CNMCyber Coordinator

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Any CNM Cyber Coordinator (hereinafter, the Coord) is the learner matriculated into the WorldOpp Pipeline program who is undergoing initial practical training. This training is a part of the CNM Cyber Placement stage. CNM Cyber (hereinafter, the Cyber) is a collection of services that include (a) information technology called CNM Cloud (hereafter, the Cloud), as well as (b) apprenticeships and internships that are organized at the Cloud.

At the Occupational Information Network, the closest occupation is Information Technology Project Manager. The Certified Information Technology Project Management Associate (CITPMA) credential is awarded to the successful Coords.


What Coords produce

To facilitate development and/or management of Cyber products, the Coords produce four categories of their first-level results: (1) Meetings, (2) Documents, (c) Records, and (d) Communications.

Communications

For the purposes of this very wikipage, communications are defined as distribution of the messages that are related to the Cyber, the Cloud, as well as endeavors to develop those. Particularly, the communications are used to exchange the Documents and Records; the Meetings are used to facilitate the communications.
The Coords run their communications to make development of Cyber products possible. These communications include:
  • Internal communications such as project and product communications, meeting invitations, reminders, moderation and discussion messages, and follow-ups.
  • External communications such as marketing campaigns, as well as distribution of outreach messages.
Within the Project results, internal communications represent project scraps; they are needed to produce project outputs. External communications, especially marketing campaigns, represent project outputs.

Documents

A document is a separate piece that (a) presents data, (b) is composed with texts and/or images, and (c) can further be edited or revised. The former document that can no longer be revised, for instance, a signed contract, becomes a record.
To facilitate development of Cyber products, the Coords draft, edit, groom, and manage documents. Those documents may include:
  • Blueprints, which are document prototypes useful to create final documents. For instance, the Careerprise contractor agreement wikipage is used as a blueprint to draw up contracts with individual contractors. As a rule, these target documents are published on CNM Wiki.
  • Legal drafts such as papers drafted to be signed as contracts.
  • Outreach materials, which are marketing drafts intended to outreach to current and potential clients and participants such as Friends Of CNM newsletters.
  • Product documents, which are descriptions of former, existing, and future products published at CNM Wiki, as well as deliverable requirements, emails and other messages between product owners and developers, organizational and technical documentation such as standing operating procedures (SOPs), minutes of the meetings, testing and other reports, etc.
  • Project documents, which are project requirements, progress reports, emails and other messages between project owners and developers, memos with the results of project approvals, developments, meetings, and research.
Within the Project results, those draft and final documents are either project scraps or outputs. As the outputs, they usually accompany other Cyber products. For example, products normally come with instructions. However, some of documents represent whole products on their own. For example, to bundle the functional product with the instructions, those instructions were needed to be developed before.

Meetings

A meeting is an occasion in which people meet to exchange data, discuss something, make decisions, and/or collaborate. Meetings occur online and/or offline in forms of verbal conversations, videoconferences, and/or webcasts.
To support development of Cyber products, the Coords prepare, moderate, conduct, and close meetings. Those meetings may include:
  • Hiring events, which are interviews and other meetings between contractor candidates and CNM Cyber administrators organized to discuss potential entering into a contract and/or to make that decision.
  • Outreach events, which are CNM Cyber events organized to promote the Cyber, the Cloud, its technologies, needs, and services to outreach to current and potential clients and participants. These meetings are normally published at the CNM Cyber Meetup group.
  • Product meetings, which are meetings organized (a) to discuss deliverable features, (b) to make deliverable decisions, and/or (c) to communicate those decisions.
  • Project meetings, which are meetings organized (a) to discuss project features, (b) to make project decisions, and/or (c) to communicate those decisions.
Within the Project results, the outreach events represent project outputs. The other meetings should be considered as project scrap; those meetings are used to develop Documents.
Moreover, meetings tend to address a number of purposes. For instance, meetings of the CNM Technology Board may touch both product and project features and decisions. When they are open to the general public, they also serve the outreach purpose.

Records

A record is a piece of matter that (a) presents data and (b) cannot further be edited or revised unless losing the status of a record. For instance, a signed contract, which is a record, can be used as a prototype to create new documents.
To support development of Cyber products, the Coords collect records, place them in designated spaces, and, if applicable, manage their storage. Special standing operating procedures (SOPs) shall designate spaces for that purpose. Those records may include:
  • Archived files such as videos, audios, textual files, as well as coded and programmed scripts.
  • Databases of contacts, competencies of contractors, characteristics of tested software, etc.
  • Enterprise records such as contracts, which are legally-binding agreements, applications and reports that are officially submitted to governmental bodies and partners, identification and other personal documents of the Cyber's employees that the law requires to keep in the enterprise system, accounting records, etc. At the Cyber, enterprise records are stored at CNM Venture.
  • Product records such as approved requirements for the project deliverable are posted at CNM Wiki. To be product records, they need to be protected from unauthorized edits and belong to the Product records category.
  • Project records are kept at several spaces depending on their nature. Project reports are posted at the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage. Legally-binding documents are stored at CNM Venture. Accepted deliverables are stored at CNM Git.
  • Publications such as minutes of meetings and others textual records that reflect past events, content of CNM Git, Page, Social, and Wiki, as well as those postings on YouTube, CNM Cyber Meetup, and other social media that the Coords may make. There is no single place for publications' storage at the Cyber; they are posted at different media. CNM Wiki can be used for development of publications; appearance of CNM apps at the WWW can also be considered as publications.
  • Technology records such as access credentials and detailed descriptions of software used in the Cloud. At the Cyber, technology records are stored at CNM Git.
Within the Project results, the records represent project outputs by their definition.

Work

The Coords work is to facilitate someone else's performance on Projects vs operations related to Cyber products. The Coord chooses the paid work from the Authorized work; alternatively, the Coord may propose own work, which may or may not be authorized for compensation.

