- Project Context: Vector DB Research Project (Dr. Mussman)
- Initiative Manager: Dylan Bona
- dbona3@gatech.edu
- Attend project bi-weekly team meetings
- Collect and assess weekly research reports from project members for Operations Tracker Updates
- Review Dr. Mussman's ongoing meeting agenda document for alignment with Tracker Updates
- Message project members for status updates as needed
- Follow up with Dr. Mussman and team project channel for any operations suggestions
I would say that my role as the project manager for the Vector DB project under Dr. Mussman has been primarily informative and supportive. It has been informative thus far in creating avenues of visibility for team members to view all weekly report submissions as well as the meeting agenda document that Dr. Mussman maintains and uses to guide the bi-weelkly meetings. Both of these are integrated into the project slack channel through the "Weekly Project Reports" and "Operations" folder tabs I have added. My role has been supportive by offering my time and capability to the team with operations or organization, and by sending reminders to provide status updates and submission of weekly reports. However, I think it is important to note that the team operates at a good rhythm and has not needed much operational overhaul to their day to day processes.
As I mentioned before, the team operates at a good cadence; they work diligently on their individual tasks for the weeks(s), collaborating when necessary and are very vocal amongst one another and with Dr. Mussman during the bi-weekly meetings. There has not been a need for much intervention from the project manager side, or even suggestions for improvements organizationally. Some challenges I have noted are that some of the researchers seemingly work at different levels of capacity. The team lead and another researcher submit their weekly reports for the most part, while another researcher lacks in submissions but still contributes progress with each bi-weekly update. Another researcher had to take a leave of absence but has returned recently, and so I will need to take some initative to catch him up to the operational expectations. In terms of success, there has not been any major drawbacks to significant progress of the project as a whole - the management method of being "a fly on the wall" seems to benefit this group although the sense of urgency for publication this semester still seems undetermined.
How are you collaborating with stakeholders to ensure your role is supporting and motivating the group?
I have directly messaged and spoken with Dr. Mussman on a few occasions, asking about the expectations for the project group, and inquiring if he would like any assistance and revision to his process of taking the meeting notes every two weeks. Per his feedback, he is satisfied with how things are running and the expectation for publication is still undecided, although I can follow up with more motivation to find out his true desire for the group this semester or if the push for urgency is not necessary. I have also messaged the researchers a few times asking for suggestions or feedback organizationally or opertionally, but again it seems like the team is satisfied with the current state of things.
I have not received much feedback regarding my role solicited or unsolicited. The only main suggestion from the group was to reduce the weekly report submissions from weekly to bi-weekly to align with the cadence of the bi-weekly meetings. I understand their perspective with the request, since the bulk of progress usually comes prior to the meeting for the sake of discussion and evaluation, and that only partial or incomplete progress would be reported during those "intermediate" weeks. This was in response to a reminder and discussion I had with the group to be more consistent with the weekly report submissions. I had responded that weekly report submissions were still the expectation from the HAAG Admins, and that reports with partial or incomplete progress for those "intermediate" weeks are still an acceptable submission.
What plans do you have your enhancing your role as the project managerwith the remaining time in the semester?
I plan to follow up with Dr. Mussman, the perceived team lead, and the rest of the researchers individually to try to draw out some substantial suggestions and concerns, and if not then receive further confirmations that modifications to the project operations are not needed at this time. I also want to revisit the expectation of the group regarding submission now that we are crossing the halfway point of the semester. Lastly, I want to devise a way or at least define a better expectation with the team on weekly submission reports so that they are more consistent - understanding that the first half of the semester was influenced by some extraneous circumstances that hindered some team cohesion.
Although not much support is needed for my role at its current state, it would be helpful to access the project's past basecamp so that I could consolidate that information into the projects current slack.