teaching at a distance requires planning and organizing; whether synchronous or asynchronous, requires that greater emphasis be placed on the initial planning phase (Simonson, 2009). Schlosser and Burmeister (1999) wrote about the “best of both worlds”, where courses and programs would have varying percentages of face-to-face and distance-delivered learning experiences. Blended or hybrid approaches are probably the most widespread applicants of distance education (Daffron & Webster 2006; Epstein, 2006).

The instructional environment should be viewed as a system, a relationship among and between all the components of that system – the instructor, the learners, the materials, and the technology. Especially when planning for distance education, the instructor must make decisions that will affect all aspects of the system. (Simoson, 2009) Therefore, it is important for the designers not only to understand the sources of increased cognitive demands imposed on students in e-learning courses, but also to gauge student perceptions of tasks in e-learning environments to ensure effectiveness from both student and instructor perspectives. Lambert, J., Kalyugas, S., & Capan, L. (2009).

The instructor can keep the face-to-face elements of any training and enhance it by including the online training. This hybrid training may or may not improve the overall outcomes. It isn’t just the instructor’s job to make the distance learning work the learners must do their part as well. For successful learning to take place, it is vital to determine what works and what needs to improve. The evaluation of the ADDIE plays an important role in developing any type of learning module. Evaluation leads to revision of instruction, and revision of instructions helps secure the final outcomes of helping students learn. (Simoson, 2009)

It is essential that the trainer create a learning environment that is motivating and the learners are going to want to learn. The trainer will need to help the learners understand the context of the learning experience. When the learners have an understanding of the reasons why they are participating in a particular type of instructional activity, they are better able to use that experience to expedite their own learning. (Simoson, 2009)

Listed below are some key points to eliminate trial and error preparation, distance-learning faculty should:

• Keep in mind that courses previously taught in traditional classrooms may need to be retooled.
• In revising traditional classroom materials, consider ways to illustrate key concepts, or topics, using tables, figures, and other visual representations
• Plan activities that encourage interactivity at all the sites. Students may require training to participate actively in these types of activities.
• Plan activities that allow for student group work. This helps construct a supportive social environment. For example, the instructor could present case studies related to theories and concepts covered in the course and then groups of students, perhaps in different sites, could discuss case study questions and reach consensus on a solution to the problem.
• Be prepared in the event that technical problems occur. (Simoson, 2009)

It is also very important to know the learners and be familiar with the technology.


Reference:
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, & M., Zvacek, A. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th edition).

Lambert, J., Kalyugas, S., & Capan, L. (2009). Student perception cognitive load: what can they us about e-learning Web 2.0 course design E-learning (Vol. 6 No. 2)

The Impact of Open Source

The Impact of Open Source

Yale Open Course
Course Title: Econ 159 Game Theory
http://oyc.yale.edu/economics/game-theory/contents/syllabus.html


I chose to evaluate the Game Theory course from the list of Open Yale courses. The course was carefully planned and designed for distant learning. One of the most important elements of a distant learning course is easy navigation. The menu bar remained on the upper left side of my window as I navigated the course. Even though the course had various sections, I never got lost in a web of pages and was always able to easily return to the home page. This small but important element made this an ideal layout for a distant learning environment. Each course session includes the lecture transcript, audio files, summary and black board notes.

Many of the enhancement elements were missing from the course that could have improved the overall learner experience. There was no space available for students to interact and have discussions. The assignments were not clearly outlined and it appeared that the professor did content dump for each class sessions. If the class sessions were separated, the professor could’ve added a supplemental section for each class session where students could go to review any additional information related to each section.