App with SCRUM
The mission
In general, the designer uses design methodologies to manage his projects, however, from my project management studies, a question arose: how can time and scope management help in the management of design projects? I used project management methods, such as Scrum, Kanban, PERT, CPM, Gantt chart and burndown evaluating its usability in design projects.
In this study, the content and tools of time management and scope of projects were explored to then apply in an example of a design project, which is an android application interface aimed at aquarium diagnostics for beginner aquarists.
Embracing the adventure
Initially, the necessary activities were listed
For interface development:
With the activities listed, the CPM/PERT chart was prepared to measure the approximate time of execution of the project
A Gantt chart was also prepared for the visualization in another angle of time and the order of development of the project
Regarding the analysis of the results obtained in this stage of the process, it was seen by PERT/CPM that the development can be done in 140 minutes, or 2.3 hours, and activities A and F are the ones that have the most time off, and can be done simultaneously with the activities on the critical path. According to the Gantt chart, there was a reduction in time of 15 minutes, considering that, by logic, activity G can be advanced after the end of activity F, ending after the end of activity E. According to the time analysis by these tools, the development time is virtually* 125 minutes, or 2 hours and 5 minutes. Once the time analysis was finished, the execution of the activities already defined in the project itself was monitored by the kanban table, and the development of the project was followed via a scrum tool adapted for one person.
*Virtually, this time is stipulated, and you can have your sprints divided by days.
Estimating the priority of the product backlog activities, it was seen that there are 5 priority activities, where it can be said that they are key actions for the completion of the project. Therefore, the strategy adopted for the sprints will be to divide these priorities in each cycle and organize the order of activities necessary to complete the key actions. The sprints will be divided into 4 cycles, 3 of which are 30 minutes and one is 35.
In Sprint 1, the strategy was to describe the concepts of the application, sketch the wireframe on paper for experimentation with the interface and refine it digitally by computer. The ultimate goal of this Sprint is to have the wireframe with the interface defined for its visual refinement, but, if there is time, the refinement will be advanced in order to speed up the next Sprint.
Kanban to monitor sprints >>
In sprint 2, the focus was on finishing the storyboard, advancing some elements defined in the construction of the layout, to then proceed with the colorization and addition of the illustrations, and then finalize the presentation from the creation of images. These last steps will be done in the last sprint. The second sprint was set at 45 minutes and completed in 50. Seen by Gantt and PERT/CPM, it was found that the project is still on schedule, and the screen digitization stage has been completed, so the rest of the time was used to continue with colorization and other adjustments.
The found treasure
Sprint 3 was defined in 40 minutes and completed in 35, with the moodboard, or semantic panel, simplified, and the artistic styles pre-defined, the application had its elements properly assembled, with its interface ready. Thus, the application can be delivered for future programming and have functionality.
After the completion of the project, a Gantt chart with real time and a burndown chart were made to compare and analyze the results obtained after the project.
It can be seen in the Gantt chart that the largest activity, the letter D, took half the time. This activity refers to the construction of the app's storyboard, a visual roadmap of the screens and their interactions, being practically the basis of the app itself, so it is natural that this crucial activity takes all this time, leaving the rest of the time for sketching, scoping and organizing visual elements, screen illustrations and presentation. The burndown chart was made to observe the performance of the project. Looking at the ideal line and the actual line with the points based on the deliveries between the sprints made, one can see the delay deviation in the first two sprints, and the end with ease in the last. This shows that even with the delays, justified by the advance of activities, in the end the project was delivered on time.
The study shows how the application of time and scope management tools is of great help with the development of varied projects, even design ones. With management tools, time and its development become virtually tangible, giving a larger and varied view of the activities previously listed with the use of different graphs. During the execution of the project and its analysis, it can be noticed how the planning of time and activities is essential for the healthy development of a project, like a cake recipe, and the team or developer itself is responsible for organizing its revenue from its resources and estimated time to then proceed with the execution. The project, even with delays and changes in scope, was completed five minutes in advance, so the delivery of the interface was made on time, showing how a properly managed and coordinated execution makes a difference in the creation of products.
Regarding the tools, both the Gantt chart and the CPM/PERT helped to see the estimated time to completion from different perspectives, as even the time is managed in different ways, such as the 15-minute difference between the activity network and the Gantt chart. The shortened time in the graph is due to changes in the logical availability of activities, having seen that some could be performed simultaneously with the main activities.
The scrum tool combined with kanban had its participation in the execution of the project, organizing from a battery of work, the sprints, the realization of the activities listed outlined from strategic plans defined by the product backlog, analyzing the priority activities and starting the agile development around them. During execution, kanban helped control the activities to be done in real time.
Finally, the burndown chart visually shows the performance of the development in a simplified way, thus being able to quickly assess the state of the project. In conclusion, despite the differences between working with hypothetical data, as in the case of the initial time measurement, and the actual work itself, where there is the issue of unforeseen events in various ways, just the fact that the project has a development strategy both helps and speeds up its execution performance.