Administration

For the purposes of this very wikipage, administration is defined as the set of endeavors undertaken to run something. At the Cyber, several types of administrators can be distinguished depending on the category of that "thing":
  • Cyber administrators are those of the Personnel who manage the Cyber's development, operations, and product groups. This administrator can appoint other members of the Personnel to administer a particular group of developments, operations and products or the Cyber as a whole.
  • Product administrators are those of the Personnel whom CNM Cyber administrators have granted administration of a particular product. During its production, the deliverables are administered by the Coords. The superior administrator of each product is at least one of the CNM Cyber administrators.
  • Application administrators are administrative user roles in CNM apps. For example, an administrator of CNM Wiki can protect select wikipages from editing by non-admins. Application administrators are a software feature, which only system administrators may assign. Organizationally, CNM Cyber administrators must request assigning admin roles to select members of the Personnel and, vice versa, request removing them when there is no longer need.
  • System administrators are dedicated positions intended for those associates who administer the technological systems of CNM Farms', Opplet's, and CNM apps' software. The highest administrator of each attachment is at least one of the system administrators, so the latter can be described as super administrators of applications.

Available work

Those endeavors that are available to the Coords are published on the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage.

Choice of work

The Coords have the right to choose the project or operations that suit them best. The work of the Coords is paid when they work on those projects and operations that are published on the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage. In addition, the Coords are encouraged to propose their own projects.

Projects vs operations

The Coords work and/or facilitate someone else's work on either:
  • Development of new products or new features of existing products, which is addressed in the Projects section of this wikipage.
  • Management of existing Cyber products, including their service, ongoing operations, maintenance, audits and revisions, as well as end of life.
Together, development projects and management operations are called endeavors on this very wikipage.

What Coords do

Each project and operation can have the Coord who is responsible for it. To facilitate creation of the Project deeliverables and management of Cyber products, the Coords shall accomplish cycles of endeavors that consists of several stages.

Similar procedures are normally needed to produce project scraps and by-products. That means that the Coords are expected to follow the same cycle to create What Coords produce.

Formalizing the project

For the purposes of this very wikipage, project formalization refers to endeavors undertaken to the extent necessary to start researching the backgrounds for project deliverables and their production. This formalization aims to setup the stage for Studying the backgrounds activities.
The formalization shall produce a project charter, which is a document that (a) formalizes a project out of undocumented change making or development and (b) authorizes the project administration. The charter contains Customer's business requirements or those product and/or project requirements of the Customer that are not negotiable. These requirements shall address some business need; the terms business requirement and business need are synonims and often used interchangeably. At CNM Cyber, they may be stated in one or more of the following:
  • Business case. A description of the Customer's vision for what and/or how the project shall accomplish. The case may or may not state success criteria or those key performance indicators (PKIs) that would or would not constitute the project's success. Any successful project shall satisfy specific business needs. Generally speaking, the business case constitutes why the project exists.
  • Statement of work (SOW). A document that states hard requirements related to product and project scope, budget, as well as schedule. The statement lists "hard" deliverables and key factors that affect the project work. The statement may or may not indicate project tools, policies, regulatory and governance terms. The budget part of the statement may or may not describe milestones. The schedule part of the statement may or may not describe funds available, work authorization process, and/or constraints to the funds' availability. The statement is often employed as a part of a request for proposal (RFP).
On a slang, non-negotiable requirements are called "hard requirements". The charter contains all of the hard requirements that come from the Customer. However, some of hard requirements derive from the laws, availability of workforce, and other environmental factors. They shall be added to a requirements traceability matrix (RTM) during the Studying the backgrounds activities.
To coordinate the project formalization, the responsible Coord:
  1. Collects data related to the business requirements from the Customer.
  2. Analyses the collected data related to business needs while organizing that data on CNM Wiki.
  3. Drafts a project charter.
  4. Makes sure that the statement of work (SOW) in the drafted project charter addresses the business need and supports the business case.
  5. Submits the drafted project charter for the Customer's approval.
  6. Publishes the project charter, after its approval, on CNM Wiki.
  7. Reports on progress of the project formalization using the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage.
  8. Requests (a) assistance of the other Workforce when additional resources are needed and/or (b) changes to the project charter when new data from existing resources and/or new resources prompts so.
The project formalization starts after the business need is identified and ends when the project charter is completed.

Studying the backgrounds

For the purposes of this very wikipage, project studies refer to endeavors undertaken to the extent necessary to start envisioning, planning and managing for the project deliverables, their production and management. These studies aim to setup the stage for Specifying the deliverables, Planning the project, and Managing the product activities.
Project studies shall produce data needed for (a) envisioning of the product, (b) planning its production, and (c) managing the produced product. At CNM Cyber, the project studies shall produce the following outputs:
  • Asset register, which is a database of assets that can be used in the project.
  • Datasource register, which is a database that lists (a) all non-human sources of data useful for production of project deliverables, as well as those that restrict, especially, laws and legally-binding resources, (b) stakeholders of the project. A separate list of stakeholders is also known as stakeholder register. The complete register contains analysis of stakeholders and datasources.
  • Product community at CNM Social, which is a space for project stakeholders to receive project updates and contribute their questions and comments. The space shall be open 24/7 for asynchronous activities; a functioning community shall also meet simultaneously via video-conference on a weekly basis. A community that is formed to support COTS software development tend to be titled in the "CNM/Opplet COTS-name Dev" format.
  • Product pages at CNM Wiki, which are wikipages on which the product is being developed. The pages that represent COTS software tend to be titled in the "CNM/Opplet COTS-name" format. They belong to the "CNM Cyber products" category.
  • Project pages at CNM Wiki, which are wikipages on which the project is being developed. The pages that represent projects on COTS software tend to be titled in the "COTS-name for CNM Cyber/Cloud/Opplet/Farms" format. They belong to the "CNM Cyber projects" category.
  • Requirements traceability matrix, which is a grid that links requirements and their sources.
To coordinate the project studies, the responsible Coord:
  1. Identifies those available resources that should or can be used in project activities. Human resources include Personnel. Other resources include those presented in the initial WorldOpp Pipeline courses, on CNM Wiki, existing tools, materials, prototypes, and finished products available at CNM Cyber, on the World Wide Web and other sources. For off-the-shelf products, developer websites and professional resources like https://stackoverflow.com/ are usually helpful.
  2. Analyses the identified resources with regard to their nature, usefulness, and potential impact while organizing that data on CNM Wiki.
  3. Selects those resources and those data that may be used in the project activities.
  4. Composes the asset register and datasource register.
  5. Forms a product community at CNM Social if this community hasn't formed yet; refreshes the community if it has already formed.
  6. Organizes weekly video conferences, as well as other meetings and activities of the community. Topics of those events shall address the product, its production when the product is under development, work of its administrators, user feedback and market trends.
  7. Invites everyone who is interested in product's development to the community.
  8. Offers those experts and specialists who have knowledge, skills, and abilities useful for product specifications or project planning to discuss the deliverable and/or project.
  9. Interviews those experts and specialists who agreed to discuss the deliverable and/or project.
  10. Collects data related to (a) the project deliverables and their production when this deliverable hasn't been deployed yet and (b) product performance when the deliverable has already been deployed, as well as its industry trends.
  11. Makes sure that all of the collected data sources are listed in the datasource register.
  12. Publishes the collected data on CNM Wiki. Product data shall be published on the product pages; project data shall be published on the project pages. The published data shall refer to its sources; however, personal data publication requires permissions. From a legal point of view, we cannot publish the confidential information of our contractors, for instance.
  13. Creates a requirements traceability matrix to trace the product and project requirements from the selected sources to perspective project deliverables.
  14. Updates the asset register, datasource register, requirements traceability matrix, as well as project and product pages when ever new data from existing resources and/or new resources emerge.
  15. Reports on progress of the project studies using the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage.
  16. Requests assistance of the other Workforce when additional resources are needed.
The project studies start after the project charter is approved. Collection of requirements, product envisioning, project planning, production, as well as commissioning and management of a product always reveals new factors and data. That is why the studies end with the project closure.

