Scope Creep

Scope creep is as disturbing as the term implies.  Like ivy creeping up the sides of a brick wall, it clings to the project with invasive threads and winds itself about as if to suffocate the original structure.  Drama aside, scope creep can negatively affect any project. 

According to Villanova University, scope creep occurs when an area of a project begins to expand in need for resources, time, or tasks (2013, p.1).  Regardless of whether you are a project manager or not, you have likely experienced this to some extent.  I certainly have.  It starts small and little by little creates a larger impact on your project.   You could always add a step, include one more person, insert some interesting tidbit or interactive piece.  There is always room to expand and this is where scope creep can rear its expensive head.

The most recent experience I have noticed scope creep is with a classroom incentive plan I have designed for my middle school students.  I started with raffle tickets that would entice students into choosing appropriate behaviors and improve student learning by reducing distraction and off-task time.  Soon I noticed that my bank balance was dwindling due to an over-eager desire to feed this project and the reward stash of prizes in my classroom.  Villanova University explains that it is important to set parameters for the project (2013, p.1), which I certainly did not in this situation.  As a joke, I wear a string of raffle tickets like a boa around my neck.  The middle schoolers laugh and think what a nerd their teacher is, but they do so while effectively completing their assignments.  That raffle-boa may as well be a creeping ivy, slowly tightening and constricting my wallet.  A small example of scope creep, but a real example of how a simple project can go way over budget- especially when there is no budget established.  The time at the end of class to reward the raffle winners could also easily creep into instructional time.  What am I to do?

I have to refer to the wise guidance of those who know more about scope creep than myself.  One such individual has described seven steps we can all use to avoid scope creep.  One piece of advice offered is to clearly define your vision (Doll, 2001, p.1).  My vision for this project is to improve student behavior, safeguard instructional time, and do so without going bankrupt.  Therefore, I must set a budget for tickets and prizes.  Ten dollars a week sounds reasonable.  Believe me, that is not what I have been spending.  I must set a timeframe for the raffle at the end of class, five minutes before class ends while students are cleaning up should suffice.  I must also set a time limit on how much time I can spend hunting for incentives.  One trip, once a week, to a location in my own city should do. 

The example of scope creep I have shared is small-scale, but on a larger more formal project it can cost millions instead of hundreds.  It can cost the time and effort of dozens or more individuals instead of one.  Developing a budget and a timeline for a project is critical.  Do not let it take over, like the invasive ivy.  Although ornamental, it can be very costly.

References

Doll, S. (2001).  Seven steps to avoid scope creep.  Retrieved at http://tinyurl.com/btmb5xy

Managing scope creep in project management. (2013). Villanova University Online.  Retrieved at http://tinyurl.com/clth9bc

Budget Tools for Project Managers

Project Managers are responsible for a plethora of tasks, timelines, and budgets.  In order to be most effective, the project manager must select effective tools to use to manage the project.  Below I have shared a few tools I found on the internet, which are either free or offer a free trial.  I particularly like smartsheet, as it resembles the RASCI Chart (Responsibility, Approval, Support, Consult, & Inform) descrived by Dr. Stolovich (Laureate Education).  Please take a look at these three tools and let me know what you think of them.  While I was extremely impressed by Vertabase, the price tag is quite high.  I am interested to know which of these tools interest you most and why, so please share your observations.

www.billster.net

Billster is a free budget tool that you can use to manage ingoing and outgoing expenses for any scale project.  This would be an effective tool for a project manager who needs to see where the funds are going and also as a measure to gauge whether or not the project is still on track.  This is a very visual tool, which includes a number of graphs that help one to see the bigger picture.  A project manager might be able to use this as an overview of the major costs associated with a project, track items paid, etcetera.   Billster is completely free.

