15/5 # 4

This week was not as stressful as last week. As I stated in last week’s 15/5 our Thursday night meetings are always very efficient and we always get so much covered. We were just about done with the Tasks Analysis then, but due to some confusion had to revisit them and make some necessary revisions (add performance objectives). However, we were able to meet on Sunday and get all of the documentation completed and to the client for review on Monday afternoon.

As for what the team did this week, there really isn’t much we could do without having the full text content in front of us. All we have had to go off of is an outline of the different topics and sub-topics that will be covered in the program. We have had our fingers crossed for a while now in hopes that we will receive something soon. I’ve sent many reminders (without trying to come off as a dictator/pest) to Dr. Powell about having the content to us no later than tomorrow’s class. It is a bit nerve wrecking because we have not heard from her since last week. However, she always seems to come through for us and with more than we need, so there is always some reconciliation that can be found in that fact.

The plan for tomorrow’s meeting was to review the content and determine exactly how we are going to present it to the client (determine the exact flow). However, in the event that we do not receive the content, I do have a backup plan for tomorrow’s meeting, I plan to have us go through all the video content and, based on the outline, determine the videos we will be incorporating into the system. This way we will not be wasting precious time. As for the plan to move forward with the project, I would have to send one final reminder to Dr. Powell that we would have to absolutely receive all the text content in time for our usual Sunday night meeting. So though we may seem a bit unorganized, I assure you that we do have a plan!

What I personally did this week, I have been longing to do from the beginning of the semester. We have had an initial idea of the design that we wanted for a while now. But this week I actually begun the process of trying to get concrete elements in place to begin the screen design, which I must say is my favorite part of system design! To develop our unique screen design, I went searching for other sites that have similar designs to the one we envision and other sites that were just plain cool. I have now narrowed my findings to about 10 sites, and what I plan to do is look at how others have designed these sites and then take elements from each of them, incorporate them with the ideas of the team and form our own unique design! This makes me very excited and I just cannot wait to see what we will come up with. The challenge, I believe we may face, is creating a design that provides the visual appeal of a flash site in Dreamweaver. However, I am confident that we will be able to find a common ground between functionality and design that both the team and client will love.

That’s all for now! The tasks we plan to accomplish in the upcoming weeks are:
1. Develop time line
2. Retrieve the full text content
3. Complete analysis of text content
4. Complete analysis of video content
5. Develop storyboard of the flow of content/site
6. Assign tasks to 6200 consultants
7. Begin initial phase of screen design