Specifying the deliverables

The main goal of the product specification activities is to get the deliverable in a state of certainty, which is determined by the presence of a validated product specification. This specification is needed to compare the created deliverables against their requirements. To coordinate the product specification, the responsible Coord:
  1. Collects data related to stakeholder requirements for the project deliverables and product specifications using the registered datasources. This collection includes communicating with stakeholders and reviewing documents.
  2. Examines available prototypes, unfinished and finished products against the collected data.
  3. Analyses the collected product data while organizing that data on CNM Wiki.
  4. Clarifies the collected data based on the examined prototypes and finished products.
  5. Identifies those target audiences who are supposed to use future deliverables.
  6. Creates imaginary personas that would represent each of the identified audience.
  7. Produces stakeholder requirements for each created persona using CNM Wiki.
  8. Composes product specifications based on the produced stakeholder requirements using CNM Wiki.
  9. Traces in a requirements traceability matrix the formalized stakeholder requirements from the selected datasources to perspective project deliverables.
  10. Makes sure that (a) the product specification supports the stakeholder requirements and (b) all the deliverable data is published on CNM Wiki.
  11. Checks product specifications for completeness. This completeness shall be characterized by the presence of conditions for (a) functionality, (b) applicability, and (c) manageability of the deliverables. Conditions for functionality should include measures for product's performance. Conditions for applicability should include measures for product's deployment, testing, diagnostics, accessibility, serviceability, protection, and capacity to recover after disasters; these measures must be documented in product's standing operational procedure (SOP). Conditions for manageability should include measures for product's monitoring, periodic audits and revisions, as well as timely software updates for the COTS software products.
  12. Updates the stakeholder requirements and product specifications when ever new data from existing resources and/or new resources emerge.
  13. Reports on progress of the product specification using the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage.
  14. Requests assistance of the other Workforce when additional resources are needed.
The product specification opens when the Customer approves the project charter and ends with the project closure.

Planning the project

The main goal of the project planning is to decide how the project deliverables will be developed. Those activities shall result in validated acceptance criteria. In other words, planning is getting a description of project activities that allows this development to be certain. To coordinate the project planning, the responsible Coord:
  1. Collects data related to project scope baseline, project schedule baseline, project budget baseline, and acceptance criteria using the registered datasources. This collection includes communicating with stakeholders and reviewing documents that are available.
  2. Examines the existing products that are going to be further developed if they are available.
  3. Analyses the collected project data while organizing that data on CNM Wiki.
  4. Formulates the difference between what actually is and what is needed to be. The existing products are what actually is, while the specified deliverable is what is needed to be. The project activities shall address this identified difference; they represent what needs to be done.
  5. Drafts a project scope baseline, project schedule baseline, project budget baseline, and acceptance criteria, based on the resources recorded in the registers.
  6. Makes sure that the acceptance criteria supports the project scope baseline and project schedule baseline.
  7. Submits the drafted project scope baseline, project schedule baseline, project budget baseline, and acceptance criteria for the Customer's confirmation.
  8. Publishes the project scope baseline, project schedule baseline, and acceptance criteria, after their confirmation, on CNM Wiki. To make future negotiations successful, neither the project budget baseline nor other financial data should be available to the general public.
  9. Reports on progress of the project planning using the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage.
  10. Requests (a) assistance of the other Workforce when additional resources are needed and/or (b) changes to the project scope baseline, project schedule baseline, project budget baseline, and/or acceptance criteria when new data from existing resources and/or new resources prompts so.
Similarly to Specifying the deliverables, the project planning opens when the Customer approves the project charter and ends with the project closure. However, the project plan not entirely, but depends on product specification, while the specification rarely does. The deliverable to be rules what needs to be done, not vice versa. Only impossibility of the specified deliverable production can initiate the change to its product specification.

