Project Management
Choosing the right methodology for project management is important as it defines how a person will work to their best standard. It provides structure to a person leading to their successes or failures so it is important for a person to do plenty of research to find the method that would suit them best.
Methods:
Agile– Collaborating to iteratively deliver whatever works. Described as a flexible, iterative build process.
Pros- Collaborative and frequent responses to peers’ work allow for changes to be made promptly whilst still maintaining the project given.
Cons- A consistent team is needed, a weak link in that team may result in wasted time and money and result in the project being weaker.
Scrum– Enabling a small, cross-functional, self-managing team to deliver fast. The goal of scrum is to improve communication, teamwork, and speed of development.
Pros- Scrum methodology helps teams deliver quickly and effectively and works best for fast-moving development projects. The team gets clear visibility of the project in scrum meetings and divides large projects into manageable sprints making it less stressful for the team, allowing them to produce their best work.
Cons- If a team member were to leave in the middle of a project it will have a huge impact on the rest of the project as a part of it will be left behind. If individuals of the team aren’t committed or cooperative the chances of project failure become high.
Kanban– Improving speed and quality of delivery by increasing visibility of work in progress and limiting multi-tasking. Light on the process, flexible and don’t have prescribed roles.
Pros- Kanban is very easy to understand and approach, making it practical for the management and company to apply to this effect. It promotes continuous and sustainable improvements in the company, it makes the whole team work together and collaboratively. This method stands out above others as it highlights process issues and solves them, it engages the company’s existing systems and makes to order which decreases carrying or holding costs.
Cons- There are no timeframes associated with each phrase, this can be disadvantageous as some people in the team may take advantage of this and not complete their work for the project set. The Kanban approach assumes that plans are stable and consistent to a certain level if not then this method does not work for the team and will end up disadvantaging them.
Scrumban– Limiting work in progress like Kanban, with a daily stand-up like scrum.
Pros- This methodology is great for splitting large projects into chunks for the team to work best and enforces transparency. Through planning, the team can achieve objectives avoiding confusion within the team.
Cons- By using Kanban can make projects and teams more difficult to track and monitor progress, there is also little documentation on the success of kanban as it is a relatively new method. Also by using this method there is less control for team management which can be considered as both positive and negative.
Lean– Streamlining and eliminating waste to deliver more with less.
Pros- Refining workflow means productivity sapping issues and tasks that don’t advantage the project can be ironed out. By doing this the team can also further focus on those projects that are valued. By cutting out tasks that do not add value you’ll be able to commit more time to those that do, making a higher quality product for the customer proving their value to the business.
Cons- Lean methodology requires more planning and time upfront, this may include tracking things over a certain amount of time. You will also need to encourage the team to meet regularly to discuss the work that’s been completed. Whilst all of this may better the team it can be very time-consuming and may eat into time that can be going into completing the project. Some organizations get so focused on the lean tactics they lose sight of the bigger picture.
eXtreme programming methodology (XP)– doing development robustly to ensure quality
Pros- This methodology is a fast-paced work environment with no wasting of time, instead of a couple of years like some software development methods, extreme programming only takes a company several months to complete. This allows the team to work on more projects and get more work because of completing their projects quicker, therefore making this method more money efficient. Everyone works on individual tasks but with regular meetings held development within individuals is recorded and acknowledged the improvements made. The team and developers work hard to accomplish goals within tight deadlines whilst supporting each other through the project, this creates an efficient but supportive workspace for all.
Cons- The focus of XP methodology and programming is in the coding rather than the design, however, the design is typically what sells the application so this may end up in the customer being unhappy with the end result overall. There is also a lot of pressure working with tight deadlines, this and working within the tight deadline the team will undoubtedly get stressed and this may affect their work and allow them to get stressed within the project, not allowing them to work to the best of their ability.
Waterfall– Planning projects fully, then executing through phases.
