My son Marco wants to build a computer for his senior project in high-school. I tried to imagine him using a project management tool and with the fresh perspective of being outside a "work" environment, I realized how little it would help him. Let's face it: at best PM tools are sterile tracking mechanisms - a pristine sandbox in the back yard in which not even kids are allowed to play. So I asked myself: what would my ideal project management application look like? I concluded it's a very well used sandbox in which it's OK to find the occasional surprise from your cat. Let's follow Marco in his project...
I'll pretend he is using my dream sandbox app. First he goes to his laptop or his mobile device and creates a project - really a sandbox, a container for all the stuff he is doing around his senior project. He is exploring several ideas and as he bounces them with friends and with his teachers he gets clearer on what are their criteria for acceptance. He records on his mobile device audio notes to himself from each conversation in the context of the sandbox. Eventually he lands on building a computer for video editing and it's OK'd by the teacher. Time to put some meat on the bone and create a formal proposal.
Marco is now at his laptop and while in his sandbox he is checking out blogs, discussions, and websites, bookmarking and tagging those that are relevant, so they are captured in his sandbox. He moves on to creating a document for his proposal leveraging info from his discussions (audio) and reference material (unstructured data) - all readily available in his sandbox. The proposal document also lives in his sandbox, not lost in some folder. The formal proposal is approved by the teacher and now it's time to do it.
He starts collecting thoughts and ideas for the main buckets/threads in his project - through a mind-mapping type of navigational view he easily jumps across buckets as ideas and info pop up. Some of the info is linked across multiple buckets.
A couple of his friends have good experience building computers and editing videos, so he invites them into his sandbox and they are now able to see what he is doing, add comments, and add content to the project. Some are a bit off the wall, but there are some great golden nuggets.
His playing buckets include:
- What requirements does the machine need to meet? Size and format of videos, usability (a key target user is my wife who leans heavily on the right side of the brain), editing software...
- What components match those requirements? (here he graphically draws links between requirements and components)
- How much do the ideal components cost? How much money does he need to ask me and his mom? Are there other sources of funding? Does he need to make some compromises to stay on budget? How will they impact the requirements?
- Where to buy the components at the best possible price?
- How to put them together in the right sequence?
Many of the pieces he captures here become action items and trigger follow-ups. His friends volunteer to take on some of them.
In a moment of weakness he even invites me into his sandbox, and seeing that his current budget would have a serious impact on the speed of the machine, I decide to up my contribution and bump to a faster graphics card and more memory.
His friends are popping in videos and pictures of similar computers they find on the internet and guidelines for fine-tuning the machine for video editing. The whole project is taking a life of its own.
The actual building of the machine is becoming almost a social event with a webcam broadcasting live progress. Even the teacher can check progress whenever he wants. One of Marco's friends suggests creating a video of the project that will be the christening of the machine and be posted on YouTube. How's that for the project report, teacher? Nice try, but I also want a written report.
When it's all done, the richness of the whole experience is captured and shared with others who can now leverage all the lessons learned in doing it. The sandbox actually helped getting the project done, it enabled great participation and shared ownership and pride in the project. Oh, and btw, the teacher and I were also quite happy to be able to track how it was going...
-Alex Lobba
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