Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources

To prepare for this assignment, I conducted a web search on estimating the costs, effort, and/or activity duration associated with ID projects.  Accurate cost estimates help you complete a project on-budget.  Before you can perform cost estimation you need to have completed the following processes: Define Scope, Create WBS, Define Activities, Sequence Activities, Estimate Activity Resources, and Estimate Activity Duration (Sharma, 2009).

Project Cost Estimating Tools & Techniques

This site offers some tools and techniques for project managers developing a project.  The site takes the project manager through the Project Management Life Cycle.  The Project Cost Estimating Tools and Techniques tab lists tools and techniques that are used by project managers to plan cost estimates.  I liked this site because it offers project management templates and has many other links to help a project manager move easily through developing a project.

Project Management Skills. (2012). Project cost estimating tools & techniques. Retrieved from http://www.project-management-skills.com/project-cost-estimating.html  

Bright Hub PM

This website begins by introducing the reader to the cycle of a project.  It then introduces cost estimating techniques that are commonly used in projects.  The website has an explanation for each technique.  Bright Hub also offers a number of links to aid in the process different process that.  I have used this site to help me with my charts and understand the different parts of the processes that we have already completed.   

Sharma., R. (2009). Tools used to estimate costs in project management. Retrieved from  http://www.brighthubpm.com/project-planning/54986-tools-used-to-estimate-costs-in-project-management/

Communicating Effectively

In this week’s assignment we were asked to view the multimedia program “The Art of Effective Communication”.  In this program we observed a piece of communication in three different modalities: written text (email), audio (voicemail), and video (face-to-face).  After each modality we were asked to take notes on how we interpret the message. 

Reflection:

How did your interpretation of the message change from one modality to the next?

Email

 Jane sent an email to Mark expressing her concerns about the missing report.  She needed Mark’s part of the report to conclude her part of the project.  Jane’s email was clear and straight to the point.  Stolovich (n.d.) stated that communication should be clear, concise, and focused.  This helps everyone stay on target.  Although Jane was clear in her email I also felt the email was a little pushy.  I felt that Jane was concerned about how Mark was doing but also concerned about the work at hand.  In my opinion it is very had to tell how urgent a situation is through email. I believe that email is really for less urgent messages.

Voicemail

When I heard Jane’s voice I felt that the message changed for me.  The message became a little more personable.  In a voicemail the listener generally tries to understand and remember the message the first time through.  Tone of voice and language yield clues about relative importance and urgency (Gradous, n.d.).  My interpretation of the massage changed from email to voicemail because I was able to hear her voice and that helped me to understand how concerned she was about receiving the information she need to finish her part. 

Face-to-Face

Above all I felt that this modality was the best.  In order to get an effective delivery I feel that face-to-face is the best way.  It is especially best when the information that needs to be communicated is urgent.  Stolovich (n.d.) stated that effective communication is influenced by:

-          - Spirit and attitude

-          - Tonality and body language

-          - Timing

-          - Personality of the recipient

Jane’s spirit, attitude, tonality, and body language was very good.  The video showed that Jane was not mad but concerned about what was going on with the report.           

Having effective communication amongst team members is very important.  It makes the team feel that they can trust and help each other.  In this exercise I felt the best modality for communication was face-to-face. However, when face-to-face is not an option it is very important to make sure that an email and or a voice mail is delivered professionally and with a clear purpose. 

References

Gradous, Deane., (n.d.). Chart of comparisons. Retrieved from http://managementhelp.org/businesswriting/email-versus-voice-mail.htm

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.

Stolovitch, H. (n.d.). Communication with stakeholders. [Video Media]. Laureate

     Education, Inc.

Confusing Common Core Curriculum!!

I have to be honest, I have never really been involved in a project other than the small one’s that I embark on with my wonderful second grade students.  However, this year there has been a big change in the curriculum program in my state along with many other states in the United States.  We have currently switched to the Common Core Curriculum (CC).  There can be one or more projects within a program to accomplish specific results that are related to the programs goals (Portny et al., 2008).  This has been a big project/program change not just for me but for many teachers in my district.   

At the end of 2011-2012 school the K-3 teachers were introduced to the CC.  We were handed a Common Core Curriculum Map book and trained for two days. The CC Curriculum Map is a guide for us to follow when planning.  We were then asked to go back to our schools and work with our teams to map out the first six weeks of school for the following year. At this point I have to admit that we were all very confused and wondered how we were going to take on this big change.  At my school specifically we created an assessment map.  We use the assessment map to help us connect the standards to the activities that we plan for our classes and to help keep us on track and when to give our formative and summative assessments. It also helps my team and I stay on track with each other. At our first meeting my team and I decided to dive head first into the CC Curriculum Map and plan out our first six weeks using our assessments maps.   I really felt like this did not go well, even though we had the academic coach supporting us and trying to help, I still felt really confused about where our kids were going with the CC or for that matter where we the teachers were going with it.      

A week before the 2012-2013 school year started, my team and I were able to sit down and rework our assessment maps.  In doing so we were really trying to use the CC Curriculum Map for our lessons.  However, when we started teaching from our assessment map using the lessons planned out in the CC Curriculum Map lessons started to fall apart.  I have to be honest; I felt like I had forgotten how to teach.  So we went back to the drawing board.  We were able to link the Common Core State Standards to the lessons that we know how to teach and integrate science and social studies into our lessons.  Now we create our assessment maps using the standards that are mapped out for the six week unit according to the CC Curriculum Map to help us stay on track.  This program will be on going.  Next year grades 4-6 will be picking up the Common Core Curriculum.  It has been a big change for all of us!!

The most frustrating part about the program was that there was not enough training available and the basic operations were not clear.  I believe that the project/program would have started out successful if we had a clear understanding of the CC Curriculum, the programs plans and the resources we needed available to us on time.  Most of the resources were given to us a few weeks after school started.          

Resources

Portny, E., Mantel,J., Meredith, R., Shafer, M., Sutton M., & Kramer, E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.