As I read through the document requirements, it seemed to partly reflect project documentation I had previously worked on in my job. Thinking about how the major project is meant to feed into our portfolio assessment at the end of semester, I had previously only considered the technical elements I could include. It occurred to me that project management and documentation were also important skills I could gain from this project and add to my portfolio.
While it might have been easier to just answer the couple of dot points required for the document, I thought it would be more useful to use some of my existing project documentation skills and create a more comprehensive document. My approach was to look at the assessment requirements, look at what I would include for a real project proposal including supporting documentation and then cut or add what we needed for the project.
Matching assessment requirements with project documentation
| Document requirements | Project documentation |
|---|---|
| A survey of relevant background material – which published works does the design build on and how these are related. | Rationale for project. Why are we doing this? What problem are we solving? What does the research say? |
| Consideration of the intended audience and the experience you want them to have – who are your intended audience, how and in what context do you expect them to interact with your work, and what do you want them to experience as a result. | Outcomes, benefits and impacts. What are the users needs and how will they met? What personal/student benefits are there (learning technical skills). |
| Project plan including scope for implementation | Scope What is the level of detail? What is in scope and out of scope. Time is fixed, scope is flexible. |
| Breakdown of milestones with expected tasks & completion times for delivering the project | Task Analysis Could include: Deliverable, Effort, [Must, Should, Could, Won’t], Status, Notes. This might be too much detail, minimum is item, week, and notes. |
| Breakdown of who in the team will be responsible for tasks and how the workload will be spread across the team. | Proposed staffing Team members including roles and responsibilities |
| Issues you think that you may encounter in the implementation of your project and suggestions for how to overcome them. | Risk Analysis List risk, impact (1-5), likelihood of risk (1-5), overall risk score(1-25) and mitigation. This might be too much detail, minimum is risk and mitigation. |
| Response to feedback received in presentation | Include in other areas as needed. |
Other project documentation
Other items normally included in project proposals and documentation that may or may not be relevent to this project.| Item | Rationale | Include in Part A |
|---|---|---|
| Success criteria Could be as simple as a finished product or include learning outcomes |
Is a requirement of Part B documentation, will include then. | No |
| Assumptions and constraints What box are we working inside (fixed deadline of assessment and semester deadlines). It is assumed that… (through a combination of formal teaching and self-directed learning that team members will be to technically deliver this project). |
Probably overkill for our assessment, won't include. | No |
| Proposed costs Should be nil, expectation of software that each team members will have (mostly freeware) |
Not neccessary for this project | No |
| Communication plan Internal only as there is no real client/audience stakeholders. Include github, drive, plus, facebook etc. Could include tutors, brief (client)?? |
Will include internal only. Had listed in in team charter (informal) | Yes |
| Stakeholder analysis. Include audience in this. What other stakeholders do we have? Could include audience, team members roles, tutors/teaching staff, team members as students (what will i get out of this course - skills). Present as stakeholder interest, expectations, and strategy. |
More detail than needed for this project. Combine audience with outcomes, benfits and impacts. |
Incorporated in other section |
| Proposed deliverables Specific items we will achieve by end of semester Proposed time frame Time frame for deliverables (milestones) |
Not enough items/too early in the project to have separate task analysis, proposed deliverables and proposed time frame. Combine into one section. | Incorporated in other section |
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