September 29, 2006
At the beginning of class the team leaders met to discuss strategies for delegation and direction of their team's project. We each discussed our team's current objectives and progress. At the end of the class we met with our teams to discuss roles and responsibilities. At the end of class we also participated in a critique of each team's site progress.
We were each asked to clarify what we hope to achieve personally in this project. I think there is some concern that because I come to this class with experience that I will not gain knowledge, however, I find that far from the truth. I am a very ambitious person so learning is something that I thrive for. There has not been a web project where I haven't learned something new. So I first must admit that I look forward to the challenges this project brings, even more so the team leader responsibilities. I have confidence that I can lead our group to a project we can all be proud of, however, my goal is to nudge each one to become instrumental participants in the process. Once we begin development I have plans to delegate a section of the site to each team member so that they go beyond their team responsibilities to physically gain experience with the technical aspects. With the position of team leader comes the challenge of maintaining communication and keeping up with each member of the team.
Overall I believe this project will certainly allow me to grow, however, I do plan to experiment with some interactive effects using web techniques such as ajax. Ajax has grown a lot of attention in the last year or more and it is clearly beginning to show it's presence on the web so I would enjoy the challenge of trying something new.
Here it is, hot off the press! Here's our official Team Fuzzy Wuzzy Gant Chart [pdf] for the semester to help keep us on track.
Here's what I sent our team this week:
I hope everyone is doing well with their progress. I have just completed the gant chart, basically a timeline for us to keep track of the key points and responsibilities that will need to be completed. You will find each of you have individual roles and then we also have "team" roles where EVERYONE will participate. Please be sure you complete your portion of this week's progress as we discussed last week in class. Completing your individual responsibilities is crucial in project completion. Please note that I would like for Jason & I to hear what progress you have made by Wednesday so that it gives us time to give you all direction before the next class, this will certainly help us reach our goals and be better prepared weekly.
Just as a reminder for this week:
Kim is going to go through all the content on the CD and come up with a site map and organize the "main" sections of the site. Let's see if we can also get an approximate number of pages you think this web site will end up being. Please post your site map in digital format on your site for us all to reference.
Elizabeth is going to begin the copywriting. Again, don't just start from scratch, go through the main sections (i.e. about) and let's get this into text format so it's easy to copy/paste into dreamweaver when that time comes. From what I see we have a lot to work with so hopefully just minor modifications and an added creative approach will be sufficient. Don't forget the taglines - they will be important.
Andrick & Christian - as usability/accessibility specialists I'd like you each to read an article and post a brief "what you learned" on your own web site. Remember, I am leaving you two in charge of stepping in during critiques about usability and accessibility aspects. Let me know if you have questions about the articles you are reading.
Sheila - Storyboard out just by sketches your ideas. No need to waste time with the program before your ideas are solid. I'll have sizes for you on Friday. But consider things like type choices, color, transitions, and most importantly start thinking about the images you think we should use. Because Christian has some Flash experience too perhaps in a few weeks we can get him to assist as well. I think we are still at the "planning" stage so lets get our ideas firmed up first. Christian feel free to jump in at any point to assist Sheila with the Flash process if this is something you would like to gain experience with, we certainly welcome your ideas.
Jason - Please work with Elizabeth and discuss marketing strategies. Also assist with taglines. I would also like to see you this week work with each member finding out if they need assistance. I think another eye on the imagery ideas for the flash element would be helpful.
Also, please note that on the chart I have added contact info and each members web site for the course. I am only lacking Jason's web site. The one you forwarded seems to be non functional so perhaps we can get this worked out this week.