19. Project Development¶
For this week, I have learnt some tips about Project management:¶
1. Triage¶
From my daily experience on administration management, the goal for each school development project is focused to implement all plans in a certain period. I would like to use the development chance of the Final Project, my AquaPonics Pilot System (APPS), to know more about the type of project management which is fit for Research and Development on a new product in our school.
Agile Project Management is an iterative approach to delivering a project throughout its life cycle as follows:
After comparsion between Traditional and Agile Project Management, I have found that not only the objectives or goals of the project is important, but also the vision and board direction are also important for increase the hit rates of the product development which can be more adapted to the real situation we faced.
2. Demand-side vs Supply-side Time Management¶
Time is key to supply because the supplier must react rapidly to change in price or demand while there is no impact on the time factor on the demand relationship.
Therefore, I have use the following template, Gantt Chart Project Planning Tool from the concept of Agile and Supply-side Time Management in Excel to show my schedule of project development and presentations and economic benefit.
Source File for AquaPonics Pilot System (APPS) - Gantt Chart Project Planning Tool (Excel)
**File: Gantt Chart Project Planning Tool
3. Documentation During Development¶
I have searched some tips and examples for Documentation that I should aware of the target group’s focus points. There are many types of documentation. I could use the mix mode among 3 of them, End-user Documentation and Technical Documentation and Process Documentation, to present the whole developmental process of my APPS.
According to American educator Edgar Dale, we remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, and 50% of what we see and hear. Therefore, I would bare in mind for the following tips in my final project presentation. It can also be written as the lesson plan for students and teachers to follow.
Tip 1 - Keep the document simple and concise
Tip 2 - Categories Information
Tip 3 - Align with my Target Audience
Tip 4 - Fast and Precise Access to Relevant Information
Tip 5 - Use appropriate examples, graphics, color coding, screenshots, multiple platforms etc. as necessary
Tip 6 - Make sure the process documentation complies with the existing standards of your teachers and students
4. DevOps¶
DevOps is a culture which promotes collaboration between Development and Operations Team to deploy code to production faster in an automated & repeatable way. DevOps life cycle includes Development, Testing, Integration, Deployment, and Monitoring.
This culture can be applied to my final project APPS. Development and Operation can be worked together for spiral development with testing and deployment. Less time would be consumpted throughout the processes and continous improvement could be focused to minimize waste.
5. Serial vs Parallel Tasks¶
Serial processing is the act of attending to and processing one task at a time. The Project Resource can focus their effort on a single task at a time with 100% emphasis. On the other hand, design tasks in parallel can be completed in order to reduce the overall development time. However, at the same time, the opportunities of the total amount of rework will be increased by completing tasks in parallel. The development cost and the lead time are then increased.
Since I have tried and applied different skills and techniques one by one each week in the past, as serial processing. I have completed each system in my APPS in parallel to shorten the whole development.
6. Quality Control vs Quality Assurance vs Quality Management¶
Quality management is the act of overseeing different activities and tasks within an organization to ensure that products and services offered are consistent.
Quality assurance can be defined as “part of quality management focused on providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled.” and “all the planned and systematic activities implemented within the quality system that can be demonstrated to provide confidence that a product or service will fulfill requirements for quality.”
Quality control can be defined as “part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements.” and “the operational techniques and activities used to fulfill requirements for quality.”
Therefore, I should have put the element of quality control before the integration of all systems and make sure the work of my APPS properly.
I have almost completed my final project. My progress is tracked as follows:¶
1. The following tasks have been completed.¶
- 3D design
I have used FUSION360 to design of my PCB board for controlling all the work of components in my device and the whole device profile of my APPS.
3D Printing
Source File for AquaPonics Pilot System (APPS) - Plant Holder (FUSION360)
-
Additive Fabrication Process
I have used 3D Printing Machines to print different components and cases for different functions of my APPS. -
Subtractive Fabrication Process
I have completed the whole circuit by milling, stuffing, debugging and programming which are used for controlling different work of water pumping, lightning, color sensor and power supply systems.
PCB Board
Source File for AquaPonics Pilot System (APPS) - PCB Production (BRD)
Source File for AquaPonics Pilot System (APPS) - PCB Production (SCH)
- Electronics Design and Production
I have used Eagle to add a microcontroller, LEDs and other related components onto PCB board to control the work of water pump, LED plant grow light bulbs, color sensor and solar panel.
2. The following tasks have been remained to do:¶
-
Embedded Microcontroller Interfacing and Programming
Last three weeks, I have completed above processes. Implementation on programming and interpretation of networking & communication protocols under a Graphic User Interface should be finished in this week. This will be a new milestone for my APPS development in order to control the work of all systems by mobile device. At this stage, Water pumping and lightning systems were checked and run properly. Color sensor and solar panel systems are still keeping going to set up. -
System Integration and Packaging
Due to increasing the usability of this learning and teaching tools for students and teachers, There are several main points I should pay attention to:
(1) I can use the transparent acrylic cover which is produced by laser cutter to replace the plastic cover produced by 3D printer. It is easier to show all structures in each part for teaching.
(2) The prevention from leaking in each part is the most important for this APPS. If this problem cannot be solved. The water flow can be influenced and affected the fishes and herbs living.
(3) The junctions and packaging of each part with different components should be fit in order to have a good appearance and steady formation. This can arouse the interests from the students and teachers to use this APPS as the starting point of sharing and discussion platform.
- 2D Design
I should use Procreate to print my APPS sign sticker to present my project idea through graphic design.
3. The following systems are working:¶
Testing for the work of water pump
Testing for the work of LED grow light bulbs
Testing for mobile interface to control the work of water puming and lightning systems
4. The following systems are still not working:¶
In the first trial of molding, the thickness of each line is too thin, so the silicon product was broken easily during demolding. I still to amend the thickenss of each line to get the steady silicon mold for supporting the herb growing in the water.
The solar panel should be connected in order to change the solar energy into enough electrical energy for the work of each system.
Color sensor should be placed and connected for testing of ammonia concentration.
5. There are some problems which are still needed to be resolved:¶
I am still searched for any possibility of new technology can be applied into my APPS for sharing with my students, teachers and other schools.