ETHICS ENTRY 2

CASE 1

What should she do?

ANSWER:
Diane should show a demonstration or simulation of the effects that could happen with the weak security produced on the requested system. Being an adviser, she is well-aware of all the risks they are taking. Even if the client's willing to take the risks, Diane should follow one of the core values of the code of ethics, Priorities (4.3.1), which says "I must place the interests of the community above those of personal or sectional interests." and some of its sub-components. Diane should also follow "I must make myself aware of relevant standards, and act accordingly." (4.6.3) which might mean to use the proper security standards for risks in such system as proposed.

Should she refuse to build the system as they request?

ANSWER:
With the given rules, Diane should continue advising her client no matter what or reject the project to prevent ethical dilemma that is at risk. and if things go wrong, it's her responsibility.

a.)
Priorities (4.3.1)
I must place the interests of the community above those of personal or sectional interests.
Competence (4.3.2)
I must work competently and diligently for my clients and employers.

b.)
4.5.1
I must endeavour to preserve continuity of information technology services and information flow in my care.
4.5.2
I must endeavour to preserve the integrity and security of the information of others.
4.5.3
I must respect the proprietary nature of the information of others.
4.5.4
I must endeavour to preserve the confidentiality of the information of others.
4.5.5
I must advise my client or employer of any potential conflicts of interest between my assignment and legal or other accepted community requirements.
4.5.6
I must advise my clients and employers as soon as possible of any conflicts of interest or conscientious objections which face me in connection with my work.
4.6.3
I must make myself aware of relevant standards, and act accordingly.
4.6.4
I must respect and protect my clients' and employers' proprietary interests.
4.6.5
I must accept responsibility for my work.


CASE 2

Can she continue with the evaluation?

ANSWER:
No she cannot continue with the evaluation. Even if she makes an evalutaion it will be for nothing, because of the violations the GUI of Company a commited, which will require them to change the design.

If she cannot continue with the evaluation, how does she inform Company A of the patent violation?

ANSWER:
She must write a letter or inform Company A that the GUI they used has already been patented and thus warn them of the possible law suits if they decide to continue with their current GUI.

Does she have an obligation to let Company B know Company A has copied their GUI?

ANSWER:
No. Her obligation is to inform Company A that their GUI design has already been patented by a different company and must change it to avoid conflicts.


a) Values and Ideals (from Section 4.3 ACS Code of Ethics)

4.3.1 Priorities
4.3.2 Competence
4.3.3 Honesty

b) Identify the specific standard that should apply (From sections 4.5.1 to 4.10.9)

4.5.3 I must respect the proprietary nature of the
information of others.
4.5.5 I must advise my client or employer of any potential
conflicts of interest between my assignment and
legal or other accepted community requirements.
4.6.3 I must make myself aware of relevant standards,
and act accordingly.
4.6.6 I must advise my clients and employers when I
believe a proposed project is not in their best
interest.
4.7.1 I must not knowingly mislead a client or potential
client as to the suitability of a product or service.

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

MIT is an organization devoted to the advancement of knowledge and education in areas that contribute to prosper an environment of science and technology.  It is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Was Founded in 1861 as a response to the increasing industrialization of the United States.

Research at MIT aims to develop innovative solutions to the world’s most daunting challenges. From addressing the energy needs of tomorrow to improving cancer therapies, MIT’s research efforts are enhanced through creative collaborations with leading research institutes and consortia around the world.

MIT impacts all walks of life through the technology developed at the Institute and through the people who learn, work and train here. MIT's students, faculty and staff — supported by their alumni, donors and industry partners — are able to turn hands-on research into answers for the world's most pressing problems.

Due to the existence of MIT, quality education for science and technology was established in which at the present time had opened a wider form of new and enhanced technologies being addressed as a solution for the peoples crisis.

MIT MISSION::

The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.


sources:
http://web.mit.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org.wiki/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology

Field Trip and Seminar's Travel Report

Fieldtrip Overview:

Let’s start by defining first what fieldtrip is, fieldtrip is a journey or rather a school trip wherein students are having a trip outside the university or school’s campus. It is basically practiced to showcase some information coming outside the wall or promissory of the school for students. The main purpose of conduction fieldtrips and seminars is basically to let students learn more, to critically observe things, to experience a different learning environment and to have an unusual kind of interaction. This method or approach of teaching quality learning to students had been very helpful for them to grow.

Frankly it was my first time having a fieldtrip outside the city - it was like more of interesting rather than exciting. There are also some first timers in the group, and all are excited of what is the outcome of the fieldtrip. Well as being defined, there are really lots of enjoyable things to learn and discover in joining fieldtrips. Amazingly things went right; accommodations are good, services are fine and we’ve caught up each of our company seminars, meetings or appointments. Had heard a rumor about the last year’s fieldtrip and seminar, and it wasn’t that good though, however each side had some advantage and disadvantage. The field trip held last year, wherein some of my classmates joined had started and ended a bit chaotic because of some delays, but more exciting and jolly since there are couple of friends to be with. It might have been because of their numerous populations that companies could not accommodate each of them well. And also because of the numerous fieldtrip participants, a higher percentage of delay caused by a fellow participant is of an elevated risk. At our part, since we’re outnumbered by them because unfortunately only few students could attend and participate at the fieldtrip, we are lucky because companies could accommodate us well and could cater each of our questions without a hurry of answering it. And since the crowd is not that big, lecturers could impart their knowledge to us the best and comfortable way they can with additional joke cracking to keep the interaction alive.

The trip had gone somehow smooth. Itineraries are already prepared to serve as the basis on which and where to go first and next. Time had already been calculated and managed to ensure a good flow of things. It’s like most of the things had been well prepared and anticipated. Starting from day 1 down to the last day of the trip is already scheduled, and each company had their own slot. At day 1, a direct visit to the prestige company of PLDT and then a quick trip for a visit at the SPI Servisoft. The whole day 2 was spent for the most awaited y4it held at the University of the Philippines or UP. Day 3 with the Flour Company and right after was the visit to DOST where a museum or collections of important part of the Filipino – Science History could be found. And day 4 at the Social Security System or SSS and then a visit to Exist Global Company. It was the last day for company visiting since the remaining day 5 was already allotted to have the shopping spree, leisure and having fun (maybe the day we’ve all been waiting for, to ease the stress of pulling ourselves in bed to wake up early each day). These known companies had been a part of our Fieldtrip wherein each of them had showcased variety of helpful information for us participants.

Each company shared different topics, had introduced us to some technologies, guiding us a tour to their company and showing each of the fundamental departments that serves as the main foundation of their company, like their network management team, editorial, database managers, programmers, content writers, designers and even the room that contains their servers which contains various data and plays a vital role for the company. Multiple topics and information and knowledge are being fed to us each day and no one could avoid rating the topics or rather the presenter of the topic for some are interesting, caught our attention while some are just boring like having their reviews or reports in a power point presentation, reading them like as if they were really not into it in their career as an IT professional. Even though, still they had managed to impart us some knowledge which could be considered as a present from them to us.