Pros- When being compared to other methodologies, waterfall focuses the most on clear and defined steps within a project. Each of the projects that use waterfall methodology goes through these steps:
- Requirement gathering documentation
- System Design
- Implementation
- Testing
- Delivery/deployment
- Maintenance
The team must complete an entire step from the bulleted list before moving on to the next step, this means there will be no half-finished projects that will be pushed aside and left. This also means that individuals will not feel the stress of being left behind as everyone will be at the same step.
Cons- Because of the strict ruling with the steps, the waterfall methodology leaves no room for unexpected changes or revisions within the project. a sudden change to the work within the project could render much of the work an individual has made and become useless, throwing off the entire timeline. As well as this the waterfall methodology focuses very little on the end-user or client involved with the project, the main purpose of this methodology has always been to help internal teams through the phases of the project.
PRINCE2– Controlled project management that leaves nothing to chance
Pros- The entire framework of PRINCE2 methodology is so flexible that it can be incorporated in any type of project. By using this methodology teams can communicate better and have better accountability, it focuses more on outputs and continuous support for improvements within the team.
Cons- PRINCE2 uses excessive documentation to track work and progress within the team, at every stage, there is lots of documentation to maintain and update which takes up necessary time that could be going into the designing of the project. There is a lack of involvement and time in the senior management, this inevitably slows down the project.
PMI’S PMBOK– Applying universal standards to Waterfall project management
Pros- PMBOK works well for projects that have clear requirements and little chance for change. Forecasting can be done throughout the giving the customer an understanding of scope, cost, and timelines.
Cons- Poses a challenge for projects that are complex with constant changes as costs and such schedule impacts can be significant. Integration is often done late in the process which could cause difficulties if assumptions are wrong or there are unknown issues.
Setting Targets for Project Management
Why do we set targets and what are they for?
Targets provide direction for people and where they want to go, what they want to achieve. When you set goals and think about what you want to achieve, you break out of autopilot and start living with a conscious mindset of your actions. Instead of letting other people direct you on what to do, you take charge of your own actions and what is going on in your life. As well as this, you can keep a measure on what you are doing and how to improve, by setting milestones you can have something to work towards and gain new skills along the way. Things are created twice; first in the mind, secondly in the physical. The mental creation happens when you bring your goal to mind, the physical creation happens when you bring your goal to life, without the mind you don’t get the physical. By setting goals you become more focused, they give you laser direction to where you need to be and what to spend your time and energy on. It also makes you accountable to have goals, rather than just talking you are now obligated to act upon them. For people who are not in a good place in life, goals help to motivate them and give them something to work for, they remind you of the things you love and to strive you away from the negative obstacles. They help to achieve your highest potential, by default a person makes a routine of activities that makes you feel safe and comfy every day, but by doing this it stops the person from taking risks and achieving their uttermost from life. For example; set a time limit makes you work faster and setting a weight loss target helps you know if your actions have been effective in losing weight. Setting a goal ensures that you are not settling for less than what you planned for in the first place.
- Set Goals (Where are you going? + When are you finishing?)
- Breakdown Tasks (Bridge the abstract and the concrete, Create a plan of action, tools, and materials needed for these goals, collaborate ideas, and divide up the roles for the ideas)
- Implement Strategies (What can you do to best help yourself and the people in your team?)
- Monitor and Adjust (Monitor the progress and address problems people may be having, solve these problems, experiment with new ideas, and re-examine goals)
Different Resources
What different resources can be used in project management?
A resource- A material or immaterial entity exploited for the realization of a task.
These can be divided into 4 following categories;
Human resources- team members
Material resources- raw materials and machines, tools, equipment, resource management software
Financial resources- project budgets
Time resources- Project plan, project schedule, time invested
Resource planning is one of the factors that lead to the success of a project. *
What is a budget/why is it important?
Budget- An estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time.
