1. Get Professional
IT projects historically have a negative reputation for being over budget, late, and poorly implemented. Having a professional individual in charge of the project can add great organization and credibility to your efforts. If your project is of a size where a project manager role can be used, go for it.
Working with a Project Management Institute (PMP)-certified individual will greatly enhance the effectiveness of your software projects. The PMP is also a good benchmark across all project management disciplines and is a big credibility booster when a project integrates with non-IT individuals, external customers, business partners, or part of a larger project.

2. Identify the leadership roles
Having individuals responsible for specifics metrics of the project is important. This should be done in a way that puts capable individuals in roles that are best suited for their talents but that doesn't overwhelm individual team members. IT projects often put too much emphasis on the technical contributions of a small number of individuals—or even just one person—and effectiveness is limited when these resources are maximized during the project cycle.
You should also ensure that individuals in charge of specific areas of the project do not hoard responsibility. For example, a person or small group may make great contributions to the progress of the project in regard to overall systems performance, not using so much time for the project (when working from a fixed-price/hours amount project), and getting finished ahead of schedule. But these efficiencies may come at the price of this individual or group not updating project documentation or ensuring revision control with authoritative instances of documents or code and possibly missing “the little things” in the project. Individuals with leadership roles within the project can ensure that the project follow-through is done according to the required standards. Examples of this include roles such as Technical Lead, Project Lead, or Documentation Lead. These leadership roles can provide checks and balances in the event that a person becomes reassigned unexpectedly or leaves the organization. The continuity chain can be made stronger by tighter integration across individuals for progress points and ensuring the administrative follow-through of the project.

3. Focus on scope management
Scope management is one of the most important aspects of IT projects, and it's the team’s responsibility to make sure that any scope changes are introduced in the correct forum. The project process should include procedures for making a scope change proposal. It's also important to ensure that the official mechanism for project documentation maintains robust revision control, because scope can change functionality requirements and thus change the documentation that accompanies a project. In the event that a scope change is backed out, proper revision control will ensure that the original functional levels are available from a documentation standpoint.

4. Create the project definition or charter
Having the project clearly defined can pave the way for all subsequent aspects of the project to be implemented correctly. A well-defined project definition and corresponding processes gives the project a strong foundation. The project definition will define an agreed-upon performance baseline, costs, efforts required, expected functionality, implementation requirements, and customer requirements, and it identifies the individuals and organizations involved in the project. Project definitions that include specific technology details on how a task is to be accomplished will benefit all stakeholders of the project.

5. Identify the risk
IT projects can incur risk in unique ways, as IT projects make frequent use of vendors, consultants, and contractors. For example, if your organization contracts Acme IT Services to assist your IT staff in its upcoming Active Directory and Windows 2000 Professional to Windows XP Professional client migration, you may face the risk that Acme IT Services could go out of business, get a "more important" client, or do an inferior job. Each element of risk—resources, schedule, performance, cost, etc.—should have assessments performed. These tasks are usually delegated to the project manager or individual most closely associated with that role. Periodic risk assessments and tracking are due diligence of the project process. Risks manifesting themselves in the project cycle should have recourses as well. For example, if Acme IT Services leaves your project for another client, ensure that there are recourses to working with this agency.

6. Manage relationship with external parties
IT projects will almost always have some level of involvement with external parties. These parties can be: • Consultants • Business partners • Service providers • Vendors • Software publishers • Equipment manufacturers Having external parties involved in the project will add resources and ability to the appropriate deliverable of the project. However, ensure that each organization’s role and need is clear. The project plan should identify an individual to be in charge of administering the relationship and availability of external parties. If your organization executes many projects at once, this individual may perform this function for all active projects.

7. Maintain strong documentation standarts
Documentation is the key to a successful IT project, especially when changes need to be made after implementation. Ensure that your organization has clearly defined documentation expectations as well as standardized repositories for various types of documentation. Revision control mechanisms are also important if custom development is being performed.
In addition, it makes sense to have documentation that defines the documentation requirements. That may seem like overkill, but as a project scales in complexity, this becomes more valuable to the success of the project implementation and manageability.
Strong documentation standards offer the following benefits to IT projects:

1. • New team members can assimilate more easily.

