MIS 3535 Journal Entries
Week 1: September 26
As this week comes to a close, the BA’s are completing their first draft of the scope document. At the end of our weekly meeting, they informed us that they will begin using the JustInMind prototyping tool. I feel that we are all using a comfortable and honest form of collaboration. We stressed the importance of constant communication as well. We told the BAs to openly email or text us at any given time when they had a question. As of now, we are meeting randomly throughout the weeks. I think the biggest priority for the PMs is to established a set structure. This will allow us to all have a more formal meeting schedule. However, I feel that we’ve done a good job at being open and honest with the BAs, and I think we were pretty successful at gaining their trust.
Week 2: October 3
The BAs had an exam in their class during this week, so there wasn’t much progress made towards the project. However, they began to work with Justinmind, so over the next few weeks we will help them develop ideas and improve upon them. We have finalized our weekly meetings with the BAs. Additionally, some of us will meet with them on Sundays to answer any other questions that may have come up since the last meeting. So far we have solidified a good relationship with our BAs and there is no reason that this project should not end successfully.
Week 3: October 10
We hit somewhat of a roadblock withe the BAs this week. They are unsure of where to go next with the project. They are still unclear about what Somerville Lumber actually wants. At this point, we advised them to meet with their professor to get some clarification. We are trying to guide them in the right direction by setting up deadlines for them to try and complete certain tasks. They are just beginning to use Justinmind, but the issue of not knowing how to proceed is really prohibiting any progress on the project.
Week 4: October 17
During the week, the BAs were able to meet with professor Flanagan and gain some insight about some of the questions they had. They are starting to get a good feel about where they want to go with their project. They continue to meet with us on the Friday and Sunday. Our team increased the sense of urgency about getting our deliverables together. We seem to be in shape and we are looking to get a lot accomplished this week.
Week 5: October 24
Throughout this week, our BAs began prototyping their solution. After a few brainstorming sessions, they are somewhat set on the idea they want to tackle. This will allow our group to give them more insight as they begin to ask questions about the different functions in JustInMind. Our group has spent time this week on finalizing our schedule and our budget. As far as the project timeliness in concerned, we seem to be on track and in good shape.
Week 6: October 31
During week 6, the BAs allocated a page of their prototype to each member of their team. They each got more comfortable with Justinmind throughout the week. With each member of the team contributing to the prototype, this will allow them to have a intricate understanding of their solution. Our group has finalized the budget and the schedule this week. We found that we are a little under budget, but we are on track with the schedule.