To sum it up, although some or even few of the companies mentioned had a flaw with their sharing and presentations, each tour and visit is considerably grateful and much or highly appreciated. For the knowledge and time they had spent and shared with us, and for cheering us to continue with what we had started for, I thank them and owe them a lot. And for the chance to participate in the fieldtrip, it is a great pleasure to be a part of the event and to witness and be showered with the knowledge conveyed by everyone.

Day 1

A visit to PLDT

This is the very first day of our fieldtrip. After packing things up and having hours of air flight, we were urgently fetched by a bus to deliver us directly to our first company visit at the company of PLDT or the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company. Despite of suffering from jet logs, we were delivered at the company to start and follow the scheduled flow of our trip itinerary. Now to start with, PLDT is one of those large Tele communications Company who gives service and supports communications here in the Philippines. In fact, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company or the PLDT is the largest Tele communications Company in the Philippines. They offer variety of services from fixed lines, wireless, up to technology and information technology. Services mentioned above are the main services offered by the company to its valuable consumers.

As we were toured by a staff to the hall of PLDT and introduced unto us the company’s history, from the oldest form of communication and telephone to the newest technology including the wireless and internet services that we or almost all people are enjoying now. Base on the company’s history, telephone and communication users in the past are just only a few ranging from thousands but as services went good and affordable, lots and lots of users embraced these form of communication wherein it had covered the most islands of the Philippines. As a company, PLDT had also undergone some reconstructing which made the company robust and running ‘til the present period.

After the company tour, we had been given the chance to have a meeting and conversation with one of their veteran networking experts in the company. So basically, this is the part where I liked the most in visiting and spending my time at the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company PLDT. The veteran networking expert lectured and introduced to us some of their ways, the company’s basic foundation and also he explained why internet connections and even text messages sometimes fail while the weather is suffering from a bad rainy season. So, from what that veteran networking expert of PLDT explained, I had learned that the PLDT’s way to earn an income is to sell cables and wires. Selling cables and wires to some consumers that would connect a communication tool or telephone from one side to the other side, basically some entrepreneurs who want to manage their business with multiple branches in an easier and efficient way. He introduced us some ways and manipulation to ensure a good flow of connection, wherein he mentioned something like a dual stream where if the main stream suffers from congestions or any traffic, the connection will be redirected to the backup stream to have a continues flow. It is just some of their ways to implement flow and traffic control. Also, he had mentioned about a certain part inside a wire or cable in which connections flow that plays an important role in connection with the company services, because without which, there will be no medium for the connection to run through. The most interesting part is the explanation for the late messages and weak connection when a bad weather is ongoing. When there is rain, literally connection disperses. It is because of the raindrops that affect or destroys the connection which instead of going directly it would take another path which makes its travel time longer.

For the very first company visit, it goes well and fine. The lectures provided were great and so far there’s nothing I didn’t like about the company. Although we suffered from shortage of time, facts, ideas and knowledge fed to us were stored in our minds through interactive conversations.

A visit to the SPI Servisoft

The second company we visited for the first day of fieldtrip in manila is the SPI Servisoft Company. SPI is a communication and Information Technology company somehow or somewhat related to PLDT. SPI supports and offers services like cost-effective business solutions, software creation and etc.. The company staff led us to a tour around the company and took us to the different areas inside the company.

As far as I could remember, one of the lecturers talked about business solutions, the other went to the topic of using a programming language, and the other one talked about his field the technical support service I think. So let’s take it one at a time, for the business solutions they had variety of effective ways to help a business improve its work efficiency and rating in the economical industry. One of the SPI Company’s programmer talked about using I think it was .net, or something like c#. He shared his experiences, like his past of being fascinated and using PHP but ended up using other programming language. So it’s like explaining to us that we really don’t know what’s were going to deal with when we will be indulge in a company. And the other one explain his field which is the technical support, which according to him has tiers and each tier level has their own specialties. Problems occurrence and its difficulty will decide which tier it will be taken to.

Frankly, I didn’t learn a lot from them, but let me give credit to the company tour. Don’t know if I couldn’t just fix my mind for listening mode or I’m not just simply interested with the topics they had been talking to.

Day 2

A visit to UP for Y4it

For day two (2), we had our next adventure and spent the whole day at the prestigious University of the Philippines or commonly known as the UP. And by the way, University of the Philippines or UP is a high class university in the country which produces high quality and competitive graduates in different aspects and fields. UP is where Y4it was held, and it was a good idea to celebrate or hold our major fieldtrip simultaneously in sequence with the Y4it. Computer science and Information Technology representatives coming different schools and universities from the different regions inside the country had been gathered at UP just to stay, witness and be a part of the celebration of Y4it. At the event, there were multiple and numerous topics being shared which were categorized and were split to different houses. Some topics could be heard from the Film Theater, some are from the Bahay ng Alumni and still there are 3 more other sites. At Y4it, there are IT and technological experts who joined and shared their parts to help rise the quality of students in the Philippines. Couldn’t talk about the entire topics covered in the event for we have to choose unto where and which station to stay, which basically depends on our point of interests.

So while I was reading the sheet of paper where the whole Y4it program was listed, a topic about gaming caught my attention and it was held I think at the University’s Film Theater. So after the bus arrived and dropped us on a dropping area, I together with my classmates and some other participants urgently started walking the path to the university’s Film Theater to have our lines and reserved a seat for the coming lecture. So there it was, several minutes later the lecture had started. The topic is more about the new technologies and gaming. One of the speakers I think was actually still a graduating student (didn’t know where school did he came from) and he talked about the windows phone which is absolutely powerful but too expensive. He boasted some of the phone features and qualities which made it cool and awesome. A speaker also shared to us his experience in the field. According to him, he had been working for some huge companies outside the country and had been a part of some successful projects. He taught us some important things to take note when facing the industry through his sharing.

So for the second day of our fieldtrip, what didn’t I like? Actually, as mentioned there are multiple sites inside the university’s campus offering different topics and each site is composed of different students sharing common interests. Now, let me just focus on the Film Theater. Actually I was a bit unhappy of what I had heard when the speakers are talking, as I were reading the catalogue or the paper containing the orders and schedules of the event, I read something about on teaching on how to build a game – just something like that which caught my attention. I thought being inside the Film Theater and taking time listening to them could give me literally some ideas on how to build a game, or even just simply the basics of doing and building it. All I heard was just practical life sharing and endorsing new innovations of technologies, which is still great but didn’t match what I really expected to have or hear to. But honestly I wasn’t given the chance to go inside the Film Theater after leaving there for a lunch break for as the gate keeper told us that there’s no vacant space left inside the theater so we had just wandered around collecting freebies and stuffs from different companies who also participated the event.

