CNMCyber Coordinator

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Any CNM Cyber Project 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 of Products to be developed, the Coords produce four categories of their first-level results: (1) Meetings, (2) Documents, (c) Records, and (d) Communications.

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 Products to be developed, 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.

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 Products to be developed, 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 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 Products to be developed. 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.

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 Products to be developed, 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.

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 Products to be developed 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.

What Coords do

Each project can have the Coord who is responsible for it. To facilitate production of the Project deeliverables, the Coords do a cycle 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.

Discovering the project

For the purposes of this very wikipage, project discovery refers to a set of endeavors undertaken to the extent necessary to start envisioning and planning for the project deliverables and their production. This discovery aims to setup the stage for Defining the deliverable and Clarifying the project activities.
Any project discovery shall produce at least 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. At CNM Cyber, the discovery shall also produce:
The complete charter contains business requirements or those product and/or project requirements that are not negotiable; on a slang, they are called "hard requirements". 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. 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).
To coordinate the project discovery, 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.
  3. Selects those resources and those data that will be used in the project activities.
  4. Composes the asset register and datasource register.
  5. Collects data related to the business requirements from the Customer and, if it is required by law, legally-binding resources.
  6. Traces in a requirements traceability matrix the discovered business requirements from the Customer and legally-binding resources to perspective project deliverables.
  7. Drafts a project charter, based on the resources recorded in the registers.
  8. Makes sure that the statement of work (SOW) in the drafted project charter supports the business case.
  9. Submits the drafted project charter for the Customer's approval.
  10. Publishes the project charter, after its approval, on the CNM Wiki.
  11. Updates the asset register, datasource register, and requirements traceability matrix, when ever new data from existing resources and/or new resources emerge.
  12. Reports on progress of the project discovery using the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage.
The project discovery starts after the business need is identified and ends with the project closure.

Specifying the deliverables

The main goal of the deliverable specification activities is to get the deliverable in a state of certainty, which is determined by the presence of a validated deliverable specification. This specification is needed to compare the created deliverables against their requirements. To achieve the main goal, the responsible Coord:
  1. Collects data related to stakeholder requirements for the project deliverables and deliverable specifications using the registered datasources. This study includes communicating with stakeholders, reviewing documents, and testing those prototypes and finished products that are available.
  2. Identifies those target audiences who are supposed to use future deliverables.
  3. Creates imaginary personas that would represent each of the identified audience.
  4. Produces stakeholder requirements for each created persona using the CNM Wiki.
  5. Composes deliverable specifications based on the produced stakeholder requirements.
  6. Traces in a requirements traceability matrix the discovered stakeholder requirements from the selected datasources to perspective project deliverables.
  7. Makes sure that the deliverable specification supports the stakeholder requirements.
  8. Checks deliverable specifications for completeness. Completeness is characterized by the presence of conditions for (a) functionality, (b) applicability, and (c) manageability of the deliverable. Conditions of applicability should include deliverable documentation, such as system diagrams, a list of necessary accesses, as well as the availability of a working instruction for operation such as standing operating procedure (SOP), measures to protect the deliverable and instructions for recovery in case of accidents.
  9. Updates the asset register, datasource register, and requirements traceability matrix, when ever new data from existing resources and/or new resources emerge.
The deliverable 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 deliverable will be developed. Those activities result in validated acceptance criteria. In other words, planning is getting a description of the deliverable in such a way that allows this development to be certain. To achieve this goal, 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 study includes communicating with stakeholders and reviewing documents that are available.
  2. Formulates the difference between what actually is and what is needed. The project activities shall address this identified difference.
  3. Drafts project scope baseline, project schedule baseline, project budget baseline, and acceptance criteria, based on the resources recorded in the registers.
  4. Makes sure that the acceptance criteria supports the project scope baseline, project schedule baseline, project budget baseline.
  5. Submits the drafted project scope baseline, project schedule baseline, project budget baseline, and acceptance criteria for the Customer's confirmation.
  6. Publishes the acceptance criteria, after their confirmation, on the CNM Wiki.
  7. Updates the asset register, datasource register, and requirements traceability matrix, when ever new data from existing resources and/or new resources emerge.
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 planning depends on deliverable specification, while the specification rarely does.