Managing your money well is a key factor that plays into the part of a successful project, it is easy to let the spending get out of control if you do not have a limit on how much money can be spent. Laying all of your expenses out clearly will help you plan better and highlight areas where you may be able to save your money and make savings that can go towards something else. Having a budget always helps you save and be prepared for the unexpected if something were to go wrong you will not be overspending and left with no money by the end of it as you had money spare to fall back on.
Asset Management
Open-source digital asset management
Open-source digital asset management tools are software solutions, they allow you to store, operate, track and share your digital assets in one place. These types of apps are usually cloud-based and have different specific functions depending on what you’re working with. According to Globe New Wire, the size of the DAM market has rapidly grown through the years and in 2018 presented a share of $1.24 billion. Digital asset management is the safer way to work and your creative files are much more organized therefore making you work faster and more efficiently. Because of DAM businesses save significant amounts of money and time. With DAM you do not have to organize your own files and name those files and so forth, the system works in a way that necessities you to have your digital media assets organized.
4 Components That Are Important
Storage Concerns-
Storage concerns are important when storing work as it depends on how much data a digital component can hold.
Backup of Files-
The backing up of files is important as if one file is lost on a piece of software and that is the only place you have saved it that piece of work will be lost forever. By backing up this work, especially on a cloud file, it is less likely you will ever lose that work if it corrupts in one storage area as you will always have a back p of your work.
Logging of Process and Files-
By logging the process of your work as you go along, you can revisit the part in your work before maybe a dramatic change was made to it. As well as this, it becomes easier to make multiple renditions of your work without having to remake the same thing over and over.
File Format-
The file format of your work is important as if you only save your work as one file, say this was a jpeg, you can no longer revisit this work as it has been saved as an image format, not a format that can be revisited. As well as this, saving your work in the wrong kind of format can ruin the quality of your work and make the evidence for your work look really poor because of its image quality.
Copyright Consideration
What is copyright?
Definition- Copyright is the lawful right of an author, artist, composer, or another creator to control the use of his or her work by others. Generally speaking, a copyrighted work may not be duplicated, disseminated, or appropriated by others without the creator’s permission. The public display or performance of copyrighted works is similarly restricted.
When creating pieces of work there are risks and limitations that come with taking inspiration from another style/piece of work. You may use copyright-protected material if you have permission or license from the copyright holder prior to posting, however, if you do not you may land yourself a hefty fine. Some may argue why copyright is necessary, it protects an artist in the case of graphic design from having their work being taken and being used in the name of someone else, in many circumstances this wors in levels of money too where people that are using others work are making revenue from this, with copyright this can be prevented. A copyright owner has the exclusive right to:
- reproduce the work by making copies of it
- dispute copies of the work to the public by sale, donation, rental, or lending
- Prepare new works derived from the original
- Publicly perform or display the work.
Anyone who does any of these things without authorization of the copyrigt=ht owner can be liable to the copyright owner for damages, in some cases the owner can recover statutory damage of up to £30,000 up to £150,000. Copyright can also be a crime resulting in a fine or imprisonment so it is extremely important for an artist to do their research on work before using it or asking for permission from the artist first.
What is Production Documentation?
Product documentation describes the product that is being developed and provides the instructions on how to perform the various tasks that are in it. It includes requirements, tech specifications, business logic, and manuals. In total there are two types of project documentation.
- System Documentation– represents documents that describe the system itself and its parts. It includes documents, design decisions, architecture descriptions, program source code, and FAQs.
- User Documentation- covers manuals that are mainly prepared for end-users of the product and system administrators. User documentation includes tutorials, user guides, troubleshooting manuals, installation, and reference manuals.
Product documentation is often an afterthought as developers primarily focus on creating their product and therefore they use minimum documentation resulting in them ignoring their user’s point of view. For a developer or writer trying to bridge the developer-customer gap with effective documentation, important things to note to get across to the product user are how you document your information, structuring, planning, writing, and delivering this.
An example of what a development document may look like, it gives a clear roadmap for what needs to be achieved and when.
Development documentation compromises documents created in course of software engineering processes, there are only two main types of these, coding documentation and testing documentation.
