MM463 – Major Project

What we’ll cover  Brainstorming  SWOT analysis  Good/better/best scenarios

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world! “ – Joel Arther Barker, Scholar and Futurist Brainstorming!

What is Brainstorming?  Creates new ideas  Solves problems  Motivates  Develops teams  Brainstorming needs a process to be effective

Brainstorming process  Plan and agree on the brainstorming goal  Manage the brainstorming activity  Implement actions determined from brainstorming

Plan and agree on goal  Everyone participating must agree that they understand the goal of the brainstorming session  Keep the brainstorming objective simple  Allocate a time limit  This will enable you to keep the random brainstorming activity under control and on track

Managing brainstorming 1. Select a “facilitator”  Must ensure everyone participates  Writes down all ideas and all notes from brainstorming session  Keeps track of time 2. Group begins throwing out ideas 3. After time limit, collect and condense ideas 4. With the group, assess, evaluate and analyze the effects and validity of the ideas (SWOT) 5. Develop and prioritize the ideas into a more finished list or set of actions or options

Implement actions determined from brainstorming  We will cover how to implement your ideas form brainstorming into a project proposal in a future class

“A thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all.” - Georges Bernanos, French author and WW 1 soldier SWOT Analysis

What is SWOT analysis  A way to measure our ideas  SWOT stands for:  Strengths  Weaknesses  Opportunities  Threats  We measure these factors because they influence our project  Fill out a chart with the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats listed

SWOT chart StrengthsWeaknesses OpportunitiesThreats

Strengths  “What are some of the things that work for this project?”  Ask these following questions:  What are the strengths of your project?  Advantages of project?  Your team capabilities?  Uniqueness of project?  Resources, Assets, People available?  Experience, knowledge, data?  Innovative aspects?  Management cover, succession?  What other strengths do you see?

Weaknesses  “What are some things that work against this project?”  Ask some of these following questions:  Disadvantages of doing project?  Gaps in skills and/or capabilities in team?  Timelines, deadlines, and pressures?  Effects on other school and project work, personal life, distractions?  Morale, commitment, leadership?  Processes and systems, etc?  Management cover, succession?  What other weaknesses do you see?

Opportunities  “What are some benefits that could out of this project?”  Ask some of these following questions:  Creative skills development?  Technical skills development?  Portfolio quality project?  Are there third parties that could benefit from the outcome of this project?  Are there other opportunities you can see?

Threats  “What bad things (risks) could happen?”  Ask some of these following questions:  Loss of technical resources?  Will you be able to sustain your project over the semester?  Obstacles you might face?  Overwhelming weaknesses discovered?  Loss of key team members?  Seasonality, weather effects?  Are there any other weaknesses you can see?

“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. 'Til your good is better and your better is best.” - St. Jerome, a Saint Good/Better/Best

What is Good/Better/Best?  A way to prioritize your project options, features, and ideas  Why prioritize?  Resources are limited  Time is limited  In the real world, budgets are limited  Keeps scope of your project clear and focused

Defining Good/Better/Best  List all of the features, options, and ideas about your project  Group them into three groups:  Good - list items that are only essential to execute the project  Better - includes “Good” items, and additional list items that would make the project more complete  Best - includes “Good” and “Better” items, and lists only the “nice to have, but not essential” items