Trello,
On Thursday, March 30, I met with my team which would later be known as Gemini V. During our very first meeting we discussed our strengths and what we were good at doing. I was willing to work on the database with Lili, but we needed a project manager. Nobody volunteered for the position so I did, and I felt like it was a great job for me. My main job was to keep the project on track, but more importantly, it was to keep in contact with the clients and convey their wishes to my team, so we could create the best possible website and database for Mr. Spillers and Mr.Wallace.
One of my first jobs as the project manager was to create a project charter and a project plan. Bruce’s website was a great resource as a project manager because it had a link to a project planning website that contained all the resources that I would need. Google drive was absolutely a wonderful tool, so I didn’t have to write the entire charter and plan by myself. I was able to assign specific sections to people and Google docs would send them an email saying that a specific section was assigned to them. This is absolutely a resource that I would use again for any group project. Trello was an invaluable resource to us. Our clients provided us with due dates, but as a team, we decided we wanted tasks done before due dates the clients requested. Therefore, when I made our trello board I made our due dates slightly before the client’s due date so if we had problems we had time to fix them.
Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork
I could not have asked or created a better team! We clicked almost immediately. Our project was so wonderful, because of the people in the group. The best aspect of the project was that everyone on the project took their role responsibly. No one slacked causing the project to fall apart. Elvis, John, Lili, and Zatches were absolutely amazing and I loved working with them every day on the project.
Help?
Like any great project, we ran into problems. One the main problems we had was deciding on a color scheme. We had a specific vision and the colors were not meshing the way we wanted them too, so this took us longer than we expected. This was the main problem we faced as a group. Everyone had their own problems they faced while we tried to create the best possible website. One of the main problems I had was while assisting Lili with the order form. We really wanted to create a way for an order to be placed and the information to move into the database we designed. While researching to see if it was possible we realized we did not have the skill set to do that, so that is why we used Google Forms. We knew how to use Google Forms and explain to the clients how to move the information to the database. One of our biggest challenges was trying to figure out how to order multiple pizzas. We were able to figure out a conditional for the Google Form so people could order up to three pizzas. To brag on my teammates some more, we all looked for ways to solve a problem and we were able to solve almost every problem that came our way!
Next time
If I had to do this project over again, I would do a much better job at managing our meetings and making sure no one person felt overworked. Everyone did so much for I’m not sure if anyone felt like they wished they had some to help them with the work. Opening communication channels would help solve this problem. One thing we did when we met with the clients that I’m not sure the other teams did, but I would like to implement on more projects was google hangouts screen sharing. Each time we met with the clients we had a Google slides presentation to illustrate our ideas and where we were in the project, the only catch was we did not have a projector to show to them our presentation. The first time we just use one of our computers and turned it so they could see it. During our second meeting, we were able to share our screen, which had the presentation open, and guide them through the presentation and they could see it on their computer screens. Using this tool when meeting with our clients I believe set us apart from the competition in our communication skills.
Do or Do Not, There is no Try
I truly believe we made a successful website and database for our clients. We met the deadlines, and met all the requirements and tried to go above and beyond what the clients were asking. Just like Pizza Geeks knows their pizzas, Gemini V knows their web and database skills.