LINC: Learning in Community Critical Thinking and the Project Definition

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LINC Learning in CommunityCritical Thinking
and the Project Definition
"Study without reflection is a waste of time
reflection without study is dangerous." --
Confucius
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Schedule for today

• Discuss Reflection assignment and Critical
  Thinking in context of 4 Stages of Team
  Development
• Discuss components of Project Definition,
  specifically Scope and Work Breakdown Structure
• Work on your own teams Project Charter
  (Project Definition due 2/15/5)
• LINC, 2/8/5, Objectives By the end of today you
  should
• Have a good start on your Teams Project
  Charter, which will include Goal, Objectives
  (SMART), Scope, Work Breakdown Structure
• Begin thinking about Reflection 1 in the context
  of Stage 1 (due 2/17/5)

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Critical thinking begins when you question beyond
what is given.

• You want to know more
• how something happens,
• why it happens, and further
• what will happen if something changes.
•  
• Critical thinking therefore requires a conscious
  level of processing, analysis, creation and
  evaluation of possible outcomes, and reflection.

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If youre a critical thinker, you think.
.No surprise?.
You are willing to examine your beliefs,
assumptions, and opinions and weigh them against
facts. You are willing to evaluate the
generalizations and stereotypes you have created
and are open to change, if necessary.
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Critical thinkers listen carefully.
If youre a critical thinker, you listen
carefully to what others are saying and are able
to give feedback. You are able to suspend
judgment until all the facts have been gathered
and considered.
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Critical thinkers look for evidence.
If youre a critical thinker, you look for
evidence to support your assumptions and beliefs.
You examine problems closely and are able to
reject information that is incorrect or
irrelevant.
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Thereforethrough experience, as a critical
thinker, you will

• identify information that is being put forth as
  an argument and break it down to its basic
  components for evaluation.
• construct alternative interpretations
• be willing to explore diverse perspectives
• be willing to change personal assumptions when
  presented with valid information
• be willing to ask difficult questions and the
  ability to receptive to opposing viewpoints.

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Self-directed teams develop in four (4) stages .
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
From work by Bruce Tuckman, Developmental
Sequence in Small Groups, Psychological
Bulletin, 1965, vol. 63, No. 6, pp.384-99.
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The key components of FORMING are

• High dependence on leader for guidance and
  direction.
• Little agreement on team aims other than received
  from leader.
• Individual roles and responsibilities are unclear
  and there are lots of
• questions.

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The key components of STORMING are

• Decisions don't come easily within group.
• Plenty of uncertainties persist.
• Cliques and factions form
• and there may be power
• struggles.
• Compromises may
• be required to
• enable progress.

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The key components of NORMING are

• Agreement and consensus largely forms among team.
  
• Roles and responsibilities are clear and
  accepted.
• Big decisions are made by group agreement.
• Smaller decisions may be delegated to individuals
  or small teams
• within group.
• Commitment and unity is
• strong.
• The team may engage in
• FUN? and social activities.

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The key components of PERFORMING are

• The team has a shared vision
• The team has a high degree of autonomy team
  does not need to be instructed or assisted.
• Disagreements occur but now they are
• resolved within the team
• positively.
• The team is able to
• work towards
• achieving the goal.

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Whats the point of all of this?

• Understanding these stages of growth will keep
  you from overreacting to normal problems
  particularly those that occur in the storming
  phase.
• Understanding these
• phases can be helpful in
• terms of benchmarking
• good team behavior.

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The output of the
Process of Project Management is the Project
Charter (Project Definition).
Initiating

• Project Charter for this class includes
• Description of Project Partner and General
  Problem
• that Project will solve i.e. use answers to
  guidelines
• the Project Description And Objectives (SMART)
• Scope (Deliverables what will and wont be
  delivered, assumptions, constraints)
• Work Breakdown Structure (at least first three
• (3) levels goals, objectives,tasks),
• Triple Constraint Analysis

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Good Objectives are SMART. They specify HOW to
meet goal.
Specific so that you know what final product
should look like
Measurable try to find ways to quantify the
objective
Agreed to performance standards are mutually
agreed on
Realistic this is where triple constraint
flexibility comes in
Time Constrained has a specific deadline
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The Devil is in the Details Defining the
SCOPE
Cartoon from http//www.cartoonstock.com/directory
/j/jurors.asp
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Scope is ALL Products and Services to be
produced withinthe project, i.e
deliverables,and helps achieve the M in SMART
objectives.