Day 3

A visit to Fluor Company

For the day three, our itinerary is to have a trip and visit the Fluor Company. It was a huge company who deals with constructions, engineering, procurement, and networking and information technology. And by the way, Fluor is a one big company with branches scattered throughout each side of the world. In fact they boast to have their next business branch somewhere in Cebu which is known as a hub for professionals and IT experts. And just to add up, they are the only company who’d fed us with some heavy snacks. Lol!

As we entered the company, the company HR greeted us as a form of a formal welcome. She guided us to a conference room where a long but informational presentation is already awaiting. The HR started the talk and asked us about how do we fix our resumes, and so we did, we told her of our ways and she also shared her way. As an HR manager, she is as expected expert and had more experience in terms of dealing with these kinds of things. And according to here, the most effective approach to have a higher chance of being hired is through the presentation of resumes, HRs or businessmen by any chance wouldn’t take a look about the personal background of the applicant but it’s more on the applicant’s working experience, history, highlights and educational background. So base on these ideas, she mentioned that in every resumes, we must consider putting those things together with our personal vital information and career objective at the very first page of the resume to catch the attention of the possible reader. The next speaker lectured about the importance of having a strong team. The speaker tackled about the 6 things a successful team has in common, like the: team’s purpose, process, communication, involvement, commitment, and the very important part the trust. The speaker explained to us that no matter how weak a member of a team was, the team will always be there for that person, to help that person grow, mature and learn what he or she needs to learn in order for him or her to be successful and for the team to accomplish each tasks granted to them. Helping each other and growing as a team is the main key for the team’s success. The next part is the lecture about networking which tackles about defense systems, routing and communicating.

 The best part of having visiting the Fluor Company is the wonderful tour, where we were guided by some of their experts and explaining us deeply each and every purpose and some general things to be shared in a specific are, like the time we were brought to a room full of servers, hubs and other things wherein an expert shared unto us some important matters like the role and importance of maintaining the humidity, moisture and proper temperature inside that room.

So what I didn’t like at Fluor? Nothing, because the company is just really great, their accommodating, had accompanied us and had really spent good time teaching us some pretty good lessons.

A visit to DOST

DOST or the Department of Science and Technology here in Philippines as we already know is a government organization established to conduct studies, researches and innovations in science life and as well as in technology. Different innovations through the help of science had been implemented by the Department of Science and Technology in the country to help the economy and industries rise.

Actually, our visit at DOST had only lasted for only few hours since they could only offer us one speaker for that day. The speaker started his talk about the current status of IPv4 or the IP version 4. IP is a unique address of a computer set to serve as the computer’s ID while surfing over the internet. Through IP addresses, data and other vital information stored within the computer could be revealed to hackers when they have the address. This is why there are some business related spams being generated through mails using our own emails. So going back, he mentioned about the shortage or the IPv4 running low and the near adoption of the IPv6. He told us some facts and details regarding some businesses already reserving their own domains for future purposes.

Besides from being alarmed of what the speaker had mentioned and for a bit sharing, I haven’t learned that much but instead drawn out my attention to their museum where some culture and scientific inventions made by Filipinos where preserved.

Day 4

A Visit to SSS

SSS or the Philippine Social Security System is an organization in the country that protects the people’s well-being from the social and economic distresses. Dealing with SSS as far as I am concerned is like a future investment in which any people who had been their member for specific years could avail their services.

SSS could be availed in different approaches, if the applicant is currently working on a company, the applicant and employer will share and equal contribution as a monthly payment for the applicant’s membership. And the other one is through voluntary, in which it is more expensive because there’s no employer who could share half of the payment that should be done. But anyway, being a member of SSS has numerous advantages like being insured with assistance in misfortunate times and taking a loan to start with something up.

Besides the importance of having the SSS in the near future, that’s all I had learned from them. So basically visiting the company is not that time or cost-benefit for me.

A visit to Exist Global

Visiting Exist Global is the last company visit we’ll be doing in our fieldtrip. So anyway, who’s Exist Global? What kind of company are they? Well, exist global was founded in the year 2001 and is a product development firm who develops interactive web applications, mobile applications, software and business solutions, enterprise software and etc.. Exist Global is a company of the type software provider who promotes the aid of open source tools as a way of building or creating a system. Because they are more up to using open source tool, programmers within the company are centered on using or more on using Java and Ruby on Rails.

One of the things I learned in exist global is the topic of “Companies Hire Depending on the Business Plan”. 1.) Companies hire new applicant because they want to introduce new products and services and they want to find a new man who’s suitable for the job. 2.) Companies hire new applicants because they want to grow their current team, to make it stronger through adding manpower. 3.) Companies hire new applicants simply because they want to cut some costs, because veterans are paid at a higher percentage so they’d rather hire and train a new one which is basically of cheaper cause for the mean time. 4.) To increase leadership, they might try to find an individual who’s capable of managing a leading a team to its success, and the last thing, 5.) Social Media.

Day 5

The last day of stay was allotted for the extended shopping spree, wandering around and having fun. We had jumped over the Mall and start to budget our remaining money and that’s where we learned the art of asking for discounts.

Appendix

The entire trip was fun and enjoyable, in the end several information, ideas and knowledge were shared and given to us by the companies we visited. The idea of taking the fieldtrip simultaneously with the celebration of Y4it is indeed great. I have only some concerns which I think might help the next batches who will be taking the fieldtrip, one is about picking the right company who could cater and share valuable information and knowledge to everybody. Because as mentioned above, it is a bit disappointing to end up not that satisfied enough of the lectures and sharing provided by a certain company. And the other one is about ensuring that the company could handle certain number of students. Because as what we had experienced, it is likely great to be in few numbers rather than in a pack of hundreds of students, else they could be broken to batches so that the crowd can be controlled hence ensuring that the students can focus and understand each lecture.

But all in all, in went somehow just fine. Thank You!

The 2nd Developers Connect

Developers Connect or preferably known as DevCon is an organization established support the growing population of young developers in the country. DevCon offers conferences wherein team buildings, interaction and knowledge are being shared to participants to help them grow and build their dream. As for now, the Institute of Computing had already embraced or joined DevCon’s community for already more than a year. Seminars and gatherings had really been a good help for students like us. Professional IT lecturers shared different interests thoughts, and ideas to share students of the possible fascinating things they might want to be indulged with and it’s a pleasure to say that those knowledge imparted had opened our young minds of the different fields in the profession were pushing through.

The Institute of Computing’s 2^nd Developers Connect was attended by multiple students. During the program, some students were asked to have their thesis or research presentation. Part of the program was intended to give a chance for those students to experience an actual presentation in front of the crowd to help them build their confidence to face the world outside the university’s wall. It was an effective approach for them to improve or discover some of their hidden talents in defending what they’ve created and facing the crowd.

