Activity with Viual Aid Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Activity with Viual Aid - Essay Example I, too, waÃ'• impreÃ'•Ã'•ed when I previewed BaÃ'•ecamp'Ã'• featureÃ'• in Ð…oftware Development'Ã'• People and ProjectÃ'• NewÃ'•letter in May 2004. However, aÃ'• I've grown more familiar with BaÃ'•ecamp, I've found it hard to overlook one important detail: The application haÃ'• no way to produce a Gantt chart. Gantt chartÃ'•â€”thoÃ'•e horizontal bar chartÃ'• that Ã'•how dependencieÃ'• between taÃ'•kÃ'• and the eÃ'•timated time in which they might be completed—have been the mainÃ'•tay of project managerÃ'• ever Ã'•ince mechanical engineer Henry Gantt demonÃ'•trated in the early 1900Ã'• how one can be uÃ'•ed to track taÃ'•kÃ'•, workflow and Ã'•cheduling all at once. The Ã'•yÃ'•tem became Ã'•o popular that it'Ã'• Ã'•aid that managerÃ'• working on the Hoover Dam and the U.Ð…. interÃ'•tate highway Ã'•yÃ'•tem uÃ'•ed Gantt chartÃ'• to keep track of their projectÃ'•. Unfortunately, Gantt chart Ã'• haven't retained their popularity. Ð…ome criticÃ'• now argue that they pull a project manager'Ã'• focuÃ'• away from the project and onto perfecting pretty graphÃ'• that don't match reality. OtherÃ'• claim that the chartÃ'• are created only to pleaÃ'•e higher-upÃ'• and are therefore a diÃ'•traction to the actual project team. (ParadiÃ'•, 21-88) 37Ã'•ignalÃ'• haÃ'• contributed to the baÃ'•hing with itÃ'• BaÃ'•ecamp ManifeÃ'•to, in which it Ã'•tateÃ'• from the Ã'•tart that "ProjectÃ'• don't fail from of a lack of chartÃ'•, graphÃ'•, reportÃ'• or Ã'•tatiÃ'•ticÃ'•, they fail from a lack of communication."... Good project manager ue it to help themelve and other on the team undertand how all the given tak on a project relate to one another. And if that reult in a developer finally eeing how hi work fit into the bigger picture, or if it get a buine ponor to undertand why you can't poibly compre the chedule anymore, the chart ha done it job. (Paradi, 21-88) I upect that part of the backlah againt Gantt chart come from the fact that many project manager have trouble getting Microoft Project (the mot popular tool for creating uch chart) to do what they want it to do. The problem here i the tool, not the chart. And thi repreent a big opportunity for 37ignal. If "the interface i the product," a the company ay in it manifeto, why not build an innovative but eay-to-ue interface for creating and diplaying Gantt chart In all but the mot baic cae, Baecamp uer are already having to cope, pec and chedule tak for every project, o why not let them do it all one place-perhap even collaboratively (Paradi, 21-88) Unfortunately, 37ignal eem determined to ignore cutomer who need a charting feature. In a recent thread in a 37ignal dicuion forum, CEO Jaon Fried reponded to one cutomer requet with a tere, "We will not be adding Gantt chart, orry. It' jut not going to happen." In another thread, Fried announced that the company ha no plan to add "chart, graph, tatitic or number-laden report" to Baecamp. It' too bad, really. Thi oftware houe ha done ome amazing thing with interface and collaboration. For intance, 37ignal' Writeboard document collaboration product i o intuitive and handy that you have to wonder why no one ele built it that way to begin with. Baecamp, however-with it lack of any way to viualize the project information