Hiring contractors

The main goal of the deliverable planning and production activities is to get the deliverable in a state of certainty, which is determined by the presence of an fully-executed contract. In other words, planning is getting a description of the deliverable and its development process in such a way that allows this development to be certain. To achieve this goal, the responsible Coord:
If external contractors are required, the Coord will further:
  1. Evaluates whether it is necessary to involve third-party contractors in the deliverable production and, if necessary, whether their assistance is required to create deliverable specifications, work specifications, and deliverable charter draft.
  2. Provides data to the Customer for making a decision either to attract external contractors or to produce the deliverable with internal personnel. The positive decision assumes the financing of the production work.
  1. Prepares the hiring of contractors for development, including developing texts for solicitation announcements and options for their placement, forming a list of consultants and potential developers, as well as organizing a community on the CNM Social and scheduling video conferences to which everyone interested in development will be invited.
  2. Invites contractors to develop and, in parallel, refine the deliverable specification, work specification, and deliverable charter.
  3. Assists in the process of hiring development contractors, including the selection of the most promising candidates, negotiations, the conclusion of a development contract and the commissioning of contractors. Historically, requirements are refined during the recruitment process. If the requirements cannot be formulated during the recruitment process, they themselves become the target deliverable of an intermediary project.
  4. Informs the Customer about the readiness of the contract or contract for the conclusion. The conclusion of the contract authorizes the financing of the production of the deliverable by contractors. One of the consultants may be contracted for consultations and/or participation in video conferences.
The planning of both the deliverable itself and the process of its production opens before the start of work on the direct production of the deliverable and, even if contractors are involved, it is periodically resumed after the start, since the production always reveals new factors and requirements.
If further production will be carried out without the involvement of contractors, the Customer can authorize its beginning before the completion of the deliverable charter. In this case, the requirements are finalized taking into account the data obtained during the production process.
The defining of the deliverables themselves opens before the start of work on the direct production of the deliverables. Even if developers have been hired, the planning periodically resumes after the start, since the production always reveals new factors and requirements.
  • Project scope statement. A description of the Customer's vision for what and/or how the project shall accomplish with regards to "hard" deliverables and key factors that affect the project work such as project tools, policies, regulatory and governance terms, as well as other factors. Later, the scope statement is used in development of deliverable specifications and becomes a part of the project scope baseline.

Creating the deliverables

The main goal of deliverable development activities is to obtain the deliverable in a state of capability, which is determined by the fact that the deliverable meets all the deliverable specifications that have been approved for it. In addition to the deliverable itself, the process of its production must also satisfy the work specifications. To achieve this goal, the responsible Coord:
  1. Oversees the production of the product, playing the roles of the product owner and project owner in the absence of other employees assigned to these roles. Thus, the Coord decides how, within the framework of the agreed requirements, the deliverable and the project should be.
  2. Tests the deliverable and, if necessary, its parts.
  3. Oversees the development and execution of the project, including monitoring compliance with the budget, schedule and scope of work.
  4. Initiates changes to the requirements for the deliverable or its production.
  5. Starts a project closed from the public on CNM Git for work on the deliverable in addition to the project wikipage on CNM Wiki.
  6. Reports to the Customer on the status of the project, collecting, analyzing and summarizing information and trends.
  7. Provides acceptance of the product, including the documentation that was agreed upon by the contract, or motivates the need to refuse acceptance after the contractor informs about the complete completion of work on the direct production of the product.
  8. Makes changes to the documentation based on these developments.

Establishing the operations

Hiring servicers

Working with contractors

If third-party contractors are involved in the development, the Coord will also:
  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. Starts 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.
The direct production of a deliverable opens after the decision of the Customer to start this production, as a rule, when business and stakeholder requirements are present. deliverable and work specifications, as well as prototypes can be refined in parallel with the production of a viable product. The production of the deliverable is closed with the acceptance of the deliverable and can be resumed if problems with the viability of the deliverable are found out.