www.smartsheet.com

There is a 30 day free trial for smartsheet.com  and I have already logged in to get a brief glimpse at what this tool has to offer.  This tool allows you to put in specific projects, sections, sub-items, all with timelines attached.  There are sharing features, alerts, publishing capabilities, and an area to request updates.  With the updates piece, the project manager could send key individuals an email requesting an update to their portion of the project.  The PM could also limit which individuals can access, either private, public, or only to a set of specified individuals.  I have not tried out the smartforms, but this may be a useful feature and will add another row to the worksheet.  Something like this could be built in Excel, but would not have the same level of interactivity.  Pricing after the free trial is not based on number of contributor, however is based on the number of sheets.   3 GB or 10 sheets is $15.95/month,  15 GB or 50 sheets is $29.95/month, 45+ GB or 150+ sheets is $49.95/month.  

www.vertabase.com

This tool also offers a free trial membership.  If you go to http://www.vertabase.com/basics.html , you will find a few overview videos that will help you to see what this tool can do.  It appears that this has more detail than the other two site tools I have found.  There are task lists and overviews that would be very helpful to a project manager.   As a major list-writer, I like the task scratch-pad.   You can also review the plan and export it to your project.  This is a helpful feature and actually adds these tasks to an already existing project management plan, as there are always tasks that come up that were not originally included.  You can also drag and drop files into specified projects.  This is a great tool for organizing and sharing information regarding the project.  This is particularly helpful for projects where key individuals are not on site in an office setting, which many of us will be involved with to some extent.  After the free trial, cost will be an important consideration.  A group of five can use this tool for $150/month, 10 for $250, 50 for $750, and 200 for $1500 per month.   

References

Laureate Education Inc. (n.d.). Creating resource allocations. Video presentation.

Communication Modalities

This week, our Project Management Class was tasked with reviewing a number of resources along with a multimedia program.  In the multimedia program, we viewed three different modalities that covered the same message via email, voicemail, and a face-to-face interaction.  We were instructed to reflect upon each communication and our reaction to each, with consideration of the information shared in our resources.  Through this exercise, I came to realize my own communication preferences while also recognizing the limitations, such as the lack of other communication like body language, posed by modern interactions.

In Communicating with Stakeholders, Dr. Stolovich explains that instructional designers and project managers must approach situations with diplomacy.  He went on to say that communication is about much more than words and that you should focus the communication and type with the stakeholder’s preferred mode. 

In Practitioner Voices, Vince Budrovich shared a scenario in which he tailored his communications with the CIO based on that stakeholder’s preference and style.  This individual preferred face-to-face interactions and Budrovich provided communication in this modality.  Since project managers must document communications, he followed up the meetings with a concise email. 

Email

In the email communication presented in the multimedia program, the message was formulated through words without other verbal or visual cues.  Reminding a colleague how his or her projects affect your own is a sensitive topic.  According to our video learning this week, most communication is verbal and physical.  When an individual does not observe this communication, his or her imagination may fill in the blanks with an unintended message. 

When I reviewed the email, I did not interpret a negative tone but every individual interprets differently.  One strength of email is that it does document communication in a way that is not possible through verbal or face-to-face interactions.  Another benefit to email is that an individual may read it multiple times to reevaluate the intent of the message.

Voicemail

As I reviewed the voicemail in this week’s multimedia program, I actually had more of a reaction to this one than the others.  Although email is thought to be the form of communication that is most often misinterpreted, I tend to dismiss any impression of tone as merely a lack of verbal and visual cues and an attempt to communicate quickly. The voicemail conveyed the same verbiage as was written in the email, however I heard more of a stress on how the project of one individual will delay another’s.  The tone in a voicemail cannot be unheard and also is easily misinterpreted. 

This particular message was not especially cordial and of the three messages, this one would stress me the most.  A phone call is more formal than email, which would lead me to believe the situation was escalating.  These interpretations are my own, not based on this week’s resources.  Our resources would suggest that a phone call would be a more effective in this scenario, but also suggest that every individual is different and modalities should be based on the individual ().  I do not enjoy talking on the phone, but do enjoy face-to-face interactions and email frequently.  So, a phone message about something that could be confrontational would be the wrong way to communicate with me. 

Face-to-face

Of the three communications, the face-to-face example was the most clear.  The person’s tone and body language expressed her personal stress over her deadline and valued the recipient’s project as an important part of her own project.  The words between all three messages were the same, but this one was more personal. 

