Milestone #2: M.O.U./Project Plan

View the meeting minutes from 5-20-19  here.

View the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) here.

Milestone #2 Reflection

I have never written a Memorandum of Understanding before, so this part of the project was a bit of a challenge.  Fortunately, I was able to work closely with my client on this part of the process, and they were very open to brainstorming and working through the document together and provided helpful feedback via email.  I feel that the final product addresses all project outcomes clearly. As established in my Work Breakdown Structure, the project has four phases or components. First is the Research, then Curation, then Creation, and then Navigation.  I think the tasks described in the WBS and MOU clearly fall into these categories and in order. Since the client for this project is also my colleague, we have had sufficient opportunity to discuss this project in the months leading up to this semester.  Thanks to our rapport and shared vision, we had minimum disputes when creating the MOU and Project Plan.

While I think this project has a wide scope, I think it is manageable within the timeframe because of my status as a SME and the unofficial “pre-work” I have done for this project in the last few months.  Using material that is already in use for orientation rather than starting from scratch has partially made this project feasible in the time frame.  One of the things I like about this project is that it has the possibility of future development and adjustment. It doesn’t need to be a static resource, but can grow as needed.

I think the various pieces of the MOU dovetailed with the pieces of the project I had already completed, such as the timeline and WBS.  I am glad I completed those pieces before the MOU because it made the MOU easier to fill out. Before gaining access to the Carmen module with the MOU template, I thought I had to write one from scratch.  Many of the templates I found online were confusing or had additional elements. Thanks to the modules in Carmen, it made it easier for a first-time user like me to draft an appropriate MOU for the project.