Hiring the contractors

At the Cyber, the main goal of hiring of project contractors is to expand the Coords' expertise and resources in order to accomplish the project. The contractors must be hired to produce anything beyond #What Coords produceWhat Coords produce; however, the contractors can also be hired to produce special Communications, Documents, Meetings, and/or Records.
In order to be hired, though, the prospective contractors need to be sourced first and selected second. Moreover, the sourcing, selecting, and hiring require their own "cycle phases" such as request formalization, background studies, contractor competencies' specification, recruitment plan, as well as this plan execution.
All of those activities shall result in fully-executed Careerprise contractor agreement. To coordinate the hiring of contractors, the responsible Coord:
  1. Evaluates whether third-party contractors are needed and, if they are needed, what Types of contractors should be looked for.
  2. Provides data to the Customer for making the decision either to bring external contractors on the board or not to bring. The positive decision assumes the Customer's willingness to finance the contractor's work.
  3. Collects data related to sourcing, selecting, and hiring of contractors that are able and available to satisfy the Cyber needs.
  4. Analyses the collected sourcing, selecting, and hiring data while organizing that data on CNM Wiki.
  5. Composes solicitation materials including a request for proposal (RFP), which is a solicitation announcement, and the list of its placement options.
  6. Submits the composed materials to the Cyber administrator for their publication.
  7. Forms a list of consultants and potential developers as a subset of the stakeholder register.
  8. Invites the listed contractors to discuss project's deliverables and product specifications, as well as the project including project scope baseline, project schedule baseline, project budget baseline, and acceptance criteria.
  9. Treats the discussions with the contractor candidates as primary sources of data to revisit the Studying the backgrounds activities. Hiring people is a great way to learn about aspects of an endeavor. Conducted interviews shall add to the CNM Wiki documentation. Particularly, that means publishing on CNM Wiki the data related to the deliverables and schedules extracted from the discussions. As a rule, meetings with contractors serve two different purposes: (a) selection of right candidates and (b) learning about the deliverables and/or project. Historically, requirements are refined during the recruitment process. If the requirements cannot be formulated during the recruitment process, they themselves shall become deliverables of an intermediary project.
  10. Assists in selection of the most promising candidates, negotiations, and other processes aimed to source and select contractors.
  11. Makes sure that the contractors are being selected not only because of their ability to speak, write, look well, get in touch on time, respond quickly, and so on, but, primarily, because of their ability to satisfy the business need this contractor is being hired to address. The need must be stated in the contract Funded demands document. Specifically, the Customer's:
    1. Approval of acceptance criteria makes possible hiring of developers.
    2. Validation of a standing operating procedure (SOP) makes possible hiring of servicers.
    3. Authorization of paid hours makes possible hiring of on-call specialists.
    If no job vacancy document is available at the moment, the candidates shall be offered to help developing it on a volunteer basis. If the need exists, but all internal and external resources to develop the document are exhausted, the Coord shall initiate a preliminary project to produce that document.
  12. Initiates a preliminary project to produce that document.
  13. Drafts a Careerprise contractor agreement while using its blueprint and entering subject matters to negotiate or agree.
  14. Provides the prospective and/or selected contractor with the drafted agreement.
  15. Informs the Customer about the readiness of the contract or contract for the full execution. The execution of the contract authorizes the financing of the production of the deliverables by contractors. One of the consultants may be contracted for consultations and/or participation in video conferences.
  16. Reports on new contractor hires using the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage.
  17. Requests (a) assistance of the other Workforce when additional resources are needed and/or (b) changes to the request for proposal (RFP) when new data from existing resources and/or new resources prompts so.
The hiring of contractors opens when the Customer approves the Coord's request for the hire. It ends with full execution of the Careerprise contractor agreement.

Working with contractors

The main goal of collaboration with project contractors is to enable the Contractors to deliver rightly right project deliverables or other requested services. To coordinate collaboration with contractors, the responsible Coord:
  1. Serves as an liaison between the Customer and contractors, reporting problems that need to be resolved.
  2. Organizes videoconferences or other meetings of parties interested in the project, especially those necessary to resolve problems arising during the project.
  3. Collects data related to the contractor performance.
  4. Analyses the collected data related to contractor performance while organizing that data on CNM Wiki.
  5. Initiates the process of paying contractors for their work. The process shall be described in a special standing operating procedure (SOP). Prior to creating it, this start of the process implies a request to the manager or Customer.
  6. Requests (a) assistance of the other Workforce when additional resources are needed and/or (b) changes to the fully-executed Careerprise contractor agreement when new data from existing resources and/or new resources prompts so.
  7. Revisits the Studying the backgrounds activities when new data or new sources of data emerges in order to revisit further the Specifying the deliverables and Planning the project activities.
The collaboration with contractors opens when their Careerprise contractor agreement is fully executed. It ends with the closure of the agreement.

Creating the deliverables

The main goal of deliverable creation activities is to create rightly right deliverables. "Right" means that every deliverable shall be in a state of capability, which is determined by the fact that the deliverable meets all the product specifications that have been approved for this deliverable. "Rightly" means that the aggregate of creation activities match the agreed acceptance criteria.
At the Cyber, Contractors create Project deliverables. To coordinate the deliverable creation, the responsible Coord:
  1. Initiates hiring of development contractors.
  2. Plays roles of the product owner and/or project owner in the absence of other members of the Personnel assigned to those roles. In that case, the Coord decides how, within the framework of the approved requirements, the deliverable and the project should be.
  3. Tests the deliverable and, if necessary, its parts.
  4. Collects data related to the deliverables under development and their production.
  5. Analyses the collected project data while organizing that data on CNM Wiki.
  6. Monitors the development and execution of the project, including compliance with the budget, schedule and scope of work.
  7. Inquiries about changes to the project charter, product specification, project scope baseline, project schedule baseline, project budget baseline, and/or acceptance criteria when new data from existing resources and/or new resources prompts so.
  8. Organizes a closed-from-the-public-view project space on CNM Git for work on the deliverable in addition to the project wikipage on CNM Wiki.
  9. Invites the hired contractor to the project space.
  10. Reports to the Customer on the status of the project, collecting, analyzing and summarizing information and trends.
  11. Treats creation of deliverables as primary source of data to revisit the Studying the backgrounds activities.
  12. Makes sure that the created deliverables (a) represent a complete bundle of products that are listed in the Careerprise contractor agreement and (b) satisfy their acceptance criteria.
  13. Recommends, after the contractor informs about the completion of project work, either (a) acceptance of the deliverables or (b) refusal to accept those deliverables while providing the Customer with explanations for that refusal.
  14. Reports on progress of the deliverable creation using the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage.
  15. Requests assistance of the other Workforce when additional resources are needed.
  16. Revisits the Studying the backgrounds activities when new data or new sources of data emerges in order to revisit further the Specifying the deliverables and Planning the project activities.
The deliverable creation opens when the Customer authorizes its financing and ends when the deliverables are accepted. To expedite the project, the creation may start before its acceptance criteria have developed.