Although I am an introvert and like the response time provided by email, this specific interaction would do two important things.  First, it would help me to understand the other person’s timeline and perspective without offending me.  Second, it would appeal to my sense of teamwork and would encourage me to provide the individual with the needed information in a timely manner.  Not only does it provide me with a strong sense of where the other person is coming from, it also provides that person with a full picture response at the same time. 

Since time is an issue, a face-to-face interaction would be the most effective way of communication in this scenario.  For documentation, a follow-up email would provide a trail.  However, it does leave the individual feeling undermined since he or she will know that the email is for documentation.  If following up with an email, it should be a thank-you email.  That would serve the same purpose without setting off red flags that you are keeping notes of information that is requested or documenting interactions. 

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References

Ertmer, P.,A. & Quinn, J. (2007).  I.D. casebook: case studies on instructional design.  Pearson

Education.  Prentice-Hall, NJ.

Portny, S.,E., Mantel, S.,J., Meredith, J., R., Shafer, S., M., Sutton, M., M., & Kramer, B. E.

(2008). Project management: planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. John Wiley

& Sons, NJ.

Project Management- Righting the Course

As a principal intern, several years ago, I participated in two school climate projects simultaneously.  The first was a bus safety project and the second was reading buddies, a program to partner older students with primary age students to improve reading while building community.

I approached these two projects through my work on the Site Council at the elementary school, where I taught and was completing my administrative internship.  During  my preparations for both projects, I involved administration, the Site Council, families, and students.  As I approached the reading buddies project, I worked with both primary and intermediate level teachers in order to ensure its success.  For the bus project, I did not include teachers unless they were part of the Site Council since it was a before and after school project.

Extensive preparation was involved in both projects.  I worked with primary level teachers to select appropriate reading material, classified  staff and administration to ensure supervision, mentored the intermediate students, communicated with parents, and more, as related to the Reading Buddies Project.

I rode the school buses with students after school to research what the route was like, identify concerns, and then developed an incentive plan to encourage positive bus behaviors and reward students for their participation.  Weekly, I designed bus activity packets for Kinder/1^st Graders, 2^nd/3rd /4^th graders, and 5^th/6^th graders.  I included vocabulary related to state standards, Sudoku, riddles, games, tic-tac-toe, crosswords and a variety of other activities with the main goal of entertaining students on their ride home to prevent bus incidents.  I worked with the bus drivers and the transportation department, provided all materials to students, and was at the bus area before and after school.  I distributed and collected the packets on Monday mornings and was available to students every day before and after school. 

Reading buddies went on without any issues, but I heard through the grapevine that a few teachers were frustrated that they did not know what was going on with the bus project.  My intent in excluding teachers from the bus project was out of respect for their time and was an attempt not to burden them with it.  Although I did not have a client list, I had drafted an outline of individuals who would be impacted by each project (Portny et al, 2008, p. 273).   I learned through this experience that the stakeholder list can grow during a project and that revisions can be made throughout the project at least to some extent.  I also found through this experience that it is better to over-communicate that under-communicate.  If you provide the information to someone who does not want it, they can filter it out.  However, if you do not provide information to someone who wants to be involved then it will appear that you do not value that stakeholder’s input or involvement.

As soon as I became aware that teachers wanted to know what was going on, I sent out an email to all staff explaining the program and advising teachers that they were not required to do anything with the project, but that their input regarding the activities was welcomed.  I also decided to discuss the project at the next staff meeting.  Although not every teacher was out of the loop (any teacher on Site Council or morning/afternoon bus duty was aware of the ins and outs of the project), the whole staff seemed to appreciate a clearer overview of the project and the purpose.  Most of the questions were about implementation and whether or not teachers would be responsible for collecting or distributing the project packets.  Others asked if they were required to provide rewards to students for completing the project.  Simply clarifying that I would provide all the support needed alleviated concerns dramatically. 

