A reminder of why I'm doing this... this is me at at the helm of my Corsair 36 trimaran in 2006, on a single-handed voyage to Desolation Sound. I miss this feeling.
This is the introduction to the Nomadness project management group of pages… basically a public to-do list sorted into four very broad categories. I’ve built complex machines before, but this is on a different scale… an 18-ton boat with everything from diesel engines to networked embedded systems… and I no longer have an eager team of young Silicon Valley engineers with lots of extra time on their hands.
I’ve discovered over the years that there’s nothing quite as motivating as a public document that briefly contextualizes each project and displays the next few CDTs (Clearly Defined Tasks). Until these pages were created, the sprawling Nomadness project was documented in a ridiculous number of different places:
- Corkboard with 3X5 cards for major sub-projects
- Checkmark TO-DO list on Android
- 4×8-foot blackboard in lab for immediate CDTs
- Scrivener project with over a dozen internal documents
- OmniGraffle Pro management file
- Old HTML table on the vintage “Live Page”
- Whiteboard with sketchy list of “essential pre-cruise” jobs
- A few 11×17 graphic PERT-like charts of well-defined projects
- Random writings and development notes scattered in the filesystem
- Project notebooks with narratives, drawings, TO-DO items, notes, and more
- A binder of block diagrams and schematics
Obviously, this is confusing and constantly out of synch. Project management is complex enough to become a full-time job if one is not careful, and if that “one” happens to be the only one working on said project, then nothing else will get done. I can spend so much mental energy trying to keep everything straight that I become immobilized; working on any one thing means I’m ignoring the others, and besides, some new idea just popped up! A whole block over here needs to be restructured, and some online gizmology shopping is clearly called for. Arghhhhh…
So I’m combining many of the above into one online collection, which makes it easy to share with my partner as well as being open to public discussion. I still need fine-grained task lists (too much detail here would eat more time than it saves), as well as drawings and other design documents… but the grand project strategy needs to be in one central location and this is it.
At the bow of the trimaran, sailing off Pender Harbour on the BC coast of Canada. I no longer have this boat, but remember well the sensation of freedom...
There are four pages representing very broad segments: things that have to be accomplished before the 2012 summer adventure around Vancouver Island, the development of the console system and ship network, the general collection of long-range projects that don’t have to be done immediately, and everything that is NOT part of the boat. I’d much rather write Arduino code for the crossbar network than pull old sewage plumbing, but I need to prioritize if we are to get off the dock this year… the last real cruising season with Nomadness was in 2008, which is absurd. Every year since then has been gobbled up by facilities and relationship issues, while my lovely vessel has waited patiently at the dock soaking up moorage fees, insane excise taxes, and insurance against the myriad hazards of sitting at the dock.
So this year, we intend to enjoy some proper time on water — first with a little shakedown frolic through the San Juans, then up into Desolation Sound, the Broughtons, over the north tip of Vancouver Island, south along the Outside, then back to La Conner. That will have the effect of re-shaping these project lists, reminding us of what’s important, and building confidence in both human skills and the vessel herself. The countdown timer on the upper-right corner of the page is set to the August 1 departure date for the Vancouver Island circumnavigation.
Each of the four project pages is made up of entries with the same basic structure: title, brief description of the objective, and a bulleted list of things to do (as currently recognized). These are periodically updated as progress is made, with the general objective of deleting everything and getting on with life. I welcome suggestions and volunteers… please contact me if something catches your eye.
2012 immediate essentials
Ship lab, console system and Shacktopus
Other projects required for long-range expedition
Business, facilities, overhead, publishing, sys admin, and other jobs
