Unit 12 Project-ile

I was close to heaving this project-ile out the window. Having never been involved in a project of the magnitude implied in the readings, I found most of the readings dry and obtuse. I was contemplating skipping the whole mess and moving on when I started reading the Cervone articles "How Not to Run a Digital Library Project where he says "The problem is that most project management texts and articles are about as exciting as tapioca pudding. Nobody really likes it..." He speaks in plain English, has a sense of humor, uses analogies (my fave), organizes with rules and bullet lists, and keeps it short and to the point. All of those strategies work for me. He kept me interested.

I read the lecture and the e-reserve articles in order, including 2 others by Cervone, before I came to How Not to... and for me they were too technical. A bullet list synopsis would have sufficed. I really only need an overview at this point because I'm not ready to spearhead a big project and I know it.

The important points I got from the readings are:

- Focus on the big picture goals to plan and empower people to provide input and contribute.

- Delegate responsibilities and keep lines of communication open both ways.

- Create a sense of ownership/commitment on the part of all the stakeholders

- Be prepared for unforeseen changes, have a process for dealing with them

- Learn and document from doing the project to make the next project process better