Commissioning the product

The main goal of the deliverable transfer into operation is to obtain the deliverable in a state of applicability, which is determined by the fact that the deliverable is not only functional, but can also be used for the purpose for which it was produced. To achieve this goal, the responsible Coord:
  1. Is responsible for restricting the contractor's further access to the deliverable.
  2. 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.
  3. Contributes to the implementation of the transfer of the deliverable from accepted from the contractor to put into operation. This "contribution", in particular, may include (a) clarifying with the project manager which of the Personnel will administer the produced product, (b) transferring access to the classified documentation on CNM Git to administrators, (c) together with administrators, detailing the procedure for transferring the deliverable to operations, (d) standing operating procedures (SOPs), product protection measures and disaster recovery procedures, and (e) hiring service contractors. Maintenance may include prompt assistance at the request of administrators, periodic product revisions, and timely software updates, if applicable.
  4. Makes changes reflecting the real state of affairs on this very wikipage, as well as related project wikipages.
The transition to production opens no later than the receipt of the finished deliverable and ends with the start of use of the product, usually initially during the beta testing process.

Managing the product

The main goal of product management activities is to get the product in a state of manageability, which 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 the improvement and improvement of product performance, as well as decisions to end-of-life or replace. To achieve this goal, the responsible Coord:
  1. Monitors product usage, administrator performance, user feedback, and trends in markets associated with the product. We are talking about commercial versions of analogues, component parts, as well as changes in the factors and procedures for their conception, capacity, application and refinement.
  2. Organizes video conferences or other meetings of parties interested in the product, especially those necessary to discuss the product, the work of administrators, user feedback and market trends.
  3. Identifies problems and opportunities to improve the product or replace the product with other solutions.
  4. Inventory the problems and opportunities that have been identified.
  5. Presents the problems and opportunities identified in the inventory to the Customer for making decisions about opening new projects.
  6. Makes changes reflecting the real state of affairs on this very wikipage, as well as related project wikipages.
Product management opens at the latest when the product is put into service and ends when the product gets retired.

Projects

The Coords work on projects, which can be defined as enterprise efforts undertaken to produce a unique deliverable, functional features of which are identified or can be identified before the efforts start. Any project can be viewed as a set of processes. The deliverables of the projects that the Coords coordinate are described in the Products to be developed section of this wikipage.

Authorized projects

Those projects that are fully funded, authorized, and available to the Coords are published on the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage.

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 Products to be developed 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.

Projects of projects

The most of projects consist of several projects. For instance, Project results and results of the Coords' work are different phenomena. Among the Coords' outputs, Meetings, Documents, and Communications usually belong to project scraps. 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.
As a rule, any project deliverable utilizes outputs from other projects as its scrap. Making a new accessory, for example, is impossible without documents that describe the requirements, and drawing up requirements is impossible without meeting events.

Choice of projects

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

Products to be developed

The Coords work on Meetings, Documents, Records, and Communications to facilitate development of the project outputs or those products that the project directly produces. Those products belong to various Product categories, Product states, and Development areas.

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.
Project deliverables are rarely simple things. At the Cyber, any project deliverable is a package of the Products to be developed. 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.

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

Product categories

The aim of Cloud's developments is to produce new products or modify existing products. Those new and modified products that are produced during those developments are called deliverables. They may include one or more of the following:
  • 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 Products to be developed, (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.

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.

Development areas

Students in practice are encouraged to suggest their project topics and development areas. Those projects that are published on the CNM Cloud Usable wikipage are grouped in the following areas:
  • Administration of the Cyber project, covering personnel, legal, financial and organizational issues.
  • Cloud. 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.
  • Support for end-users, potential participants and partners of the Cyber.
  • Outreach to participants in the labor market and business services market.
  • Career services, including vocational guidance, training and employment with the support of volunteers and CNM apps, as well as business services for project participants.
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.

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 deliverable charter.
  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 operation credential.
  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.