As a project manager, it is important to realize that stakeholders want to know what is going on even if the duties do not involve them.  Including them in planning also affirms your value on the input that stakeholders provide.  Additionally, it is critical that we realize we do not have to live with our mistakes.  We can correct them as they arise and doing so shows we value feedback and are open to constructive criticism. 

In both projects, I engaged the participation of many stakeholders from a variety of roles.  I researched practices of other professionals in the school district, referred to Safe Schools information, consulted the Site Council, and was highly interactive with parents and students.  The paperwork sent home for both projects was clear, concise, and timely.  Directions and timelines were spelled out and followed accordingly.  Reading buddies was successful, as evident in positive mentor-type relationships between younger and older students, cooperative reading observed by staff and parents, and through feedback received from students, parents, teachers, and other staff.  The bus project was also successful as measured by decreased bus incidents before and after school, follow-up ride-alongs which observed marked improvement in behavior, positive feedback from students, families, and staff. 

As the project manager faces the post-mortem of any project, he or she should realize that one glitch in a project does not define its success.  Learning from mistakes or omissions will only support our growth and will improve future projects.  However, I value mini-evaluations throughout the project.  One should not wait until the end of a project to measure pros and cons.  Issues that arise that can be corrected should be resolved in a timely manner.  During the post-mortem, the project manager takes notes of those path-redirections in order to proactively change patterns for the next project.

Communication is the most important piece in project management. Use proactive, positive communication to pull input from stakeholders before you begin your project.  As you design the project, provide drafts to stakeholders for continued feedback and continue to communicate and collect input throughout the project.  At the end of any project, provide all stakeholders with a tool to provide constructive feedback such as through a survey.  Celebrate successes with stakeholders and also communicate what changes you will make as a result of the post-mortem.  This validates the feedback you have received and helps stakeholders to feel they have been heard.  This further builds trust and creates a professional relationship that will be valuable in future projects together. 

References

Ertmer, P.,A. & Quinn, J. (2006).  I.D. casebook: case studies on instructional design.  Pearson Education.  Prentice-Hall, NJ.

Portny, S.,E., Mantel, S.,J., Meredith, J., R., Shafer, S., M., Sutton, M., M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. John Wiley & Sons, NJ.

Project Management

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Aubrey

Reflection

Distance learning is gaining in popularity and its reputation is gaining in respect.  5-10 years ago, many were hesitant and 10-20 years ago distance learning was primarily through correspondence.  Reflecting back upon the history of distance learning, I can only predict that it will continue to improve in quality and popularity.

I earned my Bachelor of Arts in 2001, only a dozen years ago.  At that time, I had never heard of distance learning or online learning.  It is 2013 and I am only a few courses away from earning an MS in Instructional Design and Technology from Walden University. 

In 5-10 years from now, I foresee a high number of individuals being involved in distance learning through professional development through their jobs.  In 10-20 years, I envision distance learning being at the forefront of professional certifications, graduate degrees, and gaining strides in public education.

Washington State recently passed legislation allowing charter schools.  OSPI(The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction) has made several statements encouraging school districts to develop their own online programs, rather than funneling students via a waiver process to for-profit organizations affiliated with a few school districts state-wide.  The timeline may be within the 5-10 year range for most large school districts within the state to establish distance learning programs.  Within the next decade, I would be surprised if there are not several distance learning charters available to Kinder-12^th grade students. 

The pace of changes in technology is rapid.  20 years from now is as incomprehensible to me as the present was to me a dozen years ago.  Considering the ever increasing demands for flexible schedules and a need for programs that span a multitude of locations, distance education will only gain in popularity and enrollments will skyrocket.  Time will improve programs and distance education will branch into most disciplines if not to all at least to some extent.  Employers will observe firsthand the benefit of distance and online learning and will not only recognize degrees as reputable but will also integrate distance learning for employees for professional development.  The distance learning experience in 20 years may be barely recognizable to what it is now.  We are pioneers in an unsettled territory and future generations will improve upon our discoveries and journey.   Distance education is undergoing an evolution of sorts and we can only guess at what it will be two decades from now.  If anything, I think we will underestimate its potential.  However, distance education will persevere and prove that innovation can and will change the face of education forever.

References

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.