2. • Future work related to this effort are more easily started.

3. • Functionality changes are easier to stage or test.

8. Build effective communication channels
Project management should coordinate clear communications. E-mail seems to be the preferred mechanism for this, but it can easily become     overwhelming and inefficient. One popular good practice is to identify specific individual(s) when a response is required. By using the TO: and CC:     fields appropriately, you can avoid unclear messages about who needs to do what. The figure below shows a good example of an e-mail     communication that outlines specific responsibilities. This e-mail message clearly identifies that its target is William. If there are any issues with     the topics presented, it is the primary responsibility of William to raise them. The other members are presented with an opportunity to raise     concerns and to share them with the selected distribution. Little habits can add great effectiveness to the communication patterns, especially     when involving external parties. For instance, in the example above, members from each organization are grouped to give clarity to distribution.     How many e-mail messages have you received where you aren't even sure whether you're being addressed, much less whom you should reply to?     Also make it a priority to communicate the schedule (and its changes), status reports, scope topics, and new issues that arise in the project     process. Clear, concise, and targeted communications are all positive habits for IT projects.

9. Keep an eye on costs
The closer you are to the technology, the less pleasant the topic of cost becomes. Nevertheless, cost is among the most important aspects of the    project process. Each project member should be aware of the costs associated with his or her aspects of the project. This also becomes important    if it's determined that the scope of a project should be changed. For example, consider the following technology scenarios: • A new version of a    critical software component is released. • A security risk for a software component is discovered. • Newer or faster computer equipment is required    or desired. Scope change can address these topics, but there may be dependency scope changes that go with them, which can greatly increment    the costs involved. Licensing, space concerns, "lost licensing" or unused equipment and software, and rework or lost time all can add to the cost of    scope change. Fear of the price impact should not deter scope change, but it's an element the project team must keep in mind.

10. Dont't forget the closeout
Once the deliverables of the project have been met and all appropriate signoffs have been obtained, exert the same effort to correctly close the     project. Depending on your project type and scope, the project’s closeout and post-mortem are important to ensure that all project members have     executed their required steps and that the customer (internal or external) is satisfied with the project results. Depending on the scope and nature of     the IT project, the closeout may be a required step to take the project (or customer) to “support mode.” Project turnovers, closeouts, and other     mechanisms to prepare the project for ongoing life are important to ensure that all the ends are in place so that when this topic arises again, there     is a good reference point on the details of the project.

]]> http://thewobblingmind.wordpress.com/?p=128 Thu, 01 May 2008 15:07:31 +0000 Wobbler http://thewobblingmind.wordpress.com/?p=128 Motivation: Exploring the significance of understanding the language of IT users and the language of IT-"builders" to improve the success rate of effective and efficient IT solutions.
Problem statement: Too many issues arise from having incompatible people trying to communicate with each other in different "languages", resulting in less than desirable outcomes or even outright failures in whatever it is people try to achieve by using IT.

It is funny that I start such a post and claim that I am very attracted to this particular field of expertise while I have recently reconfirmed, the hard way, that my ability to simplify some IT concepts to non IT folks is still laughably bad. In my defense, what I am currently working on (and trying to convince others that it is significant) does not actually exist, as far as I know anyway, which makes explaining it in as few words as possible without confusing or scaring the hell out of the people I want to reach that much more difficult.

"Please, real men don't make excuses. Stop your whining!"

Well, let us get to the meat of the blog post then. What is business informatics and why is it important? In a nutshell, every time you think of a product that requires users to do something with it on a regular basis, you need to make sure that that particular system is designed in such a way that they would actually not feel like throwing their PC's out of the nearest windows while working on it!

"Well duh, then just ask them what they want."

