IT Project Management & ENG 316: Technical Writing

1

"Creating the Project Schedule"

Please respond to the following:

· Your Project Sponsor is a visual person. He does not want to review a detailed project schedule. He considers that your responsibility. Per this, you have to decide which graphical representation of a project schedule (e.g., Gantt or PERT) is ideal for presenting the project schedule to him. Which graphical representation will you use? Why? And what are the risks in relying solely on a graphical model to discuss project performance? After posting your response, respond to at least one of your classmates on their response to the question.

2

"Estimating Costs"

Please respond to the following:

· The Project Sponsor is concerned that you have budgeted too much money for the relocation project. Now you have to remind him how you accounted for the budget of this project. How did you start? How long did it take you to prepare a good estimate? What type of estimate did you prepare? What approach did you use to develop a cost estimate? After posting your response, respond to at least one of your classmates on their response to the question.

3

"Risk Management"

Please respond to the following:

· As you can guess, your Project Sponsor is very involved in this project. Now he is concerned about the risks associated with this relocation project. Identify and discuss the top three risks for this project and how you will prioritize tackling each one. After posting your response, respond to at least one of your classmates on their response to the question.

4

"Graphics" Please respond to the following:

· Describe two common types of graphs, tables, or charts that you see used in your work or school.  Discuss whether or not they effectively communicate the purpose, and what other graphics might be more effective for the intended audience.

· From the e-Activity, describe what makes each graphic a good or bad example of a graphic. For each, identify at least two more ideas to make each better.

5

"Writing for the Web" Please respond to the following:

· You have likely seen hundreds of thousands of Web pages over the span of your lifetime. Generalize how well you feel the audience and purpose overall of all the Websites you have viewed are aligned. Speculate to the reason behind your generalization.

· Having summarized your general observations about Websites, discuss what you feel is the most common error you encounter in poorly written or displayed Websites.

6

"Just the Facts, Ma’am" Please respond to the following:

· From the e-Activity, assess how well the news release follows the inverted triangle approach. Be sure to provide the date, title, and the company which released the news.

· Create a best practice to determine how many facts are essential when writing a summary for an informative report.

7

"Investigative Reports" Please respond to the following:

· Assess what makes reading investigative reports difficult or fatiguing or both. Then, recommend how a writer can address your findings.

· Analyze the parts of investigative reports to determine what part you feel is the most critical that could often be miscommunicated. Explain your reason(s).

8

"Writing Instructions" Please respond to the following:

· Discuss the pros and cons for companies to write instructions in multiple languages on the same document.

· Is it possible to create assembly instructions that everyone can follow? Discuss the practical nature of creating such a document and the possible trade-offs or pros and cons of attempting to do so.

9

"Writing Good Instructions" Please respond to the following:

· Review the nine steps to composing instructions. Then, assess which is the most likely violation that can occur when writing instructions. Provide your reason(s).

· Discuss and give an example when it might be appropriate to omit explanations from your instructions. Then, discuss the possible consequence(s) of the omission.