DevCon held Lightning Talks served by IT experts and Birds of Feathers with the topic about Operating Systems. Wordpress, Drupal, Python, ideas on how to retrieve a lost laptop and the significance of online map are just some of the coverage of the Lightning Talks. Topics being presented are all Open Source, meaning, these tools and software is free of any charges. Wordpress had been introduced during the presentation by one of the speakers. Wordpress is a powerful open source CMS tool with embedded features and templates that could help anyone create a dynamic website with less worry. Through the aid of the tool, managing work flows and procedures is now easy. Drupal on the other hand is more likely similar to Wordpress. Drupal is also a competitive open source CMS tool that could run in nay platform and supports the use of PHP and common databases like MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server and etc. Python is really not that much known to Filipino programmers as for the moment, but Python users had been growing in population as programmers multiply. Anyway, python is a programming language and is also free to use. It runs with Windows, Linux and Mac Operating Systems. The speaker of this topic leaved a funny but interesting quote, “There are only few users of Python Language for programming here in Philippines, hence making a good deal of encountering good offers as a Python user”. Another topic is an idea of how to retrieve a lost laptop, as far as I could remember it goes something like this. Each unit has its own unique IP address which is composed of binaries which represents or serves as the unit’s ID while surfing over the internet. The main idea is to track down the lost unit through tracking the unit’s current position through its IP address as it connects over the internet. Though it might just been an idea, but it could possibly be brought to reality by some programmers. The last one is the significance of online mapping. There are teams out there, plotting each street in the City, making a visual representation of them to contribute to an online map. This powerful map keeps down a track of possible routes that is mostly helpful for travelers and emergencies. Showing the shortest path and revealing possible routes to go through is the main purpose of maps basically. Through this, response time for emergency rescues perhaps is optimized.

It’s a pleasure joining the event and learning a lot from these experts coming from different fields. Hope to see them around next time to keep an update from outside community.

ES321 EXERCISE 1

Exercise 1

Observe skilled and novice operators in a familiar domain: for example, touch and 'hunt-and-peck' typists, expert and novice game players, or expert and novice users of a computer application. What differences can you discern between their behaviors?

                Technology brings about the need to learn and acquire new things. And as technology grow and develop, the more human requires to get hold of these new and innovative things. Human behavior is said to be complex but nonetheless, random. The growth of technology largely affects the human behavior; and thus human behavior also affects the growth of technology. However, the way that human deals and interacts with technology also depends on the training and the environment he receives and encounters. 

At some point, not all people accept and understand quickly the changes in technology. Being skilled and a beginner in using modern technology really matters on how it is regularly used and practice. There is definitely a difference between the two in applying technology. Let’s take for example some scenarios stated below:

·         Touch and ‘hunt-and-peck’ typist

These individuals are obviously doing the act of typing, however they differ on how fast or how they can type accurately and conditionally. Touch typists are often called professional typists. They keep their eyes on the source copy at all times uses their ten fingers and avoid looking at the keyboard when typing. They often do their typing works fast and accurate and lessens the time of work. However, hunt-and-peck typists also known as search and peck typist are the contrast of touch typists. They look at the keyboard and tap the keys with only a few fingers (sometimes only two fingers).  They are clearly much slower than expert typists. Usually, they are unable to focus on their works since they always look on the keyboard while typing. This affects the quality of their work. Though there can be accuracy in their outputs, it increases the time of work and thus sometimes slows the time of completion of an output.

·         Expert and novice game players

Differentiating Expert players against Novice players, as expected, these Expert players do have wide knowledge about a specific game. Since novice players are beginners, they are often more on explorations and generating questions. Looking back at their performance, Expert players do have several advantages especially in experience unlike the novice players. Now, taking some tactical games, Expert players can generate certain tactics towards the game and since Novice players are still learners they usually discover these tactics through and when they experienced it.

                Practice makes perfect, that what they say. In order for these novices to become experts, they should strive hard to commit the power over the technology. Experience still plays a vital role, for it encompasses learning and the creation of facts and ideas.

ES321 EXERCISE 4

Exercise 4

Can you think of any instances in which the 'noun-verb' guideline for operations, as suggested in the Apple human interface guidelines for the Desktop Interface, would be violated? Suggest other abstract guidelines or principles besides consistency which support your example. (Hint: Think about moving files around on the Desktop.)

The noun-verb guideline suggests that we can view all operations that the user will perform as being composed of an action (the verb) acting with one argument (the noun). In the case of moving a file (or copying, for that matter), the action (move or copy) requires more than one argument. The way the move operation is performed requires the user first to select the icon for the file to be moved and then to indicate the move operation implicitly by dragging the selected icon to the destination folder. The nouns in this dialogue are the file to be moved and the destination folder. The verb is the move operation. The natural way to express this is in the order noun-verb-noun. Strictly speaking, in order to stick with the noun-verb guideline, we would have to indicate both the target file and the destination folder before indicating the move operation. That would be consistent, relative to input expression, with most other commands on the desktop. However, some principles of direct manipulation and familiarity to the user are more important. Moving files by dragging them on the desktop is very similar to the way we can pick up any object in the physical world and move it to its new location. And the dragging operation is incremental and easily recoverable; moving to one place can be undone within the same operation since the dragging can continue until the file is released.

The file-moving example is a slightly contrived one, because some could argue that there is no violation of the noun-verb guideline (hence, moving is still consistent with respect to input expression) because the verb is 'move to destination folder'. Perhaps a better example is a command to search a file system for files matching some specification. Here, the action is to do the qualified search and the argument or noun is the set of folders or volumes of the system that you want searched. Typically, this kind of operation is defined by some dialog box that allows the user to indicate in any order the specifics of the operation (the search parameters) and the folders or volumes to search. Once this unordered dialog is complete, the user then indicates that it is OK for the system to perform the operation. This kind of form-filling dialog subscribes to neither the noun-verb or verb-noun guideline; the order is more flexible for the user than consistent.

Reference:
http://www.hcibook.com/hcibook/downloads/pdf/exercises.pdf

ES321 EXERCISE 3

Exercise 3

What influence does the social environment in which you work have on your interaction with the computer? What effect does the organization (commercial or academic) to which you belong have on the interaction?

Talking about the social environment I am with, the presence and usage of the technology specially computers is widely in common. The influence of computer gaming is one of the major reasons of the Human-Computer interaction, and also, these interactions are present due to the profession i had chosen.
Through the extensive usage of this technology, organizations whether commercial nor academic had grown popular. Academic organizations had been requiring the knowledge about computers, which includes the usage of these devices to meet certain school requirements. These organizations had contributed a lot on the interaction, some of its effects are addiction, knowledge and the growth of technology.

ES321 EXERCISE 2

 Exercise 2

Pick a couple of computer input devices that you are aware of (joystick, light pen, touchscreen, trackball, eyegaze, dataglove, etc.) and note down how each has different attributes that support certain forms of interaction. You ought to know a little about all of these devices - if you do not, research them.

The following devices are input devices that supports Human-Computer Interaction:

In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches. With the decline of punch cards and paper tape, interaction via teletype-style keyboards became the main input device for computers. Supports interaction by having the users to input their commands by pressing its buttons or keys.

