MissYeh

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The meeting last week (Tuesday) was a good one. Michele joined us as she was interested in the subject as well. The client was well and happy to give us the freedom to analyse certain aspects and to think of concepts ourselves. This is a big relief since we can stick to this assignment and not have to be afraid of being not even slightly creative.

…skip..skip ~1 week…

Selecting our target group

Our target group segmentation can exist of:

(I’m sorry, I accidentally made this pie in Dutch. I am too lazy to change to EN right now)

Initially the target groups are the children and their parents, this is the client request. Laurens en Marlies thought it might be the remedial teachers that should be the target group instead of the parents. This sounds quite logical as well and it is one of the ways to infiltrate :p. While I did have my doubts, I still was interested to find out. I doubted because the remedial teachers, like teachers, are part of a primary school and it is a known fact: it is not easy to break through (a part of) a school system with new methods. Primary school is quite conservative when it comes to that, while at the same time they try to stay current with these days technology.

Anyway, Laurens and I phoned a few primary schools to make an appointment and ask the kids and remedial teachers what we need to know. But we had no luck. We figured, actually visiting schools could be more effective but that didn’t had any positive effect either. A receptionist even mentioned most teachers are very very busy, probably too busy. It would be better to email as it is a bit less obtrusive. Slightly disappointed we went back to school for a chat with our mentor.

Mentor chat

In this chat few things came clear: clearly define your plan . In view of the fact that we only have 20 weeks (18 right now) to deliver a working prototype that should give an idea of the actual product. If the client is enthusiastic, it will be fully produced by a development team. After the final product is finished developing it is time for Marketing. We have to be realistic and define what exactly we can deliver the client. A thoroughly analyses of the remedial teachers or the parents might not even be valuable for now…why?

The production process

The production process (I just call it this, I don’t know any other word for it), in short, to reach the desired outcome (sell the published software). We play an important part in the bold red steps.

Analyse > Concept > Prototype > Development > Publish > Marketing > Sale

To be able to develop an application and to market it, the prototype is essential! Hence, the goal we have to keep in mind with every topic, is the prototype. The ones learning from and able to work with the application are important for now. Therefore, our current focus target group are children ONLY!

Within the marketing, the focus target group changes. Our focus target group then will be the parents, teachers, remdial teachers, school boards etc etc, anyone who purchases the application or is in control of the final decision, but not the children.

The other segments?

My theory behind this is: No matter what product you have, how useless/useful, functional it is or even how bad it might even be. (I am not claiming that ours will be, just trying to make a point). Marketing techniques play a major role and are key to successful sales. There is always a way to market our product and to reach the paying group of our target group segments. Therefore it is not in our current interest to think about the parents etc. It is in our interest to think about the children and the prototype. Nothing more, nothing less!

Oh, of course we should mention little info about the other segments. We just need not spend lots of time mentioning them.

Useful vs. useless discussion

We had a discussion the day after the mentor chat, about this, defining the focus target group and what we need and do not need to know. Apparently I don’t listening to what others were saying, they don’t listen to what I say or we all don’t listen to each other since some pointed out it was a useless discussion. If that is what is was to them, then lucky me, it was only useful for me. What I learned from all this, is that I need to be more realistic with the time and the skills we have when defining the project goals. To try to look at the important issues that need to be taken care of and not be afraid to rule things out. Not ruling things out and thus wanting to do way to much in short time and with little skills, for the sake of wanting it to have it a perfect is not the answer to reach the goal. The perfect things, what we actually do want, is just not doable for us right now.

Reflection
I feel that either I am being misinterpreted or I just don’t know how to be persuasive. I need to work on that. A more extended reflection an other time…

From now…

From now there will be short analyses for the other segments and other subjects. The analyses phase will be shortened with 2 weeks! We must focus and be determined! ..and oh, I need to remind myself from time to time that I am the project manager. It is fun to be one, but it does take perseverance. I already begin to discover it is easy to get fatigue or just unconsciously forget that I am wearing the managers hat from time to time. It is not something I am everyday, it does not yet feel natural to be a manager kind of type in the real world. I also definitely think I need to be able to practise as manager more often to be a better one. Hopefully in the next minor I may be the project manager again, even if I fail in this minor. Failing would even make me want to be a better one next time.

Things not to forget:

- what is our definition of a prototype and what exactly do we deliver the client?

- check with the client if our version of the story matches his.

- tell the client what we can deliver the at the end of our project and check if he agrees. If not, what does he want and are we able too?

MissYeh NHL CMD