Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources

       This week we were tasked with finding resources online that can be used to help with the planning and scheduling of projects that are related to the Instructional Design (ID).

Before I present that, I want to answer the following question:

What do you find the most challenging about estimating activity durations and resource costs?

       The most challenging part is when you don’t know from your own personal experience what it takes to perform a task and you have to rely 100% on the expertise of your Subject Matter Experts (SME) or Project Team members. Additionally, when a Project Manger (PM) is new to a company or team, it may be difficult for them to trust what their SMEs are telling them. I have been in that situation a few times and have learned to be very careful and very diligent yet polite and research my SMEs and project team member thoroughly. I don't like being left in a situation where my SME or other team member is incompetent or procrastinates. However, the time it takes to research, create schedules and coordinate meetings in the planning phase of a project is a time killer. Achong (n.d) state that one must budget time and cost for administrative task because they are very time consuming and often overlooked (Achong & Budrovich, n.d). Budrovich (n.d.) states that often one must sacrifice in project management and some tradeoffs are required (Achong & Budrovich, n.d). This could be due to an incompetent SME, someone leaving the company or team, an unexpected illness or death. When searching for that trade off, Budrovich (n.d.) states that one should never sacrifice the time line or quality. He suggests always to request a budget increase and possibly cut back on the scope of the project (Achong & Budrovich, n.d). Stolovich (n.d) recommends finding resources in alternative locations such as interns, local professional associations or even coworkers in related departments. (Stolovich, n.d.).

Onto the subject for this week

       To assist in estimating costs, effort and activity durations associated with projects, and particularly ID projects, it is always helpful to have additional tools at your disposal. Below are two sites I found helpful:

Amy's Blog - EstimatingCosts and Allocating Resources

SonJan - EstimatingCosts and Allocating Resource

Amy's Blog - Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources

       This is a Blog that is updated fairly often. The Blog is hosted by wordpress and has an attractive theme. It is not loud or noisy and the writing is professional. The project management information was great. I like the way the author incorporated hyperlinks into her comments and suggestions. The hyperlinks were in fact the most helpful thing I found on the Blog as there were several great ones such as Brighthub and a link to a Project Management Budget.

SonJan - Estimating Costs and Allocating Resource

       This is another Blog that is very well written and professional looking. The information contained in it is concise but chocked full of content. The Blogger uses proper source citation and embedded several graphics to help get her ideas and suggestions across. The most helpful part of this Blog were the graphics associated with the ADDIE process and how those apply to the Project Management estimations, schedule and budget setting.

Resources

Achong, T. & Budrovich, V. (n.d.) Practitioner Voices: Resource Challenges (Video Program). Laureate Education, Inc.

Amy's Blog - Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources. (2011). Retrieved from http://amysnews.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/estimating-costs-and-allocating-resources/

SonJan - Estimating Costs and Allocating Resource. (2009). Retrieved from http://sonjanmcp.blogspot.com/2011/10/estimating-costs-and-allocating.html

Stolovich, H. (n.d.) Project Management Concerns: Locating Resources (Video Program). Laureate Education, Inc.