Musings on Projects

I've been giving a lot of thought to potential processes I could use as the core of my final project for class. I definitely appreciated Jun's comment about needing to clearly identify the problem before considering technology as the solution. There have been more instances than I can count where whiz-kid college students (our member base) have volunteered in our office doing a function that they decided they could computerize for us. In some instances, the projects have been spectacular failures, while others were well-executed successes. I have learned that the key ingredient to a successful process has been a programmer who truly listens to the needs of the customer. Where projects have failed, the programmer has made critically flawed assumptions about the business needs that drive the process. They thought that what they saw on the surface was all there was to it. Where projects have succeeded, the programmer has been willing to commit significant lead-time into asking questions about the underlying processes.

As Jun was describing the project management steps in class last week, I was relieved to learn that I generally perform those steps when working on a project, even though I've never really thought of the process in such a systematic way before. I've just been winging it, but in a way that was common sense to me -- think things through, create something meaningful, "sell it" to the decision-makers, and implement it successfully.

So, how does this affect my thinking about my project? I'm hoping to generate a project concept that will improve a business process I already perform on the job. As I've mentioned previously (probably several times at this point), my organization's HR functions are not supported by HRIS. This means I have many business processes that could benefit from some IT solutions. I have a couple of ideas in mind currently: systematizing our current employee/volunteer application process; integrating record-keeping related to wages & bonuses; or creating a wiki-type HR resource for employees. Improving any one of these processes will not only save me time, but will also make information more accessible to all employees.