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

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 |  Project planning |
Seven stages of writing assignments | Completing a class assignment |
Developing case studies | Budgets and spreadsheets | Presenting projects