RT#90020 — Project: New Sponsors Database

Obvious Problems:

RT#90020 [https://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/mfcf/help/request/UpdateRequest?90020] has a subject that makes it look like a project, but:

• There are no sub-items in its Dependencies list.
• There is no indication of what the purpose of the project is.
• There is no indication of what the scope of the project is.
• There is no indication of when the project or any of its sub-projects are expected to be completed.
• The RT item is somehow required by the mfcf.math hardware.
• It contains a link to an accounts automation project page, which appears to no longer exist.
• The total time worked on the project over the last year and a half is recorded as 44 hours. At that rate, Christopher and Lori will each have retired before the project has been completed.
• No work has been performed on the project since January.

The entire item seems to be a place to record vague descriptions of things that have been tried, with no indication of what they were attempting to achieve.

It's not obvious that anyone other than perhaps the Requester knows what the overall goal of this project actually is.

Restart:

Before we proceed any further we need to step back and get off to a proper start. I'm not suggesting throwing out all the work that's been done; I'm suggesting throwing out the failed attempt at project management and then recreating the project management infrastructure as if it had been done correctly from the beginning.

• Change the status of this RT item to forget.
• Create a new project item that contains only:
  • The purpose of the project.
  • The scope of the project.
  • A list of what is perceived to be wrong with the current database design.
  • A dynamic list of Dependency sub-items whose completion will indicate that this project is complete.

Except for changes to the Dependencies list, this item should remain static until all design dependencies are done. At that time an explanation can be added of how this new design alleviates the problems found in the current design. After that, again except for changes to the Dependencies list, this item should remain static until all dependencies are done, at which time the project can be closed.

Advice:

Before Ray looks at this project, he would like the following to be prepared:

• The above Restart item. (It must be set up by the people involved in the original project, without help from Ray (though he or Robyn could offer technical RT guidance)).
• A database model diagram for the new design. (When Wayne first looked at our current Sponsorship Database he seemed surprised that there wasn't a diagram showing the table rows and the relationships between the tables. He provided a sample diagram from some other database and asked for a similar one for our current database. The resulting database model diagram for the current Sponsorship Database [https://rbutterworth.nfshost.com/Reports/SponsorshipDatabase] was produced that same day.)
• A list of things that have already been designed.
• A list of designs that have already been implemented.
• A list of things that are currently being designed.
• A list of things that still need to be designed.

Ideally, the last four points would already be defined by the main project's Dependencies list and require no additional work.

Further Reading:

It would also be of great help if the people sponsoring and working on this project could think about answers to these five questions:

• What problems were perceived in the current situation?
• How does the proposed solution alleviate those problems?
• What other solutions were considered, and why were they rejected?
• What is the cost/benefit advantage of the proposed solution?
• How can improvements be measured?

For details, follow the links at the bottom of each page in Five questions to answer before starting a project [https://rbutterworth/Management/questions].