SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
This course has many strengths! I think a big one is being able to choose a project that suits you. For example, I am involved in dog rescue, and I chose a project that involves animal rescue and adoption. I also appreciate the freedom and creativity this course allows. At least for my project, we got to choose the technologies we worked with, what our app looks like, and what each person was responsible for.
Another great thing about this course is that you get experience working on a large project with a team. This is the largest group I have worked with and I believe I have learned a lot about being a team member. Every week, we have standup slides to submit and one team member records a presentation going through the teams’ work. Then, our project manager sends us feedback. This has been such great preparation for working in the real world.
Weaknesses:
Although the freedom and creativity is great, I do wish there were a few more expectations/guidelines for our projects. As of now, we are each expected to do 10 hours of work per week. However, I often find myself getting nervous that when I present my work, my teammates or my project manager will not think it is worth 10 hours, and that will negatively impact me/my grade.
Opportunities:
I think at the beginning of the project we should assign roles for the team. Most importantly, I think there needs to be a team leader assigned/voted on who kind of makes sure we are meeting certain milestones for the project. Right now, we have an assigned project manager who provides us feedback, but I think we need someone who propels our project forward and checks in throughout the week.
Threats:
The main threat in the class is the group work. Although I believe learning to work in a group like this is important, I could see the project going sideways if you were assigned to a group that did not meet the 10 hours per week requirement. I feel like we should expect that if someone has made it this far in the program that they will be a team player, but unfortunately we can still run into people who do not pull their own weight. However, I do think the weekly stand ups deter this from happening!
Leave a Reply