A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with a computer's CRT TV set or monitor. It allows the user to point to displayed objects, or draw on the screen, in a similar way to a touch screen but with greater positional accuracy. Interactions occurs when users points the pen to the screen.

A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. It enables one to interact directly with what is displayed. Similar to a light pen, touchscreen carries interaction by allowing the user to manipulate a device through touching it by hands or fingers.

A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes.

A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks are often used to control video games, and usually have one or more push-buttons whose state can also be read by the computer.

As you can see, this devices are commonly used to manipulate the Computer, which results to what they called as "Interaction".

Expert Judgement Tool

ProjectManagement Assignment 5 : What is the best tool use in expert judgment?

It was been discussed before that in order to organize a project, the project team is required to split or break the main project to several phases. These phases are composed of unique processes, and it is constructed with prerequisites. Some or most of these phases will encounter a technique called the Expert Judgment. To handle some risks, generate ideas and decision makings on the project, expert judgments are being conducted to guide the project team.

Expert judgment is mostly used in developing project charter, direct and manages project execution, perform integrated change control, define scope, estimate activity resources, estimating costs, identifying stakeholders, perform qualitative risk analysis, plan risk responses, conducting procurements and etc.

Defining what expert judgment is about: Expert judgment is a common technique used in estimation methods. Most judgments are based on expertise being acquired from specific areas and knowledge, which concludes that this method merely relies on factors such as gained experience from past projects. Which reminds me of something, having students consulting to a mentor for an approval or changes is also a practice of this expert judgment! LOL! Expert judgment is often used to assess the inputs needed to develop the project charter. Through this, gaining an edge using historical data is no more an issue. Inaccurate estimation definitely leads to failure, that’s why accurate data are important to set a mark for those estimations.

Through observations, I had managed to come up with a disadvantage regarding to the matter of having this expert judgment. Yes it is true that through this, the project team could have the advantage of securing the outcome of their project, hence giving them the assurance for a better quality. But using this technique or approach, the project team would spend a large time especially when taking the path of having the interviews and consults. Thus, the project team should be well prepared for consequence of using it or simply its drawbacks.

Any individual who has the knowledge and experience relating to the project could be considered as an expert. It could be a member of the team, an individual with same project in the past, and the project manager. But to avoid having biases, it is more appropriate to have an expert who’s outside the project, an individual or a group who’s not related to the project itself. Through this, the team could have an assurance of having the judgments straight, clear and real.

Expert judgment is a technique right? Where in this expert judgment is an approach to secure the quality of the ongoing project. Tools are being introduced to support this approach or rather the technique. Some tools that could be employed in this technique are the following:

Interviews – Interviews are common to us, this is a tool we had been using specially when we are in doubt or we do not have knowledge on something, it can go to a one-to-one or a many-to-one basis (which is compose of the expert and the apprentice or the project team). Interviews are conducted by asking a series of related questions to an expert or an individual whose knowledgeable that will increase your knowledge of the project or a particular project activity.

Brainstorming – Brainstorming is basically about sharing related ideas, knowledge and solution as an approach for a specific problem. This works by getting a group to focus on a problem and then coming up with as many ideas as possible to determine an absolute solution. The goal of brainstorming is to achieve a broad list of project risks and solutions to terminate further damages to the project.

Consulting – Another tool of expert judgment, in which the project team will come for an expert to have a consultation regarding to the risk and progress of their project. An effective approach, for it could give the project team the path that they must take and a consultant that will test and neglect some options.

Historical Data – Historical data uses the knowledge gained on a similar past project activity to obtain duration estimates for each activity associated with a current project. With the proven data, the team could compare and come up with a better approach or implementation for the project.

Using these tools and techniques, the project team could expand their knowledge about the projects’ risks control and on how to deal with the several options and additions for the developments and progress of their project.

Below are some techniques that still comprise the expert judgment (innovations made to cover the weaknesses of the said technique.):

Another technique that can be applied to handle risks and conclude ideas and solution is the analogous estimating. Analogous estimating is one form of expert judgment and it also known as Top-down Estimating. This approach or technique is mostly reliable when the previous activities are similar in fact and not just in appearance, and the project team members preparing the estimates have the needed expertise. This estimation technique will be applied to determine the duration when the detailed information about the project is not available, usually during the early stages of the project.

Another technique for judgment is the Delphi approach or Wideband Delphi technique attempts to gather the opinions of a group of experts with the aim of producing an accurate unbiased estimate, as mentioned earlier that having expert judgments with the project manager or anyone involved with in the project could or might result in bias for they might not see the abnormalities or severe risks in the project. Delphi technique is a structured technique of expert judgment and is essentially a form based technique involving a multi step procedure and these are: The experts are issued the specification and estimation form by the co-coordinator, a group meeting is held to discuss the product and estimation issues, experts produce an independent estimate, estimates are returned indicating the median estimate and the expert’s personal estimate, another group meeting is held to discuss results, experts prepare a revised independent estimate, steps 3-6 are repeated until a consensus is reached by the panel of experts.


http://www.ecfc.u-net.com/cost/expert.htm
http://project-management-knowledge.com/definitions/e/expert-judgment/
http://www.ecfc.u-net.com/cost/delph.htm
PMBOK of Knowledge

Project versus Other Works

ProjectManagement Assignment 4: How is a project different to any other work? Is Project Management relevant to me? cite examples.

Consider this one: Before you can effectively manage a project, you must first define and understand its projects’ nature (base on the lesson of making meaning, which would result to a good project) - its purposes, objectives, scopes, and budgeting. Some people would define the project as not existing until it has a sufficient definition, because it is impossible to start a project without the thorough examination about it.
scratch scratch scratch

How could I differentiate a project from any forms of work when even I myself am puzzled from it? I was blinded by the word “update” which I usually hear when talking about projects, and the term which states that “there is no such thing as a perfect project or a 100% completion on projects for it involves continuous progress as time passes”. I was puzzled about these factors until I had a little reading and found a missing important part of it. A project is limited; I had disregarded the fact that a project has a bounded lifecycle which has a definite start and an end. Basing in this words, I was been enlightened, and had figured out that these factors are just components of it which means a project is composed of updates and maintenance to deliver its services properly. What I am saying is, a projects’ life ends upon its submission, but its service which needs updates and maintenance still goes on, for a project is not a continuous process but the service it caters is the constant one. That’s what I had concluded from that mind bugling phrases (I suppose) and am hoping I got it straight and right.

Let me elaborate more about these so called projects. A project must be punctual (time is crucial for a project is temporary and has a definite end), must be passed in its deadline and must meet its requirements.
Temporary – a project is said to be temporary because it has a specific due date. It has a definite beginning and an end. And projects must be punctual at any cost. A project is a temporary activity with a starting date, specific goals and conditions, defined responsibilities, a budget, a planning, a fixed end date and multiple parties involved. Therefore, a project has a limited time and the members involved in the said project must cooperate to comply and meet its requirements before the time surpass them.