Indeed, we need to ask them what they want, but therein lies the real problem. In a lot of cases, they do not know:

• What they want
• How they want it
• What is exactly possible

I mean, it is not like you are asking them to imagine and describe their favorite food or something. You are essentially asking them to tell you every little thing they (have to) do at work and how they would like to have that work and look in detail using "computers" (e.g. information systems). So on one side, we have people who have never documented what their daily work routine is like, down to details such as what they retrieve exactly and what they input exactly when and in what systems for what purposes. Fortunately, they should be able to do that on their own given enough time. The real problem is that they are mostly uninformed concerning "computer stuff" other than knowing how to log in Windows, browse through and store/retrieve folders, search stuff on Google, do the occasional chatting, download music and frequently honor "adult" websites with their presence. "Or people who have never spent more than 10 minutes playing around with HTML code but think blogging makes them IT savvy." Oh, and did I mention they are clueless as to what they exactly want with work related software and how the GUI should look like on their computer screen? These things are normally only known after having worked with it for an extensive period of time, after learning how to work them, getting used to them and either do get used to do or realize that that is not an option. But when it has not been installed and used yet? Yep, no way that is going to happen for the common user. And why should it? They are not getting paid to understand and keep themselves up to date on the latest information systems and their effectivity, efficiency and user friendliness.

"So we're banking on them having IT hobbies or something? Sounds risky to me."

The other half of this dream team is the IT programmer, who is completely clueless as to what the future IT users do and why that is important, considering their daily work consists of programming features and modeling the occasional UML diagrams or whatever models they use to make that programming simpler to manage and program. They do not care or know how to care about business processes, they do not care or know how to care about users possibly (certainly actually) having to deal with a changing environment, a change of tools, a change of their daily routine. They do not care or know how to care about properly getting the right information out of users, properly documenting it in a format that said users can read back to provide feedback, give presentations in such a form that the IT users will not be confused with the slang or programming buzz, hold workshops to help the users prepare for what it to come and receive feedback to make it more user friendly, do stuff that makes the future IT user comfortable that this IT project is leading them to the IT system of their desires. And why should they? They did not sign up to be project leaders or managers, they are the technical workforce, the construction workers of IT systems. Their job is not to design a house based on what the customers want, but the ones that build it based on a construction plan. Nobody, least of all the programmer himself, would put a programmer in front of a group of business managers and operational users and have him explain these guys why the system rocks and how it will make their daily work easier. That is a car wreck waiting to happen.

So we have 2 groups of people: the future IT users who do not have a clue about IT systems and the IT builders who do not have a clue about business processes. Their goal is to get an IT system that not only supports, but also improves the efficiency and effectivity of the core business processes, which is largely carried out by the users. See the problem?

"Not for car dealers. Unless they are using their salesmen to repair the cars."

Right, or use mechanics to sell their cars. Therefore, the solution is someone who speaks both languages but freaks out neither side. That someone is a Business Informatics professional. The guy who knows something about everything but not everything about something. The guy who simplifies complicated matters to the "layman" and specifies complicated matters to the specialist. And I am clearly not just talking about the design phase, but basically anything that involves IT and IT users, making things easier or more detailed for them. Indeed, I want to be that guy. I am going to be that guy.

"Yet here you are, just another blogger wasting his time writing about what you want to be, without actually being it."

Hey that is harsh. As I said before, informing the public by simplifying otherwise complicated (IT) matters is an important task of a Business Informatics professional, too.

"Yeye, get to work!"

Well, this may not seem all that relevant nor interesting to your readers, but the next time you have a "who the hell designed this software in such an uneasy way!" or "Why does this not work the way I want it to work!" moments, you will be wishing you had a Business Informatics professional on the job!

Topic: Web2.0
Guiding question: How can I use and share web 2.0 features effectively?
Product: register to one of websites availale on the Internet which provide web 2.0 features.

Now, we are working on IT Project (refer to Pak Hendarto's blog). And we're doing web 2.0 this term.

Web 2.0 is the second generation of Internet based service that allows people to
collaborate and share information online. This includes social networking sites,
internet-based chatting, online games, blogs, wikis and file sharing.

