Estimating Costs in ID Projects

With experiece comes knowledge. It is difficult to know how long something will take if you've never done it before. The following article gives some pointers as to how to estiamte the cost or time frame of a project. There are three main parts of a plan; effort, duration, and cost. The article focuses on internal and external labor costs and duration, and non-labor costs.

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/estimate-project-costs-after-you-have-estimated-effort-and-duration/6080089

The following website has internal links explaining activity duration, activity resource estimating process, parametric estimating, cost estimating and analogous estimating:

http://project-management-knowledge.com/definitions/a/activity-duration-estimating/

Communicating Effectively

We communicate in many different ways due to technology. Often, the interpretation of a message changes based on what you are using to deliver it. For example, when we send a message via text, it might be read differently than if it were through voice. Talking on the phone is different than face to-face. And, even in video conferencing, or Skype, you can't always get the full effect of the message like you can when you are in the same room as someone. So, since we can't always go up to someone face to-face every time we want to send a message, we must try to communicate as effectively as we can through text and/or voice.
When we use our voice, we can add tone to the message, which helps. When I critiqued the link showing three different ways to send a message, I noticed the tone was rather harsh or demanding in the email. If that was the message the woman wanted to send, then it was effective. In all three examples, she seemed to be very serious. However, the tone does change from email to voice and from voice to in person. When simply reading a message, you lose the personal touch that is natural when speaking face to face. Also, when you are face to face, there can be dialogue. You can ask a question and get an immediate answer. If I were the woman in this example, I would change the way I approached the issue for each scenario. In an email and a voicemail, you have to say everything at once and then wait for a response. In person, you can greet the person, he greets you back, you can ask a question and get an immediate response. For some people, that is easier, for others it is hard. Some people would rather have the impersonal scenario so they can get their point across without being interrupted or lose their focus in the conversation.
The form of communication was most effective in the voicemail. The email seemed harsh and the face to face "conversation" was one sided. The woman simply stated what she would have in an email. She probably wouldn't get an answer right away. She didn't even ask a question and wait for a response. The voicemail made it clear she needs the information and to please let her know. In other words, call her back or send the report right now. The voicemail also had a good tone.
Dr. Stolovitch explains how communicating with project members is best done with all members present. A face to-face meeting is probably best, but video conferencing or on the telephone can be very effective as well.

http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6145/03/mm/aoc/index.html

Stolovitch, H. (2012) Communicating with Stakeholders. Laureate Education, Inc.

Mural Project: Post-Mortem Analysis

When painting a mural for someone, it is usually a simple transaction with few people involved. However, in the following instance, communication was lacking and the project was not a success. I was commissioned to paint a mural on an outside wall of the Japanese restaurant. The owner, however, speaks Korean only, so I was communicating with the manager who spoke Korean and English. Not only was there a language barrier, but the cultural barrier was unpredictable since I had not worked with Korean people in a business sense. Things that are a given or assumed, or just ways of thinking are so different, that nothing was ever agreed upon. Have a middle man was not helpful either. I would consider myself the project manager with one other person working with me on the mural. However, the manager was involved in decision making as well as the owner and his wife. When it was all said and done, the wife was the real decision maker, who I never spoke to. So, no effective communication was happening. As the project manager, I needed to make ALL agreements clear on paper. Writing a statement of work would have been helpful instead of just writing up a proposal and a bill.