A continuous process is not a project. An ongoing task in considered as another form of work, for as I had stated earlier a project has a limited lifecycle. Most projects uses top-down cycle (started with a planning, analysis, design and implementation) this comprises updates after the project be presented to a test, and after all of this the cycle will never go backwards. Like any form of lifecycles, there is no turning backs but instead several changes may occur within it not unless you start on building another one. An example of a project is the creation of a certain system, which is upon completion, will be considered as a candidate for maintenance. Its subsequent updates and maintenance are no longer being considered as a project but still a part of it. In hands to this let me again stress out the “project end”. At the very end of certain projects, updates, maintenance and testing are considered to determine and ensure the services that certain project generates; to determine that the project had achieved and met all requirements, and to identify its weaknesses. Another example is all about chores, as we all know chores are done almost every day which I conclude that it would not be appropriate to call it a project, for it is ongoing or continuous if we based it from a lifetime process. But if we consider it as a task for a day, then we could say that it is a project for it will later come to an end (for the day). A project is composed of several objectives, a project could be divided to several tasks which they termed as project decomposition or breakdown and the proponents must works on each of the refined tasks in order to reach their goals and the goal of the project. The temporary nature of projects stands in contrast to business operations, which are repetitive, continuous, permanent or semi-permanent functional work to present their products and services. To make it more clear, projects are commonly different to businesses operations which needs a flow of development (which are considered as some of the other forms of work which contradicts the definition of project as a task). Projects are vulnerable to failures, if a team has failed to follow the decided run of the project time-line, then it would surely become a candidate for failing. The project’s success relies on the team itself and also the effectiveness of their project management. Thus, for it to succeed, a project must deliver to cost, to quality, and on time (which refers to the basic characteristics of a good quality project); and it must deliver the benefits presented in the business case, it must be productive, worthy or should we say cost effective.

The second question is “is project management relevant to me?”… Defining project management based on my learning, it is a key or tool used to have an organized project structure. To have a preliminary view or make certain of the projects outcome, a team should use some project management tools. Project management has been a useful tool in many operations, leading to better innovations that had change the world and had changed the people’s lives. Project management tools can make sure of the projects great foundation, for its quality and standard basis. We had already deal with these things couple of assignments ago, but to rest assure to explain its importance (or rather to be true, just for the word count! LOL) I had provided this terms. Project management is a carefully planned, analysis and organized effort to accomplish a successful and high quality projects. A project is a one-time effort that produces a specific result (or rather takes a limited time), for example, a building or a major new computer system. This is in contrast to generating a program because program as what I had research takes a continuous processes, also comprises with managing series of related multiple projects together, and as I had defined earlier, projects are not continuous thus programs are not projects. We had almost widen the meaning of project management, now how is this related to me? Simple, in our tasks especially on a student like me, project management is a helpful tool or method to organize things such as common school projects. For in a student’s life, there is no way of escaping a project not unless you have the plan of failing a certain subject because of specific projects to make. If you have been given a specific job to complete then you should consider using the principles of project management. This is one of the many things to apply the project management to my life. Let’s take it in another scenario or let’s have some literal examples; project management involves planning for the projects objective and goals, evolution of project through thorough analysis and updates to maximize a projects capabilities and budgeting a projects limited resources; at my certain age I could relate myself through this by simply basing on my lives processes as a whole, like project management, I am also oblige to plan several things for my future and to plan for the achievements of my goals in life; like project management who makes projects evolved to a well developed one, I also have my own evolutions, from being a child who wanders everywhere to a matured one and hopefully for a full maturity as the years surpasses. Evolution had started after I was blown out form my mothers’ womb! Like the first step of the project management, the planning for my life had started and generated there which has been leaded by my parents. And also, I had gone through several processes to gain some knowledge like as having a project through several processes to ensure its service via the tracking of project management. And one last thing! About the phase of budgeting within the project management method, for years I had been forced to budget my allowance to fit it in to my needs (isn't this a good sample of the relationship?).

Just bare in mind that those works with a continuous process could never be considered as projects, for projects has a planned due or is limited. If a task has a definite end, then we could call it as a project. And to assure the project development, must use a project management tool to have project more organized. To settle things within projects, there are lots of project management tools that can help you organize your project elements or tasks one good example of this is a Gantt chart, which is capable of giving the users tracking capabilities for them to be more oriented in the happenings inside their projects.

http://www.epmbook.com/projdefwhy.htm
http://www.spottydog.u-net.com/guides/faq/faq.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management

Project Management as a Method

ProjectManagement Assignment 3 : Is Project Management the best method of implementing change?

Project management by its meaning is the organizing, securing and managing resources; basically it is the foundation of having a high quality and well delivered project outcomes. As you can see, project management (via the use of project management tools) are essential in planning for a good head start, with this you can achieve a higher success rate rather than having it the other way around. Project management helps us to define several things, such as the scope of the project, its elements, the critical things we must consider, the budgeting, its weaknesses, what must be needed to modified, inserted or deleted to enhance the operational process of a project. By breaking a whole project into several milestones into a simplified and refined one, you could simply determine those elements that must be considered and this is done through project management methodology. If you force change on people (without considering their nature, aspects, needs and etc.) normally problems arise for it will create a chaos between the project outcome and the people (which are basically the users of the project). Change must be realistic, achievable and measurable. These aspects are especially relevant to managing personal change. Before starting a project change, you must consult to several people such as the: owner of the project or the client, some expert who will judge those changes and project fairly and better ask yourselves: What do we want to achieve with this change, why, and how will we know that the change has been achieved? Who is affected by this change, and how will they react to it? Project management is the key on answering all of these questions.

To start with, I had mentioned the words modify, insert and delete in which project management are capable in doing to. Clearly, project management is one of the best methods to implement changes inside your projects. I’m not saying that it is totally the best for I am sure that I haven’t met all those implementing changes methods yet, but to assure you that project management is also effective if used properly and abide according to the planned time-line. Remember that as your scope changes, several things will change and that must be considered. As scope changes, the time-line or span of the project, the budgeted cost, and even its quality would be altered. For scope planning specifically comes first before any of those mentioned components. Through this, you can possibly work over changes in a more organized manner, so that you will have a guide or tracking to identify the specific problems ahead as the changes undergoes. Typically, project management is also a useful tool in budget managing, for you could identify if you still have enough resources to be considered to operate some changes and modifications on a project, if there is still an appropriate amount of money to be allocated for some enhancements on it. Considering you are the project administrator or proponent, having enough resources a client could ask for changes on the project to satisfy their basic needs, so you will go through updates on almost all aspects and this project management (tool / method) is a functional way to help you analyze and synthesis a concrete way of meeting them.

Project Management is a methodology and a discipline which can bring significant benefits to organizations by:-

• Ensuring limited resources are used on the right projects – as I had said earlier, project management involves budget planning in order to determine the project limitation and secure its quality.

