Online project environment: solution. Part 1

Introduction

The previous article described the problem of the lack of a favorable online environment for the implementation of projects in various fields of human activity (ecology, science, IT, business, education, etc.). In this article I want to offer one of the solutions for creating such an environment.

What is an online project environment?

Online project environment is an information system that covers all phases of the project process and allows you to effectively implement projects in various areas of human activity through the Internet.
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The basic idea is to create such a system, where any person regardless of his level of knowledge and experience in the implementation of projects, the availability of the necessary resources and the team will be able to implement a project in different areas of human activity, provided that his project solves a real problem .

This article will describe the first phase of the design process - the Idea phase.

Part 1. The phase of the idea - we bring the idea to the concept.

Unfortunately, this phase is not considered by many people as part of the project process. Usually from the author of the project requires a ready-made concept. But the path from concept to concept is not so simple and requires a certain approach. Below I have tried to present one of the options for this approach:

It all starts with the idea

Sometimes you sit in the toilet , go down the street, watch a movie and then suddenly a mega-super idea illuminates you from the depths of consciousness. At first, an idea is just a plan - something amorphous, vague, indefinite. The idea can be expressed in one sentence, paragraph, page. It can be a text, a picture, an intellectual map. So the plan is the first stage of the phase of the idea, which consists in the competent formulation and description of the conceived in free form.

Check the viability plan

In order not to be in a situation where your mega-super idea will be brilliant only for you and a couple of friends in the ward, and for the rest it will be utter nonsense, you need to check the original idea for viability. How to do it? You need to share your plan with the rest of the world: family, friends, the Internet community, etc. And the more people will be involved in this process, the more reviews you will receive, the more chances that an idea will be viable in the process of its development and implementation.

Brainstorming

There are many ways to generate ideas and solutions: sit down to smoke parsley, google on tooshchak, stand on your head, but one of the most effective is a brainstorming method . The author of the idea collects a group of people who are somehow connected with the theme of the idea (this is a very desirable criterion), designates brainstorming topics, and the team searches for solutions for each problem (decision generation). After that, it remains only to analyze the solutions obtained and select the best of them.

We transform the idea into a concept

Some believe that the idea in its pure form has some material value. Therefore, they are very worried that their idea can brazenly steal enterprising nadmozgi. But this one is a very big misconception . Ideas are in the air. If you have a brilliant idea, it means that another 10-100 people in this world are already running around with this idea. Collective unconscious , in one word. But the concept, as a logical stage in the development of an idea, is a real value, because it means that the author of the idea studied the subject area, the problematic, found effective ways to implement the idea, etc.

The concept itself is a document with a specific structure, which depends on the characteristics of the idea (scope, scale, complexity, etc.). But at the same time, it is possible to single out some general structure peculiar to all concepts:

• Problem - a description of the problem that will be solved when the idea is successfully implemented.
• The solution is a description of the actual solution to this problem.
• The keys to success are the "highlights" of the idea.
• Environment - a description of all the subjects that may be affected by the implementation of the idea (target audience, competitors, the state, etc.).

Possible implementation

Now imagine that the scheme described above will be implemented on the Internet. How much could this increase the quality of the proposed ideas (and subsequently concepts) and how would this help avoid creating all sorts of duplicate and useless startups? One of the possible implementations can be a site where any user can publish his idea and bring it to the concept with the help of special functionality and community support. In short, this algorithm looks like a sequence of three stages:

Check

The author publishes his idea in a free form before the community, which for a certain time checks it for adequacy and viability, that is, decides whether its further implementation makes sense.

Functional: commenting, rating, polls.
The criterion for the transition to the next stage: the attitude of those who supported the idea to the total number of those who voted is over 50%.

Brainstorm

The author splits his idea into components (problems), and the community offers a solution to these problems. Each decision is evaluated by the “like / dislike” criterion and commented.

Functional: publication of problems and solutions to them, evaluation, commenting + mind map.
The criterion of transition to the next stage: the presence of at least one problem and a solution to it.

Concept

At this stage, the author systematizes the data obtained at the previous stages and gives it in the form of a finished concept. The concept in this case is a wiki document with specific fields depending on the application. The author of the idea can invite like-minded people to collaborate on the document. After the concept is ready, it will be submitted to the community court, which evaluates the idea according to different criteria.

Functional: creating a wiki document, teamwork on a document, evaluation, commenting, polls.
Criterion for the transition to the next phase (project): the ratio of those who supported the concept to the total number of voters exceeding 50%.

General scheme

It may seem that this scheme is too complicated (well, certainly not more difficult than this scheme ), overloaded and such a service will be of interest only to a handful of techies. It all depends on the correct implementation of the plan - an ergonomic interface and a competent training system are needed, which will help to adapt the system to different levels of users.
If anyone is interested in learning more about the system, you can read the following document in google docs: a brief description of the system (google docs).

Conclusion

So, in this article you got acquainted with one of the options for implementing the first phase of the project process - the Idea phase, where by collective efforts any idea is brought to the concept level. And as you know, the concept is the core of the future project, so it is very important to make the maximum number of mistakes at this phase and find solutions for them, so that during the implementation phase you should not face a situation when you need to rethink the whole concept again. The next article will describe the next phase of the project process - the Project phase, when the author of the concept creates a model, assembles a team and develops a strategy for action.
So, comment, criticize, offer your solutions, because, after all, this environment is created for us and you and its effectiveness depends on us.

ZY In the near future, work will begin on the implementation of the described scheme. But this requires specialists, in particular, a UI designer and PHP programmers. Therefore, if you are interested - write to support@projectbook.me