Week 2 Step 2

 Even though the main reason is doing assignments, I admit there are lots of new and useful knowledge I learn in week 1 in CST 300. When writing this week's blog, it is not just an assignment, but my thoughts and my heart are put into it.

Part 1 - Review and Reflect Learning Strategy

Three items I’m good at: crafting a flexible schedule, preparing outline for writing, reciting and reviewing after reading. Since I want to study effectively and extract the most from studying materials, I focus heavily on techniques that help me achieve those goals. I like preparing ahead so my workflow can be smoothly, but ready to revise and adapt to ever changing conditions. While studying new materials, I want to make sure that I understand them to the core. Therefore, I keep reviewing and revising, combining with practicing problems, until I fully acknowledge and answer all my questions.

Three areas I’m weak in: outlining textbooks, taking notes, and staying disciplined. Opposite with my schedule, I can be distracted. Sometimes my mind wanders around, or a post on social media, a video on You Tube can catch my attention and drag me away from studying. Similarly, opposite to how I aim to fully absorb the material, my note-taking skill is not sharp. Many times, I have found my notes either too much to read or too little to be useful. Therefore, I’m working on taking and revising better notes, while keeping myself focused on studying.

Part 2 - Preview Time Management Skills

Part 3 - Project Management Basics

Project management: a project is a plan trying to create a unique service or product. Three main characteristics of a project are: time (start date / end date), goal, cost. A business’s board of directors may priority and execute a project due to many reasons. Project manager is then responsible for utilizing resources and complete the project on time. Project manager uses business knowledge, people and workflow management skills, leadership skills to ensure the project is completed successfully. In the 20th century, Henry Gantt invented a chart to track and plan for project management. In the 1960s, project management associations and institute are established, laying a foundation for 21st century complex projects. Project management office manages and coordinates the plan while project team executes the work. Those who are affected and can affect the project are known as stakeholders. Multiple projects create a program, while multiple projects and programs create a portfolio for corporation or company.

Work breakdown structure: the process of breaking down a project into smaller deliverables to carry out tasks for future planning. A project can be divided into: workstream - major deliverables – sub-deliverables. Work breakdown structure can be presented with hierarchy list, tree diagram, WBS dictionary. Each part of work breakdown structure should be cleared and not repeat itself.

Gantt Chart: Karol Adamiecki invented Harmonograph but Henry Gantt’s chart was recognized. The chart, also known as bar chart, has time on the horizontal axis and tasks on the vertical axis. A task is represented by a bar with its length as duration, plus symbols representing milestones. A key / legend is also recommended so the chart is easier to understand.

Part 4 - Previous Capstones

The first project that caught my attention was Identify Brain Tumors using Computer Vision by Nation AI – Campus. The idea of this project is quite similar to how AI works. Using existing data to establish a guideline for algorithms, so that the system can detect through input image. A great idea of this project is to let the output number IOU and Dice higher. Even though it affects the accuracy, but it helps detect brain tumor sooner.

The second project is A Bird’s Song, an educational video game. It is incredible to see an undergraduate team challenge themselves with new experiences that they never tried before. Immediately, I can tell this project can be improved, such as adding some facts, knowledge when player reach certain conditions to learn about what happened to the species. The rest of the video game, since the team are inexperienced game developers, reached expectations, and that is more than enough.

The third project is also a video game, Out of Mana, made by Nathan Simpson. Opposite with A Bird’s Song, Out of Mana is a single-person project and inspired by other video games. I understand that Simpson was challenging himself to work alone, under stressful circumstances. However, game developers should not work alone but gather resources one way or another. With that strategy, Simpson could improve his project furthermore, and had a chance add something unique to make Out of Mana stands out more compared to other similar games. 

Part 5 - 2nd Week 

The second week at CSUMB was a massive experience for me when I learned much useful knowledge. Previously, I knew that an outline can be helpful with writing research papers. However, this week was when I fully acknowledged that. The transition between the fully prepared outline to a rough draft was smooth and felt less overwhelming than when I was writing a paper in high school. Moreover, the second week’s materials focus on planning and teamwork. Some of them I already learned before, but there is new knowledge to acquire. For example, the Gantt Chart is an interesting and useful tip for me to improve my planning skill furthermore. Even though I might never be a team leader or project manager in my career, those skills are essential for personal use as well.

Plus, this week reminds me of when I started crafting and following my schedule strictly for the first time. Back then, I made sure to use every hour, every day, and it helped me achieve a lot in my studies, my part-time job, my hobby while I still had time to take care of myself. But I lost track and felt like I even lost myself. I could not feel my fire burn as strongly as I used to have back then. However, I will take this chance to craft and follow my schedule, stay disciplined and ignite my fire in me one more time.