bumps in the road . . .

challenges, obstacles and difficulties

The journey has begun.

The project is now underway and as happens with most projects there are challenges to overcome.

My passion for the project is enormous, unfortunately my ability to funnel that passion into actual work has met a few roadblocks.  Time management is above all the biggest problem.

Image source: Melissa Frew

Between classes, assignments, family and life there seems to be little time to sit down and work on the actual project.

Lists, lists and more lists are the only thing holding me together right now.  Other than creating a time machine or finding a portal I am stuck with a finite resource when it comes to the hours and minutes that are available in a day, week or month.  With that in mind I need to focus on tools and skills to make sure that the project keeps on track and on schedule.

Step one will be to develop a timeline and schedule for what is done when by whom.  Luckily, I have just created a ‘budget’ of hours for a project charter so, check that is done.

Step two, I need to let my team know what the plan is and what I am hoping they will be able to contribute to the project.  Job descriptions are due, done and I will be meeting with the team on Tuesday so, check, check!

Step three, More lists.  My lists may haunt me but they also keep me on track.  It may be time to take them digital and create a Trello project board.  Project management has introduced me to the wonderful world of digital work flow and it seems like it is time to create a Trello board, fill it in and start tracking progress!

Well now that the time management issue has been addressed what else is standing in my way?

Oh, right, the story!

The pivotal detail for the entire project, writing the story, has become the biggest elephant in the room.  I am unsure which element of the project to tackle first, which story?  What details do I need to include and what words do I use?

image source:  Melissa Frew

Step one, two, three worked well for time management, so let’s try that with story development.

Step one, decide which story to work on.  It makes sense to start at the beginning.  Is that the story with the most impact?  Is that the best way to showcase what this project is?  What is the beginning?  So many questions, so few answers.

Step two, pinpoint which details need to be included to tell the story.  So, let’s say I decide to tell the ‘what is cancer’ story.  Seems like a pretty good place to start?  What do I need to include?  Probably I should talk about cells, what they are, how they multiply and how sometimes, things go wrong.  That was not so hard.   What interactive elements need to be included for this story?  Wait, I still need to write the story.  Focus on that and then the interactive elements will grow.

image source: Melissa Frew

Step three, write the story.  For this I need my content writer/consultant Katie.  Maybe I should set up a google doc and post ideas, then ask Katie to collaborate on the story.  Great idea, why didn’t I think of that earlier!

Time management and story writing aside I think the project is well underway and I am excited to see how things develop in the next few weeks.

More on the process to come in blogpost #3!