• Managing complex changes in an organized way – because all elements had been broke down to several structures, changes would easily be applied and the things it will affect will easily be managed or determined, thus making it easier for the project developers to have certain changes on the said project.

• It could also assess some risks as changes occur – certainly there is always a risk inside a project specially in putting up changes. Prevention is better than cure, by engaging in this method you could assess some risks and convert those risks into a useful tool to optimize your project.

In order to have a high quality project outcomes, changes or updates such as deletion and inserting (adding) within a project must be always present. These are some of the several important components to be considered to meet the clients’ standards. Consider a project without this tool or methodology that has undergone several changes to be enhanced; would the resulting project outcome a success? Probably no! Especially when we are talking about huge quantities of projects which are merely composed of several elements and these elements are all having prerequisites, which are the foundation of the project, its core or its major components. Without these project management methodologies and tools, how will you keep track of the issues within a project? And if changes occur, how will you trace the area of effect of the specific changes? How will you determine the changes on the scope and manage the limited resources? Would it be possible to manipulate it easily? No, no, no. Remember, project has a limited time with a definite start and end; you cannot manage changes without these tracking provided by project management methods.

See the difference of not applying and importance of having the project management in terms of including some changes within a project? It will surely help you to manage all of those changes and ensure you the quality of it. Changes are made to suit for the quote “Quality over Quantity”, preferring quality for it would surely satisfy you, than having several functions of quantity but is not satisfying at all. Similarly we could talk about the cost-benefit of a project, wherein lots of benefits are aquired at a lower cost. The usefulness of this specified tool had already been discussed and proven, wherein without this you could not manage changes in just a bunch of time. With this tool and method in hand with several changes, you would surely gain the best quality of the project, assuring that it would give a big impact on the clients’ satisfaction.

http://www.businessballs.com/changemanagement.htm
http://www.spottydog.u-net.com/guides/faq/frameset.html

Reasons for Project Failures

ProjectManagement Assignment 2: Why do project/s fail? Cite some example

In the previous meetings, we had discussed the lessons about projects, management, and what do project management is actually all about. We had gathered and had shared several taught to expounds the given words and basically come up a better explanation on these specific things. I am happy and so thankful for the things that they had shared and moreover had clarified which had given me some knowledge which is in contrast to what I really think about.

As an introduction for this, let me review and perhaps add some details on the lessons which our professor taught us couple of meeting ago. Projects are tasks given to a group or even on an individual that must be done and submitted in a specific time; primarily, it involves being punctual (or the time-span of the project itself), for a project is limited (meaning a project has a due or passing date, and in order for it to secure a good quality result, it must possess the basic or fundamental characteristics of a good project). A project is a sequence of unique, complex, and connected activities having one goal or purpose and that must be completed by a specific time, within the budget and according to specifications. Talking about management, it takes the place of organizing, as said in the discussion, a manager is the person that has the authority when it comes in terms of management or managing, he is the one who carries the responsibility of making vital decisions, in organizing sequence of (related)events, and some other things. The characteristics for a good manager and the comparison between it and a leader had also been discussed. Furthermore, management comprises planning, organizing, directing, and controlling an organization (PODC). Management is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired their objectives effectively. It indicates the process of planning, leading, organizing and controlling people within a group in order to achieve goals. And lastly, project management (which is the core of the discussion). Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. Project managing involves planning, identifying specific resources, and identifying the limitation of the budget. This engages the triple constraint which involves the project Scope, time, and cost.

I could say that projects or tasks are some of the effective ways to learn several things. In a form of giving a project, students (like us) can enhance and expand their learning. Even if projects are really a pain in student’s butt, but then they some take the tasks because as I said, it is a more effective way to learn via your own self. They could also use their own skills and come up with a better idea themselves. An example of this (just to clarify what I was really trying to point out): this article is a form of task or project which is really a requirement to pass the subject, this articles are gathered together to form a compilation of several tasks. These articles as I said is one of the effective ways to teach a student in a form of giving a project, for students are forced to have their reflections on a specific lesson which includes an amount of words. Think about this, what if a student had already putted his or her reflection about a lesson, but then he or she lacks the required amount of words, so basically he or she would be forced to have a self study which is via the internet; through surfing, he or she could expand his and her knowledge about the lesson, hence giving lots of information to put up on the on going article. Through giving a project as a task for a course, I could say that it is one of the effective ways of training or teaching a student. Unleashing their sleeping abilities, developing and enhancing bought their knowledge and skills.

Why do projects fail? In most cases, there is a huge percentage of failing in a project than having it the other way around. Its logic is simple, it just need a proper management. It fails due to some specific reasons such as: it failed to meet specific requirements (requirements which are essentially needed for services for example) that it must have in order for it to be satisfying, worthy, and even for it to render a good and high quality services (as said earlier); it failed to be completed in the given or requested time (for as I said, it is temporary), the quality of a project also depends on its punctuality, on the time spent to finalize it and even the time spent on doing it. And most of all, if the project doesn’t possess any of the main characteristics that a good project must have. A project may be considered as a failure when it has not provided what was required or assumed to be on a part of it as it finished (example: some expected features that it had stated on a specific proposal but then failed to deliver it to the clients), in line with expectations. Thus, for it to succeed, a project must deliver to cost, to quality, and on time (which refers to the basic characteristics of a good quality project); and it must deliver the benefits presented in the business case, like in my given example enclosed in the parenthesis or rather it must be productive, worthy or should we say cost effective.
Here are some bulleted reasons of why and how do certain projects fail (self-explanatory reasons which are more expounded for the sake of word count):

• Late submission – when the project had been surpassed by its due date, when it had failed to be passed on the given time. For all projects are temporary and has a definite end. For students like us, late submission of entries of projects could cause to a deduction of grade; but putting it in a more unfortunate way, there are tendencies that a mentor or rather a professor would not accept the project anymore for the dead line had already passed by. Applying it to our daily living, being tardy (even if due to several reasons) could result into a punishment or could drive into a big loss. See how big being punctual is? Even in everyday living, we could apply and have a good use of it.

• Failed to meet requirements – expected output from different projects are anticipated, that in the end of the project, it must deliver the required things that it must have. Failing to meet a requirement would surely degrade a presented project. Take this as an example: based on my experience, we were asked to develop a web game in which we were divided into a group of 3 members each. We had stated in our proposal some features that we presumed our game could have, but then due to difficulty and time issues (basically lacking of management), we had failed to deliver a stated feature, although some of the features were deliver but unfortunately that said lacking feature was the one our professor was interested to. It had affected the rating of our project and seemingly had affected our grade for the course. Now, see the importance? (Several reasons are still on the line, sit back and enjoy reading the article).

• Quality problem – the quality of the project as I was saying, involves its punctuality and approach. The quality of the project depends on how in renders a certain service just for example. Quality of a project also considers it uniqueness, some involves it durability, effectiveness and on how useful it is. Example of a quality problem is: let’s say a car that has a poor performance and durability; that could not even boost itself to a higher speed.

