Scope Creep

Analyzing Scope Creep

I liken scope creep to going to Target®.  If I don’t go there with a list and a set budget, I walk out with a cart full of stuff I don’t need, and $300 poorer.

This week we are asked to recall a project that has experienced scope creep.  I can’t recall a project that I worked on that ever experienced scope creep, because every project I have been involved in has never made it past the development stage.  We have never had a project manager, and certainly never had a statement of work.  Generally our “team,” so to speak, has consisted of volunteers of fine arts teachers to work on various committees to design curriculum maps. 

As music teachers, we get off task often and never have a clear vision of what we need to accomplish.  Our curriculum coordinator changes every two years or so, and the district is constantly trying to make us legitimize what we teach, so we always have a new project to work on.  Scope creep never has a chance to happen.

With that being said, what I have learned about project management I can now apply to our next project.  I won’t necessarily assume the role of project manager, but I can develop a work breakdown structure (Greer, 2010) to make sure that everyone has a defined role, create a project schedule, and a project status report.  This way we can keep ourselves on track, and legitimize our project, no matter who our curriculum coordinator happens to be.  Perhaps we might actually complete a project, and be able to use the final result.

Resources

Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.

Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources

Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources

In my search to find some helpful resources that would be useful in estimating a budget for an ID project, I cam across many sites that offered helpful advice and tips.  I’m bad at math, and helpful tips are like someone patting me on the head and telling me that I’ll learn it eventually.  I need a formula or something that is tangible that I can manipulate to see how things will break down.

The first site I visited was Tech Republic.  I found an article by Shelley Doll titled “Creating your project budget: where to begin?” http://www.techrepublic.com/article/creating-your-project-budget-where-to-begin/1045600.  This article gives guidelines on creating a realistic justifiable budget.  It has helpful suggestions such as “project costs and budget costs are two different things, identify project costs first” (Doll, 2002).  It also explains “project costs are not defined solely in monetary amounts. Include actual amounts, with shipping and taxes, for software or hardware purchases that must be made. If you’re pro-rating the costs of using pre-existing hardware and software tools, include it in number of hours. Likewise, developer effort costs are recorded in hours, not dollars” (Doll, 2002). These are things that I would never think of, and to me are extremely helpful without being patronizing.

The next site that I looked at, I actually subscribed to.  Smartsheet is an interactive spreadsheet.  It is an interactive Gantt chart.  Within the Gantt chart you can export and print, switch views between calendar and Gantt chart, add sub tasks drag and drop to instantly change dates and create task dependencies, has a mobile app for smart phones, and the ability to share with others on Google apps.  This is an app that helps me out with my math issues, and it helps with deadlines, and who is responsible for what tasks within the project.  It is great for “bottom-up budgeting” (Portney, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton & Kramer, 2008). https://www.smartsheet.com

The final page that I found helpful was Ten Step.  Ten Step is a consulting firm that specializes in Project Management.  They have posted a 10 step statement of work and posted it online.  Steps 2 and 3 are build the schedule and budget, and manage the schedule and budget.  These sections are then divided into specific sub sections that define the process and technique.  This is just detailed enough that some one like me can understand it, and not be overwhelmed, and yet not “dumbed down” to the point that I feel patronized.  The charts and tips are smartly written and although you need to be a member to continue more indepth, what they place for public viewing is enough to help the budget challenged.  http://www.tenstep.com/open/2.0BuildSchedandBudget.html

There are many great resources out there but the three I chose seemed best for me,  the mathematically challenged. 

Resources

Doll, Shelley, 2007. Web article. “Creating Your Project Budget: Where to Begin?”  Retrieved from: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/creating-your-project-budget-where-to-begin/1045600

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. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Smart Sheet, 2011.  Retrieved from: https://www.smartsheet.com

Ten Step, Inc. 2010.  Retrieved from:  http://www.tenstep.com/open/2.0BuildSchedandBudget.html