Introduction

Planning A Session

Project Work

Project Meeting

Project Event

Resources

NavCenter Resources for Project Leaders

Here is a list of some of the resources available for you and your project team to use at the NavCenter. Take some time to stop by the NavCenter to get familiar with these resources or experience them first hand by volunteering to be a Krew member for a NavCenter event.

ANDMap® Project Management Tool - The term "ANDMap" stands for Annotated Network Diagram Map and refers to an invention that synthesizes Gannt charts, network diagrams like PERT, CPM or GERT, and process flow charts. The items on the map are plotted to scale over time and may be collected across a series of horizontal tracks, like Gannt charts. A standard set of symbols are employed to represent a range of activities from the strategic (Landmark, Benchmark) to the tactical (Event, Task), to the conditional decision point (Cusp) to the task level (Milestone). Landmarks and Benchmarks can be employed to express large scale ideas like missions, visions and goals. Events are rounded rectangles used to identify activities in points of time. They can be annotated with resource and duration data and used in network diagram fashion. Tasks have symbols representing the start and end of an activity, much the way activities are represented on Gannt charts. The Cusp represents a decision gate that may be found in process charts. Since the ANDMap system is laid out with time as one of its axes, loops are usually avoided--currently it's still impossible to go backwards in time--instead a NO decision out of a Cusp will either end in a cessation of the project, an alternative contingency, or an indication that previous work must be redone, and showing this rework extending out along the timeline so the project team can get a visual sense of the impact of the decision. Milestones are used to highlight significant subdivisions of Events or Tasks. All of the symbols are connected by lines that may be coded to represent dependency, parallel processing, or critical information exchange. The symbols and lines may be color coded to provide additional information to the user, and extensive annotations may be written around the symbols on the map to provide explanations.

Audiovisual Equipment - Information can be presented in various formats. TV monitors are available for the viewing of video cassette tapes and PowerPoint presentations can be run on a NavCenter computer and displayed on a TV monitor. An overhead projector is available for group presentations (Note: The NavCenter environment includes open spaces and light so conditions are not optimal for viewing presentations on a projection screen). Microphones are available to ensure that everyone in the group can be heard. Sessions can also be videotaped for future documentation.

Breakout Areas - A general activity during an event when a large group is divided into smaller teams to work on either different issues, or different aspects of the same issue. The space in which this activity takes place is a Breakout Area. The Breakout Area may be set up with a table and chairs if participants will be recording their ideas on paper but it may be advantageous to set the Breakout Area only with chairs in a semicircle to foster discussion among the Breakout Team members and to encourage them to use the WorkWalls.

Documentation - Capturing reports and conversations that occur when all of the participants are assembled into one group. There are several different forms of documentation. Text documentation is basically one person capturing the conversations into a Word document. Video documentation is the video capture of the conversations which can later be reviewed or transcribed into text documentation. Photographic documentation is photographing the WorkWalls with the digital camera which can then be printed.

Environment - Any space that has been consciously designed and configured to support a process in a flexible and evolutionary manner. This may refer to the NavCenter as a whole or a section of the NavCenter which has been configured for a meeting or event.

Hypertile - The WorkWalls that MG Taylor Corporation manufactures (through Athenaeum International) are made of steel, and therefore accept magnets. Hypertiles are large rectangles of flexible magnetic material, measuring up to 11"x17". It is covered on one side with a sticky surface manufactured by 3M. Large sheets of paper can be adhered to this surface and peeled off without leaving any residue on the back of the paper (sort of like an inverse Post-It Note). The paper can then be photocopied or scanned for entry into the Knowledge Base.

Project Room - A room in the NavCenter that can be used for meetings for up to 20 participants. The room has wall mounted WorkWalls and additional WorkWalls can be moved into the room.