Commissioning the product

The main goal of the product commissioning is to obtain the product in its state of applicability, which is determined by the fact that the deliverable is not only functional, but can also be sustainably used for the purpose for which it has been created. In simple words, the commissioning is a transfer of the accepted deliverables from the contractor into the Cyber operations. To coordinate this commissioning, the responsible Coord:
  1. Clarifies with the CNM Cyber administrator which members of the Personnel will: (a) deploy the newly-deployed product if it hasn't been deployed yet, (b) test the newly-deployed product, (c) restrict access of the development contractors to the product and product's classified documentation, (d) access the classified documentation on CNM Git, (e) establish new product operations based on its standing operating procedure (SOP), and (f) manage hiring of service contractors.
  2. Initiates (a) deployment of the newly-deployed product if it hasn't been deployed yet, (b) beta testing of the newly-deployed product, (c) restrictions of the development contractors' access to the product and product's classified documentation, (d) new administrator's access to the classified documentation on CNM Git, (e) establishment of new product operations based on its standing operating procedure (SOP), and (f) hiring of service contractors.
  3. Collects data related to the product commissioning.
  4. Analyses the collected data related to product commissioning while organizing that data on CNM Wiki.
  5. Publishes the documentation received from the contractor on the Cloud resources. Internal, closed to the public, documentation, such as administrator access to installed software, is published on CNM Git. The documentation that can be open to the public without restrictions is published on CNM Wiki.
  6. Reports on progress of the product commissioning using the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage.
  7. Requests assistance of the other Workforce when additional resources are needed.
  8. Revisits the Studying the backgrounds activities when new data or new sources of data emerges in order to update the Managing the product activities.
The product commissioning opens when the deliverables are accepted and ends when the product is ready to be used in the Cyber operations.

Managing the product

Two main goals of product management are (a) to obtain the product in a state of manageability and (b) to keep it in this state. The state is determined by the fact that the product is not only used for the purpose for which it was produced, but also controlled. This management includes both maintenance and improvement of product performance, as well as decisions to end its life or replace. To coordinate the product management, the responsible Coord:
  1. Monitors product usage, administrator performance, user feedback, industry trends, best practices, and situations in those markets that are associated with the product, its alternatives, and components.
  2. Treats the product management monitoring as primary sources of data to revisit the Studying the backgrounds activities.
  3. Collects data related to the product performance and its administration.
  4. Analyses the collected data related to product management while organizing that data on CNM Wiki.
  5. Identifies problems and opportunities to improve the product or replace the product with other solutions.
  6. Inventories the problems and opportunities that have been identified using Cyber's idea management software when it is available; temporarily, CNM Wiki shall be used.
  7. Presents the problems and opportunities identified in the inventory to the Customer for making decisions about opening new projects.
  8. Reports on progress of the product management using the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage.
  9. Requests assistance of the other Workforce when additional resources are needed.
  10. Revisits the Studying the backgrounds activities when new data or new sources of data emerges.
Product management opens when the product is put into service and ends when the product gets retired.

Cyber products

The Coords work on Meetings, Documents, Records, and Communications to facilitate development and management of those products that are deployed or going to be deployed at the Cyber.

Marketables

At the Cyber, its Workforce develops and manages many products, but markets only career services. These services include vocational guidance, training and employment with the support of volunteers and CNM apps, as well as business services for the Cyber participants.
The Cyber team itself produces only two types of these services:
  1. Entry-level jobs as the Coords that starts with complete preparation for those jobs.
  2. Cyber workplace for apprenticeships and internships.
All the other services are produced by the Cyber partners. The Cyber team assembles them and, altogether with its own services, positions and promotes them on the market. At the Cyber, these services are called "marketables".
Any marketable is a complex bundle of its Support products. For instance, Cyber workplace is supposed to have administrative procedures for hiring and retaining of its workforce, end-user applications for its personnel's work, positions such as the Coord and documents such as this job description, as well as personnel meetings, marketing campaigns to attract candidates, and so on.

Personnel development

In terms of the development of human resources, the results of the work of the Coord can be:
  1. Sourcing and orientation of contractors and new Coords by:
    • Development of ads, own website and other resources.
    • Placement of ads on specialized sites, social networks such as Telegram, TikTok, and Instagram, as well as other channels.
    • Conducting video conferences and other events for interested parties.
    • Finding partners among commercial, public and government organizations.
  2. Development of professional knowledge, skills and abilities of the existing workforce and new recruits. That includes facilitating of training and participating in mentor-protégé arrangements.

Product areas

Students in practice are encouraged to suggest their project topics and product areas. Those projects that are published on the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage are grouped in the following areas:
  • Administration of the Cyber, covering personnel, legal, financial and organizational issues.
  • Career services for the Cyber participants. The Marketables section of this very wikipage addresses them.
  • Customer support for end-users, potential participants and partners of the Cyber.
  • Information technology. The most complete description of all technical projects is published on the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage. Based on the approved technical documentation, the results of the Coord's work can be a missing system or part of it, software, system content, consumer service, and, in general, the work of what did not work. As an information technology complex, the Cloud consists of:
    1. CNM Farms, including tools for their high availability and recovery.
    2. Opplet that serves both end-user applications called CNM apps and end-users directly.
    3. CNM apps as software. Some application developments concern only their software, some - only the content used in the provision of services, some developments combine both.
  • Outreach to participants in the labor market and business services market.
Some products may belong to more than one area. For example, a hands-on training session is a service, but the announcements during it may be for the purpose of being in the market. Apps can be considered software, but apps that are capable and full of content are services first and foremost.

