Activity with Viual Aid - Essay Example

Activity with Viual Aid Activity with Viual Aid ince it unveiling in early 2004, Baecamp, the hoted project management application from 37ignal, ha received a lot of kudo. Blogger have praied it clean interface, major newpaper have extolled it focu on collaboration and product reviewer have applauded it low price. I, too, wa impreed when I previewed Baecamp' feature in oftware Development' People and Project Newletter in May 2004. However, a I've grown more familiar with Baecamp, I've found it hard to overlook one important detail: The application ha no way to produce a Gantt chart. Gantt chart-thoe horizontal bar chart that how dependencie between tak and the etimated time in which they might be completed-have been the maintay of project manager ever ince mechanical engineer Henry Gantt demontrated in the early 1900 how one can be ued to track tak, workflow and cheduling all at once. The ytem became o popular that it' aid that manager working on the Hoover Dam and the U.. intertate highway ytem ued Gantt chart to keep track of their project. Unfortunately, Gantt chart haven't retained their popularity. ome critic now argue that they pull a project manager' focu away from the project and onto perfecting pretty graph that don't match reality. Other claim that the chart are created only to pleae higher-up and are therefore a ditraction to the actual project team. (Paradi, 21-88) 37ignal ha contributed to the bahing with it Baecamp Manifeto, in which it tate from the tart that "Project don't fail from of a lack of chart, graph, report or tatitic, they fail from a lack of communication." Later, the manifeto add, "Real-world project don't run like an organized, Gantt-charted project plan." While it' true that actual project miletone don't alway happen exactly when they've been cheduled on Gantt chart, the argument that the chart are therefore uele i hortighted. After all, the chart itelf i not reponible for driving the project chedule-it' jut a window into a erie of tak, dependencie and deadline created by the project manager. If the Gantt chart i conitently out of alignment with the reality of a project, the project chedule itelf need to be reexamined or the chart i not being built with reliable data. To put it another way, the Gantt chart-or any chart, for that matter-i a communication tool. Good project manager ue it to help themelve and other on the team undertand how all the given tak on a project relate to one another. And if that reult in a developer finally eeing how hi work fit into the bigger picture, or if it get a buine ponor to undertand why you can't poibly compre the chedule anymore, the chart ha done it job. (Paradi, 21-88) I upect that part of the backlah againt Gantt chart come from the fact that many project manager have trouble getting Microoft Project (the mot popular tool for creating uch chart) to do what they want it to do. The problem here i the tool, not the chart. And thi repreent a big opportunity for 37ignal. If "the interface i the product," a the company ay in it manifeto, why not build an innovative but eay-to-ue interface for creating and diplaying Gantt chart In all but the mot baic cae, Baecamp uer are already having to cope, pec and chedule tak for every project, o why not let them do it all one place-perhap even collaboratively (Paradi, 21-88) Unfortunately, 37ignal eem determined to ignore cutomer who need a charting feature. In a recent thread in a 37ignal dicuion forum, CEO Jaon Fried reponded to one cutomer requet with a tere, "We will not be adding Gantt chart, orry. It' jut not going to happen." In another thread, Fried announced that the company ha no plan to add "chart, graph, tatitic or number-laden report" to Baecamp. It' too bad, really. Thi oftware houe ha done ome amazing thing with interface and collaboration. For intance, 37ignal' Writeboard document collaboration product i o intuitive and handy that you have to wonder why no one ele built it that way to begin with. Baecamp, however-with it lack of any way to viualize the project information that' entered into it other than with text on colored background-i only half complete. Project manager who turn to it becaue they're fed up with Microoft Project or becaue it give them a reaon not to have to examine why their Gantt chart aren't ever accurate aren't doing themelve or their project any favor. (Paradi, 21-88) Your Turn When we aked how you felt about Gantt chart, we dicovered we'd really hit a nerve. Who knew that the lowly Gantt chart could tir up uch a fu In our November 2004 People & Project Newletter-which i mailed to nearly 104,000 ubcriber-we aked our reader if they found Gantt chart ueful or not. Whether friend or foe, nearly 50 percent of thoe polled couldn't reit telling u more. Out of 248 repondent, 118 took the time to tell u what they think about Baecamp, Gantt chart and that paragon of PM tool, M Project. Here are ome repreentative comment: (Paradi, 21-88) "Microoft Project i too hard to ue, Gantt chart are often miued, and Baecamp hould have them. If the 37ignal folk are o darn innovative and o oppoed to Gantt chart, perhap they could create a better way to viualize tak, workflow and chedule at the ame time." "If a Gantt chart i 'jut a pretty graph that doen't match reality,' then it' the fault of poor data. Uing thi argument, you could ay that Microoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint hould never be ued if it were ever ued to convey incorrect information. ound to me like the 37ignal people have adopted a radical viewpoint to help ell their product. Unfortunately, thi will back them into a corner." A Wate of Paper "I once pent three day perfecting a Gantt chart. Unfortunately, by the time the chart wa complete, the project had hifted coure. The chart wa beautiful, even if it wa uele. That wa my firt and lat Gantt." "Gantt chart are louy for leading-edge technology project. Manager alway ak for 'crytal ball' etimate, and thi artificial timeline place undue tre on the development team. If a company i committed to developing in an emerging technology, it hould give it development team the time and reource to fully undertand and poibly prototype the technology to change tranform it from 'new' to 'exiting.' Then, and only then, hould they 'play' with Gantt chart." "Maybe incorrect uage or tool have caued the Gantt chart' decline, but that fact that it hail from a markedly different dicipline probably contributed more. Gantt chart naturally lend themelve to big, up-front planning (BUFP). I'd rather do away with them altogether and move to a more adaptive framework. oftware in't predictive and repeatable; every project i different, with a combination of new deliverable, new taff, new client, new uer and o on. My worry i that a oon a you tart uing Gantt chart, people demand more and more detail until you're back to micro-planning, pending your time chaing what' actually happening in the real world." (Paradi, 21-88) Bet Thing ince the Wheel "We live in a viual age-to return to mind-numbing lit of activitie without utilizing graphical view i like breaking out the floorboard of your car to ue your leg to propel the vehicle (apologie to the Flinttone!). Let' not hamper ourelve with peronal ideologie. If omeone doen't want to ue chart, o be it, but let the 99.9 percent of u who know their value ue them." Work Cited Paradi, Jame G., and Muriel L. Zimmerman. The MIT Guide to cience and Engineering Communication. Cambridge: The MIT Pre, 2006. Read More