• Examples of Deliverables for Swann School
• Wheel chair rocker
• Swiss Cheese Parachute
• Instructions on how to create each item for other
  teams or for Swann School

LS 4 Take a couple of minutes to write down the
deliverables for your project.
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Assumptions affect the SCOPE.Something that is
taken for true without a factual basis is an
assumption.
Example of Assumption for Swann -Creating items
would be less expensive than buying them Example
of Assumption for Sp03 HFH team students would
be allowed to retrofit elevator

• For your project, take a couple of minutes now to
  create a list of assumptions.
• NOTE
• You want to test as many as possible as soon as
  possible.
• Those that you cant test, add to risk list.
• Communicate your assumptions to your Project
  Partner.

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Constraints affect the SCOPE. In addition to
Triple Constraints, projects may have regulatory,
macroeconomic, and technical constraints.
Example The HFH Sp03 teams assumption turned
into a constraint which totally changed
objectives of project.
LS 4 For your project, take a couple of
minutes now to create a list of constraints.
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As mentioned last class, the Work Breakdown
Structure (WBS)can be thought of as the Org
Chart for the project.
WBS is the foundation for the project and works
as the baseline for performance measurement.
There is no official standard for how far down
your WBS should be broken down to. For our
purposes for next Tuesday, wed like for you to
go down at least 3 levels, but ultimately you
will need to go until you and your team find that
doing the work for the job is manageable Level
1) Project Goal Level 2) Project Objectives
Level 3) Project Tasks - (get to the point
where you have a verb noun)
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This could have been theFa03 Swann team WBS.
Enrich PE Experience through Adapting PE
Equipment
Wheel Chair Rocker
Swiss Cheese Parachute
Build Parachute
Research Rocker
Design Rocker
Get Materials
Build Rocker
Design Parachute
Research Parachute
Get Materials
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WBS for a Birthday Party could look like this
Birthday Party
Planning
Provide Food
Supplies
Setup
Cleanup
Organize Games Entertainment
Set up Furniture
Do Cleaning
Clean Pool
Setup Volleyball
Clean House
Mow Grass
Setup Tables Chairs
Setup Tent
Example from Project Management, Heerkins (2001),
p. 115-118
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Remember If its not in the WBS, its not in the
project.
The WBS gives us the tasks and sense of who will
do what, but does not tell you the order it
should be done in or for how long each activity
will take.
(For sequence and time allotted, once we have our
completed WBS, we build a Network Diagram. To
figure out the order, we first must figure out
dependencies. Thats next week?.)
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How can you be sure that your WBS is complete?

• Deliverables check to make sure tasks hook up
  with these
• Scope does it connect to WBS
• Review it with extra eyes
• Split the team up and have each team develop WBS
  separately and then put them together
• Have your Project Partner review the WBS

Once you have the WBS, you can move on to
Schedules, Budgets, And Operating Plans. Next
time well discuss Network Diagrams (CH 16), and
the following week Gantt Charts and Estimations
(Ch 17, 18).
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REVIEW The output of the
Process of Project Management is the Project
Charter (Project Definition).
Initiating

• Project Charter for this class includes
• Description of Project Partner and General
  Problem
• that Project will solve i.e. use answers to
  guidelines
• The Project Description And Objectives (SMART)
• Scope (Deliverables what will and wont be
• Delivered, Assumptions, Constraints)
• Work Breakdown Structure (at least first three
• (3) levels goals, objectives,tasks),
• Triple Constraint Analysis
• Take remaining time to work on this assignment.

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Go Illini! Beat Michigan?!
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Applying SMART Objective to the Swann School
Project, Fall, 2003 which was to improve Physical
Education for all Swann students.

• Specific will create PE equipment that will
  stimulate multiple
• senses of Swann Students
• Measurable will create a Swiss Cheese parachute
  and a
• wheelchair rocker
• Agreed to got approval from school and team on
  objective
• Realistic they are available in catalogs but
  very expensive
• Time Constrained by end of semester

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Remember the Triple Constraints that
all Projects have.
Time
Cost
Performance
What happens if you cant finish the project as
defined?

• Dont do project OR
• Change (?) Constraints

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How do you know which constraint to change?
You analyze the hierarchy of the constraints.
Time
Cost
Performance
Identify The Driver --- Met at all costs. The
Middle Constraint --- Flex than Driver,
Constraint --- Most Flexibility
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Order the Triple Constraints for the Following

• Apollo 13 example from
• first day of class
• Driver?
• Middle Constraint?
• Weak Constraint?

Time
Cost

• 1st Gulf War (1990)
• Driver?
• Middle Constraint?
• Weak Constraint?

Performance
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Critical thinkers are curious.
They are interested in knowing all there is about
a topic. They look for new and better ways to do
everything. They are not the person who will
settle for because that is the way we have
always done it.