Support products

At the Cyber, any Marketable is a package of other products that are called "support products". They include:
  • Administrative procedures for personnel, financial, accounting and legal operations of the organizational structure behind the Cloud.
  • Applications known as CNM apps that can be used by current and potential students, apprentices and employees of the Cyber.
  • Content, such as texts, illustrations and multimedia materials that can be used in CNM apps.
  • Documents are the single most important deliverable of the Coords's work. Because of that fact, a separate section of this wikipage, Documents, is dedicated to them.
  • Events, especially CNM Cyber events, in which real people participate physically or remotely, such as interviews of candidates for contractors, meetings of professionals and conferences for potential participants. A separate section of this wikipage, Meetings, is dedicated to them.
  • Information resources for attracting potential partners and clients of the Cyber, such as websites, social media materials, and mailing lists, as well as standard messages, invitations and advertisements.
  • Labor resources. All products require work on them. However, the development of human resources is also one of the end products of the project, and in terms of developing the professional competencies of the Coords, its main goal.
  • Marketing campaigns, which are endeavors to reach out to current and potential customers in order to gain their attention, build their interest, arise their desire to utilize the Cyber opportunities and not the products of the competitors, as well as to motivate them to act in that direction.
  • Partnerships, which are contractual agreements to mutually develop and market offers. Historically, the Cyber team partnered with two Microsoft stores, in Pentagon City Mall and Tysons Corner Center, several employers, training providers, governmental, and non-profit organizations.
  • Positions, which are documented workplaces of associates included in the organizational structure. This very wikipage is the development of one of the Cyber positions. Moreover, the Coords are welcomed to own their role, which assumes both (a) developing and updating general instructions, policies, and/or recommendations for the Coords and (b) contributing to and grooming of the backlog of the Coord's tasks at the CNM Cloud Usable and related wikipages.
  • Relationships with potential and existing clients such as exhibitors, contractors and partners. Stakeholders are involved in communications through (a) hiring contractors to turn those descriptions that the Customer approved into the Cyber products, (b) hiring employees for developed positions, (c) participation of potential the Cyber participants in events organized by the project.
  • Software that can be used in the Cloud.
  • Structures such as an organizational structure to organize the work of Personnel; their rights and duties are determined by positions.
  • Testing of project inputs and deliverables under development. At the Cyber, those projects that are undertaken in order to obtain testing results only are rare. The Coords execute the overwhelming majority of testing while obtaining other deliverables or simply utilizing existing Cyber products such as this very wikipage.

COTS software

Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software powers CNM apps, a significant part of Opplet, and all of CNM Farms products. All of those products belong to the "CNM Cyber products" category.

Packages

At the Cyber, the COTS-related products shall come in packages as follows:
  1. Software that powers core, hands-on training, and experiential systems and applications. This software tend to be titled in the "CNM/Opplet COTS-name" format. For example, CNM MediaWiki powers the CNM Wiki, Inplz Wiki, and Kryvi Wiki applications.
  2. Lectios that provide CNM learners with knowledge about the deployed software.
  3. Hands-on assignments that CNM learners can use to get accustomed with the software while using its hands-on training systems and applications.
  4. Documentation that describes the software in technical details.
  5. Presentations that presents the software to its new users in the multimedia, video, just audio, and/or just graphic formats.

Software instances

At the Cyber, the COTS-powered software may be installed in various instances as follows:
  • CNM instance that CNM patrons can use to get benefited from the functions for which this software has been created. For example, you are using CNM Wiki while reading these lines. For example, you are using CNM Wiki while reading these lines.
  • Inplz instance that CNM learners can use for their structured practical training. For example, the learners shall be able to use Inplz Wiki to complete their hands-on assignments after going through those lectios that cover CNM MediaWiki.
  • Kryvi instance that CNM felows can use on their fellowships and entry-level jobs. For example, Kryvi Wiki shall be an experiential instance of CNM MediaWiki.

Projects

A project is a set of enterprise efforts undertaken to produce a unique deliverable, functional features of which are identified or can be identified before the efforts start. Those deliverables are those new and modified products that are produced during those developments. Indeed, the aim of the Cyber's developments is to produce new or modify existing Cyber products. At the Cyber, former and current projects are listed in the "CNM Cyber projects" category.

Deliverables vs by-products

Those project outputs that are not Project deliverables may be called project by-products. Their range is huge; there are some imaginary scenarios:
  • A contractor submitted more products than the contract had required. If they are further deployed, those additional products would be by-products of this project.
  • Contractor's performance demonstrated advanced competencies in something unrelated to the project. The updated records are by-products of this project.
  • While organizing a meeting, the Coord encountered the problem of the policy's incompleteness. The project customer agreed to fund the policy's updates. The updated policy is a by-product of the project

Durations

The Coords work on one project, usually up to three and, in exceptional cases, up to five weeks.
  1. In the first week, they shall get familiarized with the project. At the end of the familiarization, the Coord should be able to explain what is described on the relevant wikipages and be ready to discuss its Sprint Zero with the Customer.
  2. From the second week to the penultimate week, they facilitate the project work in accordance with the What Coords do section.
  3. In the final week, they close the project or project part, documenting their work and the data that was uncovered during that work.
Projects can overlap. For example, the last week of work on one project may be the first week of work on another project. For senior Coords, there are no restrictions.

Patterns

Any project can be viewed as sets of processes. On that very wikipage, those processes are grouped in Formalizing the project, Studying the backgrounds, Specifying the deliverables, Planning the project, Hiring contractors, Working with contractors, Creating the deliverables, and Commissioning the product.
However, every of those groups, in fact, are separate developments on their own. For instance, the project formalization shall result in a project charter, but this document may be considered as an output of a separate development that requires its own formalization, studies, specification, planning, creation, and commissioning. Sometimes, it also requires hiring contractors and working with them.
Although no single straightforward pattern of project advancement exists, some patterns can be found in various developments. As an example, letters in the DREPD pattern represent five phrases:
  1. D for "discover the need".
  2. R for "research the background".
  3. E for "envision the deliverable".
  4. P for "plan the production".
  5. D for "do what is planned and discover what hasn't been expected". This discovery is supposed to start a new cycle; new data shall emerge while doing and/or after getting something done.
This pattern can be found in the whole development, in every group of processes, every process and every part of processes where ever anything new is or is going to be developed.
Furthermore, the most of projects may be viewed as sets of smaller developments. Among the Coords' outputs, Meetings, Documents, and Communications usually belong to project scraps. Indeed, Project results and results of the Coords' work are different phenomena.
Project deliverables normally utilize outputs from other projects as its scrap. A CNM app development, for example, requires documents that describe its requirements, and drawing up those requirements requires meeting events. If we consider the Coords' work as micro-projects, we can say that outputs of micro-projects tend to become scraps for small projects and, furthermore, outputs of small projects tend to become scraps for macro-projects.

