Where is Allison DuBois when you need her?

So we've just been reading about creating a vision statement for our projects, with a warning not to confuse it with the mission statement. There is a lot to read about it and to think about in how I can help with the creation of one.

I also wonder about how much to use from the readings, which seem to be mostly for big organizations, and apply it to a small business. How can I make this work out and do a good job for the people I am working with?

I asked my contact to have everyone start thinking about mission statements and for them to look at web sites, making note of what they like and don't like about them. So far I haven't heard anything back from them just yet. I also need to call him sometime tomorrow about setting up a time for meeting with them this week.

Making plans for making plans

When I registered for this class, I had never really thought much about planning beyond the every day tasks. I had never really had to. But strategic planning is a lot more involved than making a grocery list. It's more like creating blueprints for building a house. There's a lot of details to think about in both.

I also had not thought about the different types of needs and which ones that should be considered in strategic planning. Plus you have to be careful and not confuse wants with those needs. Reading about planning and needs assessments has given me food for thought. I think I'm going to need a big glass of tea or coke to wash it all down. And hope that for dessert I will have created a good strategic plan to be topped off with a good grade.

It's raining stakeholders...wait......

So this week we had to consider the stakeholders in our project, and how they are to be included in the planning. Of course the owner, manager and other employees in this business have to be included, but they're not the only ones who have a stake in the outcome of this project. Next we'll have to determine the purpose and scope of the project.

And at the same time, Arkansas has to deal with it's second hurricane remnants in two weeks bringing rain. Fortunately it looks like what's left of Ike won't be hanging around as long as Gustav did. It's been a very wet and mild year here. It's kind of weird seeing everything still so green this late in the summer. Most of the leaves on the trees are usually dead by now, as well as the grass. Hopefully there won't be any more hurricanes coming up into the gulf, but unfortunately there are still several weeks left in the hurricane season.

Also, I hope that the cable company will stop causing me problems with logging on to Blackboard and into my UA e-mail. It's hard to turn in assignments and check for e-mails from the instructor. It took several tries, but I finally was able to submit my assignments.

So many ways to plan

I had never really considered how many possible ways or how many steps there might be in creating a strategic plan. And you have to be sure to get the right plan for the organization that needs it.

I've made my choice for who I will be helping with a strategic plan. And fortunately it's right here in Fayetteville. Sorry Sarah, but since I'm not in Fort Smith now, it makes more sense to find one close by to work on.

And I've picked up several books to help me create better web sites. So when I've finished helping them to plan their web site, I may help them out with building it for them. I'm glad I took the course on using video so that I can film and edit one for the page if they want it. At least they shouldn't need it in German, unlike this one.

http://comp.uark.edu/~jterrel/eis/videoproject.html