Devices of certainty

  1. Business requirements. Description of the needs for which the development of the deliverable is undertaken.
  2. Stakeholder requirements. Description of the future deliverable made on behalf of various types of its stakeholders.
  3. Deliverable 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.
  4. Deliverable specifications. Set of tasks for deliverable developers regarding its required characteristics.
  5. Work specifications. Description of the conditions for the production of the future deliverable.
  6. Deliverable charter. The subject and related matters of a contract to create a deliverable. The complete charter includes its business requirements, stakeholder requirements, product concepts, deliverable specifications, and work specifications, as well as:
    1. Project scope baseline.
    2. Project schedule baseline.
    3. Project budget baseline.
    4. Acceptance criteria.
    The validated charter must be approved by both the Customer and the developers. The contract is a legally binding agreement between the Customer and a contractor for the production of a product. The complete contract may consist of the matter and other details such as dates, statuses, ownership, representation, indemnification, confidentiality, communications, warranties, and miscellaneous provisions.

The consent can take two forms:

  1. Standing operating procedure (SOP). A detailed description of the procedures required for production of the deliverable.

A valid consent must include deliverable acceptance criteria as well as either:

  1. schedule and budget.
  2. the principles by which the terms and costs of work will be determined.

Deliverable acceptance criteria should reflect the scope of work.

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:

Project factors

Administrators at Cyber

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. The project manager is the CNM Cyber administrator by default; he or she 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.

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. Coords or coordinators contribute to the implementation of projects by acting in accordance with the What Coords do section.
  2. System administrators ensure the stability of the Cloud's operations and advise on technological developments.
  3. 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.
  4. Project manager is responsible for resolving administrative, personnel, financial, legal and organizational issues. In particular, the manager 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 coordinator works on one project, which he himself chooses, the manager 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.
Although contractors are not formally part of the project staff, they are an important part of project development.

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.

Contractors

With the exception of the Records, the Coords rarely develop and service 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 and finalized by the Coors and/or other members of the Personnel. The Coords participate in hiring of those contractors.

Types of contractors

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

  • Developers create project deliverables based on their acceptance criteria to be commissioned as CNM Cyber products.
  • Servicers serve CNM Cyber products based on their standing operating procedures (SOPs).
  • Consultants provide the Coordinators with their expertise at any stage of product imagination, creation, commissioning, and productive life.

How not to hire

Here is an example of how the Coord should not hire contractors:
  1. We find a person or several people who agree to take on this development and speak, write, look well, get in touch on time, respond quickly, and so on.
  2. We contact (preferably by phone) to clarify their requirements for payment and promises on terms.
  3. We award the contract to the one or the one who offers the best conditions, and let the others know in a polite and respectful way.

How to hire

Here is an example of how the Coord should hire contractors:
  1. Know the criteria that determine the state of certainty.
  2. Check if the state of certainty has been reached for the deliverable under development.
  3. If the state of certainty:
    • Not achieved, check whether the resources available to the Coord without the involvement of external consultants have been exhausted. If resources are exhausted, look for external resources, such as advertising for consultants or trying to find contractors to help achieve this state. If both internal and external resources are exhausted, but the state has not been reached, issue an additional project, making the contract its desired product.
    • Achieved, proceed further according to the How not to hire section; after completing the previous points, it makes sense.
The contract must include a description of what we are to receive that satisfies measurable eligibility criteria, as well as when and for how much we will receive it. If something from the three "scope of work, terms, budget" is not defined, then we will get what we need in one case out of 100. In 99 other cases, we will get either what we do not need, or for that money , which we do not count on, or when we no longer need it.

Contractors' interviews

Hiring people is a great way to learn about aspects of a project and the resulting product. Perfectly conducted interviews add to the documentation for CNM Wiki.

Contractor applications

We can publish received applications, but we do not publish the names of contractors, as they did not give us permission to publish. From a legal point of view, we cannot publish the confidential information of our contractors.

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 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 internship. 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 CNM Cyber Placement course, 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

See also

Related lectures