Case Study II

1. Lanh said, “It would be really bad if we have a great idea but are unable to execute it successfully”.
What are your views? Which is more important - the idea or the execution? Why?
In my opinion,  both are important. But if i have to prioritize them, i would say execution is much better than the idea. A world No 1 idea with poor execution will not impress anyone. Users are the judges. They are using the application that developers have develop. They cannot literally play with the idea which is rather abstract. A functional bicycle vs a malfunctional car, any sensible person will choose the bicycle. ( provided you cannot sell them or fix the car). An app of a bad idea with excellent execution and marketing will win over more users. Like i said, it is better to both of them -----a functional car!  If we have to choose one given various constraints like time limit, i would definitely choose execution. It would be simple and sweet instead of being fantastic in disguise.

2. What have you learnt about Facebook so far?
It is a success which cannot be imitated easily.Imagine there is a different social platform, users will not switch to it unless it has some special features which facebook does not have. It is a great platform which provide many plugins and even the code in js php etc to benefit itself and developers mutually.


3. Comment on the ideas for Another Life and Fan Gang.
There is no problem with both ideas.
For Another Life, as the name suggested, the scope is very huge. It makes me think of Sims. However, given the time constraint, even a simple sims is not simple to build. If it gets to simple, it is not fun any more. Thus, such a topic for this module is deemed as inappropriate.
For Fan Gang, it is a utility app which i do not like. Personally i do not even use time table builder. I do not care about most of the utility app on my ipad. It is well developed but i do not give a shit. So what. I do not need another event planner, alarm clock , to do list etc. The idea is not too new.

4. Should the team have changed their idea for the Final Project mid-way or stuck to their original
idea? Why, or why not?
Yes. After getting stuck in the old idea for a long time, they should change their idea. Althought, time is not on their side. With careful planning, chances are that they can still finish the project in a decent manner. They can not go anywhere for their old idea. It was just too hard to modify. Sticking to it would just waste all their hard work along the journey.

5. List the major problems (obvious and non-obvious ones) in faced by the team? How could they
have done differently and better?
At the phase of brainstorming, they can come up with any ideas. However, at the phase of implementation and planning, they should set realistic goals. Most programmers tend to overestimate themselves. Thus incremental approach will be more safe as compare to waterfall. If they plan carefully and realize the scope of life is too big, they would save a lot of time before they switch to other ideas.
Communication is another problem. Since they have two coders, they must listen to their ideas. If they do not agree to them ,they would better change it.

6. What did the team do right/well?
They were brave enough to change ideas half way and let go the old idea. It would be better if they can implement it by meeting the milestones.

7. What would you do if you were Jeremy on the evening of 24th April (and the deadline for the
final project submission was the next day)?
Not a lot can be done on that particular night. But if i were really in that condition, i would call everyone to come up a best-fit solution like finishing some basic feature and write a report for it.  Instead of being helpless, be optimistic and learn the lessons from it while putting in the necessary effort.

8. How would you handle a situation where one of your team members is unable to deliver on the
work he/she promised because of personal problems?
I will not blame him for not delivery. Communication is the most important. Before several days of the deadline, we should know each others' progress. Instead of being surprised on the day of project meeting, any potential problems should be solved early. This does not happen in my team as we all meet up to do the projects.

9. What, in your opinion, are the key learning points from this case study?
Dream big and plan well.  Execution > idea given the constraints.  Team dynamic is something we should really pay attention to while doing any project.