Sunday, March 20, 2011

Initial entry on the objectives of the Project Requirments class

March 14, 2011, I started a new course (2nd of it's kind) named Defining and Managing Requirement and Project Success.  I was instructed to create a blog and to answer certain questions on it.  Here I go...

1.  Given your knowledge/skills/experience/confidence at the start of these courses, which course objectives look familiar to you already? 

Understand the place of requirements gathering in the project lifecycle.
Discuss and evaluate the role of the Project Manager in requirements gathering.
Examine the relationship between requirements gathering and project success.

2.  Given your knowledge/skills/experience/confidence at the start of these courses, which course objectives look either difficult or completely unfamiliar to you?

Illustrate and demonstrate the processes of discovering, eliciting and managing requirements.
Explain the process of defining requirements in various development methodologies, including agile development.
Apply best practices in gathering and managing requirements.
Effectively prioritize requirements.
Identify and apply processes for measuring and reporting project success.
Discuss and document best practices for achieving project success.

3.  How do these courses fit into your career plans and dreams?  Are the objectives crucial to your success, or will accomplishing the objectives simply mean good general background information for you?

Truly I am taking this course a little late in my life.  I am close to retiring and I am getting scared that I may not be able to live as comfortable as I once thought I could when I retire.  My hope is to get my masters degree in something that I can possibly teach or tutor once I retire from my primary job.  I envision that I will always need to work.  If it isn't to pay for my heath insurance, or to help with my grandchildren it might be to pay Uncle Sam.  I need to actually be successful in this course because I am hoping I can teach part time as a college instructor.  Teach when I need to make ends meet like...replace my carburetor, or put on a new roof, things like that. 

Not only are these Project Management classes interesting, I actually know a little about them from my work experience.  Not much but just enough to interest me more.  I worked a job that used me like I was a Project Manager but I never got the pay or title.  Most of the responsibilities I shared with a group.  We had a lead but that lead was just as ignorant to the process as we were.  So this, in a way, will give me the right knowledge to do the job right.  That will feel good in the end. 

4.  How do you feel here at the start as you set out to accomplish these objectives.

Just starting on my masters, this class being my 5th class, I am gaining more and more confidence.  At first I was timid and felt out of place in the classroom.  I am old enough to be most of my instructors and classmates mother yet I love the feeling I get when I finally master a feat. I am excited to learn more about Project Management.  It is something that I am familiar with but not proficient with.