For Investigation, we are working on our habits using web 2.0 
Here are mine:

I use two social networking sites which are Facebook and WordPress

• Name of the social networking site? Facebook
• How long you have been a member of the site? 6 Months
• How many friends you are connected with via this site? 113
• How often you access the site? Everytime I open internet
• How long you spend on the site when you do access it? 30 minutes
• What activities you normally undertake on the site? Add comments, find old friends, add new friends, look at new applications, etc.
• What you like about this site? Because my friends lives in it.
• What you don't like about this site? Sometimes can be too crowded, has become a place for bullying others through comments through other friends, not enough privacy, etc.
• Any other relevant information? Developed by Mark Zuckerberg, blocked by the school and is the top social networking site in Southeast Asia 

Internet chatting:
I usually chat using Windows Live Messenger 

• Name of chat program? Windows Live Messenger
• How long you have been using this program? 6 years
• How many friends you regularly chat with? 4-12 People
• How often you chat? Once every two weeks
• How long you spend chatting during a normal chat session? 2-3 hours
• What you talk about? Socializing, homework, TV, assignments, school events
• What you like about this chat program? Many of my friends use it, can share files, can be used on 3G handphones, can contact with friends outside Indonesia, can block unwanted people
• What you don't like about this chat program? Too crowded, hard to chat with more than 5 people in one chatroom, too much spamming
• Any other relevant information? Used to be called MSN MessengerBlogs and Wikis:
I usually visit Applechips at Livejournal and Wikipedia

• Name of blog or wiki? Applechips
• What content was on this blog or wiki? Gakuen Alice summaries translation
• Did you find the information contained on it helpful? Yes
• Did the site disappoint you in some way? No 

• Name of blog or wiki? Wikipedia
• What content was on this blog or wiki? Encyclopedia of pretty much everything you could imagine
• Did you find the information contained on it helpful? Yes, especially when working on homework and assignments
• Did the site disappoint you in some way? Sometimes because it is sometimes not perceptive
• Was there anything else of significance that you would like to report on? Used by most SGJ students to finish their homeworkOnline games and virtual world:
Mindjolt Games

• Name of the virtual world or online game site? Mindjolt Games (www.mindjolt.com)
• How long you have been a member of the site? 1 Year
• How many friends you have in this virtual world? Not sure
• How often you spend time visiting and playing in the world? Once every week
• How long, on average, that you spend when you visit? 3-4 hours
• What activities you undertake in this world? Plays fun games to relieve yourselfs from the outaside world and the cruelty within it.
• What you like about this game or virtual world? Relieves stress, can connect with my friends and family
• What you don't like about this game or virtual world? Loading can take such times
• Any other relevant information? Most players are not IndonesianVideo sharing sites:
I usually watch videos on YouTube

• Name of site? YouTube
• How often you access the site? Few times every month
• How long you spend on the site when you do access it? 5-6 hours
• What sorts of videos you normally watch? Anime, politics, movies, trailers, comedy, school events
• What you like about this site? Easy to use, quick to load
• Whether you've downloaded any videos? Yes, but using a software to save flv
• What you like about this site? Have the most viewers and videos, free to watch unless have copyrighted materials,
• What you don't like about this site? No ability to download without external software
• Any other relevant information? Known to face criticism about copyrights and blocked by Indonesian government for the Fitna case, but it is over now.

Well that's it then, BYE :D

Sample of screen shot PDA application can see below :

Technology : Java SDK, Jsp, Tomcat, Hibernate, Struts, iText

Screenshot :

Technology : web base, java j2sdk, jsp, mysql, tomcat, struts, iText pdf generator.

Screen shot :

Screen shot :

PDA application develop with Superwaba SDK which free JVM for PDA windows mobile included. There is emulator to help developer developing in PC.

Also java service application run on PC to parsing txt file into MS SQL database develop with java j2SDK and java wrapper.

Screenshoot FTY GUI PDA application :

Succesfully order can be print to continues paper by dot matrix printer, also some report in this application like history tele sales, sales order created and others.

Development time take about 2-3months. Tools of development like eclipse, tomcat, mysql, java j2sdk, jsp, struts and hibernate.

This project develop for PT Mensa Bina Sukses, Jakarta Indonesia.

Sample of screen shot :

Screen shoot :

Screen shoot :

Screen shoot :

Screenshoot :

Screen shot :

Sample of screeshot can see below :

Screen shoot of SCM project is :

Form screen shoot like :

Screenshoot of UK Alumni is :

Preview of home of britzone :

Screen shoot :

The screenshoot of this application can see below :

Also :