For the benefit of those who were not in class yesterday, we took some class time to evaluate how things were going with the projects. I divided the class into five (5) groups of three (3) teams. Each group was to identify the top 3 challenges and top 3 things that were going well with the projects in their group. A spokesperson summarized the findings for each group of 3. Here is a summary of the exercise.
Challenges
- geeks have limited technical knowledge as it applies to the project idea.
- working with the geeks was difficult
- it is hard to determine costs for things (manufacturing, sales, human resources)
- found that the idea was not viable and therefore had to change the idea
- so much to do, so little time!
- it is hard to schedule the geeks
- it is hard to communicate with the geeks
- it is difficult to get valid facts and numbers
- the designs and mockups for our product are hard to do
- it is hard to cold call people in industry to get valid data
Good things
- we are having frequent team meetings (1-2X per week), so communications within the team and with geeks is excellent
- we have almost completed Draft #1 of our business plan
- we have an excellent core team and are very happy with our geeks
- we have found excellent costing data
- our geeks are very keen and motivated
- our designs and mockups are complete
Conclusions
- the teams that are ahead communicate well and often
- few teams feel that their original ideas were what they are ending up with. Several teams have changed ideas completely in order to be competitive in the Ken Spencer competition
- the 80-20 rule applies. Focus on the big picture, then drill down if there is time. (e.g. 80% of the work for a B or B+ can be done in 20% of the time.)
- all teams should have a first cut of their plans ready for review by their advisory board this week!
If you have anything to add regarding the projects (e.g. problems, advice, etc.) please comment here.