Project deliverables

Projects are undertaken to create project deliverables. Project customers initiate projects in order to get something in return. Normally, customers fund projects because of its expected deliverables. Any project is expected to deliver some outputs. In other words, project deliverables are those products for which development the project exists.
For instance, when a contractor is hired to produce a particular thing, that very thing should be the deliverable of that project. Literally, the contractor is expected to deliver the deliverable to complete the project.
At the Cyber, former and current deliverables are listed in the "CNM Cyber products" category. Project deliverables exist in various Product states and belong to various Product areas. In addition, one project rarely produces one single deliverable. For instance, the HAProxy for CNM Farms project is expected to deliver high-availability capabilities for CNM Campus Farm and Campus Farm Lab, as well as related presentations on various media resources, updates to the CNM Cyber Orientation course, and a set of exercises for the learners.

Project results

The results of the projects may be classified in four levels:
  1. Project scraps, which are intermediate products that either become parts of the Cyber products or have been decommissioned before the end of the project. Nevertheless, the outputs cannot be produced without those scraps. As they say, sausage making is messy, but no sausage can be produced without that mess.
  2. Project outputs are the things that are produced during the project and kept after its end. Besides the Project deliverables, the outputs may include other-than-the-project Records such as publications and Documents such as blueprints that have been developed and commissioned in order to produce the Project deliverables.
  3. Project outcomes. On the Coord's side, the outcomes are those KSAs that the Coord has obtained during the project coordination. On the other stakeholders' side, the outcomes are something for which the Project deliverables have been produced.
  4. Project impacts, which are consequences of the project, its outputs and outcomes on a society. Beyond the Coord's work, some projects, for instance, may initiate further meetings, documents, actions, and changes.

States and readiness

Product states

The Coords work to bring the item into one or more of the following states:
  1. State of acknowledgment. In this state, the future deliverable exists in the form of a noticed and documented idea.
  2. State of certainty. In this state, the future deliverable exists as a validated product specification.
  3. State of capability. In this state, the functional deliverable has already been produced in accordance with all the requirements that have been approved for it.
  4. State of applicability. In this state, the deliverable is not only functional, but can also be used for the purpose for which it was produced in ways that are described by a validated standing operational procedure (SOP).
  5. State of manageability. In this state, the deliverable is not only used for the purpose for which it was produced, but also controlled, that is, the product undergoes periodic revisions and is either improved and its characteristics are improved, or withdrawn from service.
In practice, these states do not always represent a hierarchy of five levels, in which the higher level includes the states of the lower levels. However, the Coords should strive for this ideal, for example, it is impossible to fully talk about applicability without capacity, manageability without certainty, and so on.

Status reports

While working on the deliverable, the Coords are expected to report their project status. In CNM Agile framework, these statuses are reported at the product line wikipage, CNM Cloud Usable, using the following readiness levels for each Product state and Device of certainty:

Devices of certainty

Various devices ensure certainty of product deliverables, project, or both. A term, a device here stands for an instrument or tool.

Core certainty

  1. Business requirements. Description of the needs for which the development of the deliverable is undertaken.
  2. Funded demands of the Cyber team. Description of what the Cyber team needs and, possibly, when it needs expressed when the Customer has funded satisfaction of those needs.
  3. Stakeholder requirements. Description of the future deliverable made on behalf of various types of its stakeholders.

Product only certainty

A few devices ensure certainty of product deliverables:
  1. Product depictions. Representation in words, images, wireframes, mockup models, and/or prototypes of a deliverable to be created. Prototypes (from the Greek "prōtos" meaning "first", "original" and "typos" meaning "imprint", "pattern"). Instances, samples or models, following the example of which others are made or finalized. Prototypes of the deliverable are often built to test a perception, concept, or process. Prototypes can either be selected from existing products or produced during a project.
  2. Product specifications. Set of tasks for deliverable developers regarding its required characteristics.
Business requirements, stakeholder requirements, and acceptance criteria list demands to the product deliverable, but may also contain demands to its production and/or delivery.

Project only certainty

A few devices ensure certainty of project processes and product delivery:
  1. Project scope baseline. The combination of project work requirements that the Customer has approved and that are used as the base to compare with actual results. For complex projects, the baseline normally includes a project scope statement, work breakdown structure (WBS), and WBS dictionary.
  2. Project schedule baseline. The combination of project schedule requirements that the Customer has approved and that are used as the base to compare with actual results.
  3. Project cost baseline. The combination of project cost requirements that the Customer has approved and that are used as the base to compare with actual results.
Business requirements, stakeholder requirements, and acceptance criteria may or may not contain project demands in addition to demands to the product deliverable.

Workforce

Customer

The customer provides requirements for future products and pays project budgets. In simple words, the customer orders products and pays for their production. The work of the Coord is paid insofar as it is part of the development of the product. The customer implies that the Coord works out projects in accordance with the instructions set out on this wikipage. Out of the goodness of heart and for professional training purposes, the customer may do the work of the Coord temporarily as long as the customer believes that the Coord will someday be able to work independently.

