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Krisp´s mockup proposition for a project dash board / #4915

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OK. I’ve created some sketch of what I’d like to see at home. Don’t look at this as my closed proposition because I didn’t take time to deploy effectively particular elements on the screen. I hope it will inspire more talented minds in this…
I’ve uploaded 2 mock ups: 1st for short view and 2nd for rolled down details. Sorry for the quality but I was forced to use MSWord :\

Short view

image003.gif
 

Long view

image004.gif
 

A few things to explain

  1. Baseline and Health status are not present today in streberPM.
  2. Delayed = delayed START or/and END.
  3. Bar colors: grey – opened (in progress and not delayed), red – delayed, white – planned in the future OR dates undetermined, green – completed. Minimum task bar resolution = 1 pixel (i.e. even if there are 990 tasks, whichever color, when occurring, has to have at least 1 pixel width). Task bar color fields has relative width according #colored tasks/#total tasks proportion. Milestones bar has #of colors/#total milestones proportion.
  4. Opened milestone = has at least 1 opened task.
  5. We can add orange color for Milestones not delayed but containing delayed tasks (= threatened milestones).
  6. Changes and Comments counts from last logout (or counts unviewed item).

Other thoughts

  1. Rolled down milestones can contain milestones list with analogical tasks bars (completed tasks, delayed tasks, opened tasks etc.). I could sketch this too.
  2. I'm little confused with placing Project description and Status description but this information is very useful in my daily work.
  3. I'd also like to be able printing out dashboard for status meeting or Sponsor purposes. This is why I think dashboard should have rolling possibility (example at long view).


Also see


3 Comments

pixtur

May 1, 2007
version 3
Some comments
Thanks for the sketch. I know that doing a sketch is far more difficult than just talking about features. But believe me: it was worth the effort because it makes your suggestions much clearer. Don't be afraid about colors and layout stuff. There are lot more people who can take care of those things...

General notes

  1. I think this is way too much information for a general user. At least of a projects overview (mind the plural). We are talking of several projects here. Probably 20 or 30! Imagine several pages long list.
  1. I would suggest to implement a similar overview for one project for printout. We could then implement a new feature "view details of selected projects" which would assemble all the details on a single html page for printing. (This would also be useful for documentation).

Some comments

  1. I like the coloring of the task bars
  2. Doing an graphical overview of the milestones is easy, but I personally doubt that this would have any benefit in daily life. I think this is like arguing about religion here. :) Everybody wants it different.
  3. Closed Milestones are just that: "Closed". It doesn't matter if there are any open tasks it there. If someone decides to close it, well. No problem. Actually in my daily work this happens quiet often, because some tasks are just not done. There are simply "ignored".
  4. Maybe we should not mess up "Status" and "Changes" of a project. I think both things are used in pretty different situations. If you discuss with upper management about project status, you only want status on you printout. Not changes or comments. Separating those tasks would simplify the interface.


Some questions

  1. Do you really need the project description? I mean... Really?
  2. Who writes your Status description?
  3. What is baseline meant for? For the first moment I would say that, if I don't understand it instantly, it is probably a too complex feature for streber: "keep it simple..."






krisp

May 5, 2007
version 7
Reply to Some comments
At first thanx a lot for your effort commenting my scribble - I have high regards for your work. I'll try to clear my point:

General notes

Ad.1.
I think this is way too much information for a general user. At least of a projects overview (mind the plural).

from pixtur


So, I think we can't say about general user, because no project has general role. Current Streber has at least 4 roles (and at least 1 is missing in my case) and it's obvious that every role needs different information.

a) (role not defined but admin like) I'm Manager of PMs and I'm managing new product development projects portfolio so I need quick view into all projects, proposed in my mock-up. I have also my executives who needs only milestones status.
b) PM needs analogical view in his projects and extra operational infos (longform like).
c) Team member (Developer, Artist, Tester) don't cares about everything but his tasks.
d) Client is a little confusing role, because either executive sponsor or internal client can play that role. Depending who is this, he will need some combination of above.

My point is that home should provide that much information, how much the role needs. I think that deploying extra option (tab) for short change view isn't good idea - this can be combined in present Overall history as a filter or option view (subtab task update alike). IMHO home should provide extra information as proposed (we don't have yet 1 view in project(s)).

We are talking of several projects here. Probably 20 or 30! Imagine several pages long list.

from pixtur


So what? If portfolio(s) has so much projects, it does only mean that they are important and also that life is hard :)

Ad.2.
Totally agree.

Some comments

Ad.1.
I like the coloring of the task bars

from pixtur


I heard that 80% information brain gets from pictures. See Toyota Way - speak through the picture on max A3 paper.

Ad.2.
Doing an graphical overview of the milestones is easy, but I personally doubt that this would have any benefit in daily life...

from pixtur


See previous.

Ad.3.
Totally agree.

Ad.4.
Maybe we should not mess up "Status" and "Changes" of a project. I think both things are used in pretty different situations. If you discuss with upper management about project status, you only want status on you printout. Not changes or comments. Separating those tasks would simplify the interface.

from pixtur


I sketched out all I need in web interface. Printout really wouldn't had to have "Changes". This is question of determining details in further work on printout.

Some questions

: 1. Do you really need the project description? I mean... Really?
: Not always of course, that's why it should be "ajaxed".

: 2. Who writes your Status description?
: My PMs do this for me and executives.

: 3. What is baseline meant for? For the first moment I would say that, if I don't understand it instantly, it is probably a too complex feature for streber: "keep it simple..."
: Baseline is fundamental for project existance. If there is no baseline there in no project but process. I see baseline as a general term for collection of dates of planned events (generally milestones) agreed with the sponsor (or client). Maybe my mock-up do not show this intention but baseline end of a project I defined as a date of the last milestone (generally project closeout). The truth is different role seeing this end differently (project ends on different stages for certain role), therefore complicates the thing. BTW. Simplicity is relative (depending on user) and sometimes very hard to obtain (from IT point of view) :) Saying "Simple" I'd rather think "Usable".

pixtur

May 7, 2007
Antwort auf Reply to Some comments
So maybe "Baseline" is somethink like

planned start end != actual start end ?

If so, how is the actual start end computed?

Did you read discussing tasks & time ? I collected some ideas there that also need some feedback.

 
 

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