• Financial management – a good manager also must have the skills of a good talker, which involves convincing powers or strategies to encouraged sponsors to put some as an add-on to their resources to start a project (but this kind of things could only be applied in big transactions which also involves big time projects). Organizing the resources especially when it comes to financial is also vital. Must control the flow of the money until the last penny if you want to fit a given budget for a specific project. Most projects especially when we are talking of infrastructures are left, abandoned being unfinished because of the failure in financial management. These infrastructures might have been completed if only they had controlled the flow of the budgeted money (I am talking about taking corruption out of the way). If only they have controlled the flows, then people of our generation might have been wandering around the structures. A lesson to all that is remarkable.

• Poor architecture – poor architecture of the project, it may not be presentable or might have some defects within its architecture. When talking of systems, it may had failed to give good services due to its poor architecture; and going to the example of being an engineer, let’s take a house for it is a good example, i.e we had a house, built but still not continued due to the issue of having a poor architecture which led to numerous of defects and an outstanding failure. Quality and performance of projects do always refer to its architecture.

• Poor schedule estimation - poor schedule estimation will always result in cramming, which later result in failing to pass the project on time or failing to meet the requirements of the schedule due to the lack of time. Example of this is a given assignment was introduced couple of days ahead, but then students are doing it a day before the deadline. This sometimes results in missing to pass the given assignment. Having a proper scheduling of the tasks helps you to avoid having the tasks being filed up. Practicing a good scheduling helps prevent the missing of any projects and also helps to maximize the working time.

• Conflicts – Several conflicts may be present in doing a project. As far as I could remember, somebody had said that there are no group projects without fighting. For me there are three conflicts that could happen in a project. Conflicts between the creators of the said project, conflicts between the creators and the client, and most of all conflicts between the creators and the project itself. Fighting if always present in a group project because everybody aims for the better result of their project. First is the conflicts between the creators or proponents, in a negative way proponents may conflict because of their behaviors and characteristics (example: one of the members may be lazy which caused them several delays), and in a positive way of thinking, proponents might have conflicts between each other because they want to enhance the project in a different way which is contrast to the other idea. Second is the conflict between the proponents and the clients, clients might have several requests or demands which the creators of the project might seen it a little hassle and could even give them redundancy of functions. In some cases, proponents might fail to deliver the project to the clients at the expected time. They might have some troubles in finishing it or they might not meet the requirements given or asked by the clients. And the last one is the conflicts between the proponents and the project itself; this involves the critical moments within the project. The proponents or creators might be having a difficulty on it, they might have a poor budget estimation on it, or they might have missed plan the sequence of the project. These conflicts are generated based on what I understood about the word conflict itself. Having without any basis, these ideas had just pop out of my mind, and hope that idea was right.

• Inadequate communication, including progress tracking and reporting – having a good communication skill is really applicable especially when involving business. Earlier I had mentioned that a good manager needs to have a good communication skill, for him or her to easily approach several investors for his or her proposed project, to gain some investors to start up his or her idea. Having good communication skills is also needed to deliver properly several reports or tracking of the project. It is proper to have a reliable source of reports and tracking of the project. Having fake reports for the sake of other agendas could result in a major problem. For example: a project proponent or leader had presented a false tracking and report of the on going project because he wants the client to be impressed or he wants to show the client that there is nothing to be worried about. Although he had convinced the client but still the real evolution of the project is in delay which makes it to be finished in delay. This action would lead to a bigger problem, because first he had lied to the client (which makes his professionalism questionable) and he had to catch up on the progression of the project as what he had presented on the claiming client.

• Poor effort had been applied – effort to the max! A phrase that a cartoon character had been always saying. He always puts alls his effort on everything that he do, so that in the end (whether it is a battle or not) he will not regret anything for he knows that he had invested their all he got. Going back, poor effort had been applied, the members or maybe a member had show laziness and had failed to put all his skills and knowledge in the project, this will result in a failure, as usual failure in meeting requirements, its quality and the limited time. It is right to take a step ahead and put all your effort on the development of the project. Projects must be considered as masterpieces, and masterpieces are made to standout! And for it to standout, it must have the right quality.

• Poor plans and planning processes – in the top of this, planning is basically the first key that must be considered for the success of a project. Poor planning of the budget, time, costs, and even the sequence of the elements within a project would have a poor result; it would surely fail, and I could even say it before the project had started. This conclusion could be done even if I had only a minute to think over it. Planning is the foundation of all projects. Having it in a proper way would take the project to the possibility of success, not a 100% but would surely not lower that 60%. So clearly, it is an advantage to take!

• Failure to identify the scopes of the project – Identifying the scope of the project in the first place is an ideal thing to do, to identify the budget, cost and specific time of delivery of the project, its scope must be first analyzed. The scope of the project relies on the request or requirements of the task.

• A manager without a good experience – a group might have difficulties when their leader lacks the experience in controlling the situation. I am not telling that all managers must have an experience, what I was trying to stress out is that a manager must be responsible enough to handle the group, to control the decision making and come up with a nice strategy towards the project.

• Change of Scope - Scopes Changes can also lead to project failure. To Control and to manage scope change is critical to the success of any projects because scope changes can significantly affect the cost, schedule, hazards and quality of the total effort. Affecting all of these is like starting up a new project for you must adjust on all of them. It could also be difficult on the project team to lack direction or to change scopes. They must work hand on hand in order to solve this kind of uncertain event. They must unite to get back in the line of business.

A project is considered to be a failure when it has not delivered what was required or had failed to meet them, in line with expectations. Therefore, in order to succeed, a project must deliver within its budgeted cost, to its expected quality, and on the limited time; and it must deliver the benefits presented in the business case. For a project to be successful, it's not enough simply to manage your project competently, and deliver a good quality product. As was they had been always saying, always put your heart on the things that you do. To avoid failure, make sure you have identified the right business requirements and scopes, created an achievable business case, put strong project governance into place, managed a high-quality implementation, focused on benefits, and monitored your changing environment. And most of all, always aim for the development and not for the money, for money will always comes next after a great development had grown.

As you can see, these are all the reasons of the projects with failed results, basing on it one-by-one you would notice something… As a general conclusion for these, a group manager or even the members must be responsible enough and must commit them selves into the project. Proper education on project management must be learned before indulging into a real project in order to secure project efficiency and to have enough knowledge to solve possible project risks that may occur. The project is there masterpiece which needs effort to be applied. Discipline on the proponents is needed in order for them to achieve their main objectives and ultimate goals. The proper use of project management could give them the opportunity of success. Planning each phases of the project and identifying the scope is some of the basic keys to start the project properly. DISCIPLINE a word that must be noted for this topic!

http://www.adaptivepartners.com/projfailb.htm
http://www.gantthead.com/article.cfm?ID=187449