Personnel

  1. CNM Cyber administrator is responsible for resolving administrative, personnel, financial, legal and organizational issues. In particular, the administrator assigns projects to the Coordinators, places advertisements for hiring contractors, gives the coordinators recruiter access and pays the project budgets. The manager can be called a "super-coordinator". If the Coords work on one endeavor, which they choose on their own, the administrator is responsible for the entire group of developments and operations, including finance, personnel, administration of the Coords, and so on. At the moment, the head is replaced by the Customer, but he does it temporarily, before such a person or people are found.
  2. Coords or coordinators contribute to the implementation of projects by acting in accordance with the What Coords do section.
  3. System administrators ensure the stability of the Cloud's operations and advise on technological developments.
  4. Recruiters ensure that the recruiting process is in place, there are candidates for Coords and, with the approval of the Customer, for other full-time positions in the recruiting "pipeline", and also advise on those developments that relate to recruiting. In their projects, the Coords also play the role of recruiters and take over the hiring of contractors. Unlike recruiters, the Coords discuss requirements and other project documents with candidates. The Coords turn to recruiters in cases where their own competencies or resources are not enough to attract contractors.
Although Contractors and the Customer are not formally part of the project staff, they are important parts of the Cyber development and management.

Contractors

With the exception of the Communications, Documents, Meetings, and Records, the Coords rarely develop and manage the Project deliverables directly or, or least, without someone else's assistance. For the most part, contractors develop and service them. The contractors perform on the basis of approved descriptions, Funded demands, and finalized by the Coors and/or other members of the Personnel. The Coords facilitate the Hiring the contractors and Working with contractors activities.

Payment models

  • Fixed-price basis. When either acceptance criteria or standing operating procedure (SOP) is available, the Cyber contractors are paid a fixed price. This price might be chunked in several payments and some payments may be made in advance. This model assumes that all of the three, "scope of work, terms, budget" are well defined. Otherwise, the Cyber team risks to receive not what it needs, or not for the budgeted money, or when it no longer needs it.
  • Per-hour basis. When neither acceptance criteria nor standing operating procedure (SOP) is available, the Cyber contractors are paid per hour. Architects, consultants, designers, managers, and others whose jobs are not structured shall be hired on the per-hour basis.

Register

Types of contractors

For the purposes of this very wikipage, contractors are distinguished in three types:

Contract

The Cyber team uses Careerprise contractor agreements to hire its contractors directly; hereinafter, they are called the Contracts. A blueprint of the Contract is published at the Careerprise contractor agreement wikipage.

Some portion of contractors is hired through freelance marketplaces such as Upwork; their blueprints are used in that case.

Content matters

Any contract's content features at least two major matters:
  1. Subject matters is what essentially the parties of the Contract are going to exchange. More specifically, they consist of two parts:
    • Funded demands is what the Customer would like to exchange its funds for. Usually, the demands include requirements to the deliverable, its production, and delivery.
    • Payment provisions that define what the contractor shall expect to be paid when the Funded demands are satisfied.
  2. Legal matters include legal provisions such as legal names, dates, statuses, ownership, representation, indemnification, confidentiality, communications, dispute-resolution procedures, warranties, and miscellaneous ones.

Funded demands

The Cyber team hires contractors to satisfy specific business needs when the Customer agrees to fund such hiring. Before they enter the Contract or third-party contracts, these funded demands can be stated in a project charter and/or request for proposal (RFP). For fixed-priced contracts, it can be stated in one of the following two:
For hourly-paid contracts the demand statement tends to be less concrete; at those cases, the Cyber team "buys" contractor's time, not a particular deliverable, its production, or delivery.

Recruiting the Coords

There is no single simple indicator by which one can judge whether a person can become a successful Coord and, if so, whether similar jobs would attract and motivate him or her. One never knows unless one tries. The Cyber provides everyone with opportunities to:

  1. Get trained to start working in an entry-level position. Three courses, (a) CNM Cyber Welcome Session, (b) CNM Cyber Orientation, and (c) CNM Cyber Placement are designed to provide the learners with theoretical knowledge.
  2. Start working in an entry-level position of the Coord in order to get introduced to various professions practically.
  3. Identify the target profession and further continue with professional preparation.

Coords' sourcing

Main wikipage: WorldOpp Sourcing
WorldOpp Sourcing encompasses the WorldOpp Outreach campaigns to attract attention of potential candidates and CNM Cyber Welcome Session to bring the candidates on the board.

Coords' orientation

Main wikipage: CNM Cyber Orientation
The CNM Cyber Orientation is designed to introduce promising Coords to the job market, the Cyber, its team, services, and the Cloud.

Coords' placement

Main wikipage: CNM Cyber Placement
The CNM Cyber Placement (hereinafter, the Placement) is designed to introduce the learners to various positions, help to select the promising one, and place the learner as an apprentice into both the job and educational program. In their practice, the learners work as the Coords.
The Coord is a temporary position, limited by the duration of the Placement. Not everyone is attracted to work on creating something new. Not everyone is able to work in conditions of uncertainty.
  • If the job of the Coord suits the participant, he or she moves towards the business analyst, systems engineer, partner coordinator, event organizer, information structure or solution creator, product or user experience designer, and product, information resources or development manager, and other occupations in projects.
  • If unable or unwilling, the participant is promoted to Contract or Systems Administrator, Usability Analyst, Accountant, Graphic Designer, Operations Engineer, Purchasing, Account Manager, and Procurement Manager and other occupations in operations.
During the Placement, students should be introduced to different professions from a programmer to an accountant. The specialty will be selected based on the results of the practice, and then it will be necessary to select a curriculum with a partner and organize an internship. We hope to organize the internship ourselves, but it will be difficult to replace educational institutions. Nothing unreal is foreseen, but everything needs to be worked out. Until the third course is ready, the Coords can work on it.

History

2014-2019

The Cyber team of that time initially introduced its pre-entry-level-job position in 2014. Its titles include Project Management Apprentice, Project Assistant, and project management learner. The position was advertised mostly during CNM Cyber events. Outside of the events, Upwork was the primary vehicle for the hiring.
Just few hires were successful. At that time, training wasn't tailored to pre-entry-level-job participants. The structure of the PMBOK Guide was used for project management curriculum; technology hands-on training was being structured on the fly, as the participants advance. The overwhelming majority of the participants looked for income and dropped when realized that their income depends on their training, both training and its development require a deal of time, and their "financial runaway" was too short.

2020-Present

In early 2020, the training was initially r

In February of 2020, the job title was changed to IT Project Coordinator (Agile).

Future

See also

Related lectures

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