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Bountiful -> General Discussions -> When starting a new project
Post Info TOPIC: When starting a new project
I like to [9 vote(s)]

carefully plan things out before I begin.
77.8%
jump right in and figure it out as I go along.
22.2%
Roper


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When starting a new project
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Now most people will probably say, "Well, I do a combination of the two--plan well and still be flexible as things progress."

What I'm interested in, however, is the initial approach to projects, activities, etc. 

When you have to work with someone else who approaches it the other way, what are some of the strengths they bring to the process?  What are some of the challenges?

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The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. - Julie Beck
hiccups


Future Queen in Zion

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I like to plan. I like to know what I am doing.

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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
Cat Herder


Understander of unimportant things

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I delegate projects to someone else to do... wink.gif

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Euphrasie


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I plan to death. It's actually better if I work with someone who doesn't because I'll pull myself out of the minutiae to start implementing the plan I have so far before they get too far ahead of me...

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salesortonscom


Wise and Revered Master

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I do a lot of thinking and research before hand. I might ask someone about the experience who may have recently tackled a similar project. Sometimes I will go into home depot and look at the various pieces of hardware and tools to see if I can make something work. Drawing out plans doesn't work really well for most of my projects. I live in my grandparents old home and parts of it go back to the early 1900s. There is always something to fix, redo, or repair. Time is always an issue because I can only basically work on this stuff on Saturdays so I have to pick and choose when to start a project. Pretty hard to get by with your bathroom a wreck for a few weeks when you can only work on it on Saturdays. I try avoiding projects when it is hot outside like it has been recently. It's no fun being on the roof when it's 108 degrees.

The house we live in has a large awning in the back yard over the patio. It is about 40 feet long and connects to the house. It has always been made of canvas which gets beaten to death by the weather and only lasts a few years. It has to be custom made because someone decided the thing didn't need to be square so non of the supports are the same lenght. It's kind of clam shell shaped. Without it the house feels about 10 degrees hotter. Unfortunately, I don't like spending thousands of dollars on something that ends up rotting after a few years anyway so I decided to replace it with wood and lattice. Probably my largest solo project to date although the pregnant wife and oldest daughter did help a little. I used the existing support structure to save money and some time. It was metal but wood supports had to be added all over the darn thing. It wasn't square so each piece had to be hand measured and cut, one at a time. I worked until it was either too dark or too hot to work on it. I even ditched church to get the main structure finished so the lattace would cut down on the heat so my poor pregnant wife wouldn't suffer in the heat. Because each piece of wood was a different size I had plan a lot of it as I went along. I used nearly every piece of wood. I went back for wood screws and support brackets three times. In the end I had a couple extra pieces of lattice, two or three extra 2x4s, and a few brackets and screws I was able to return to home depot. It looks wonderful but I nearly killed myself puting it together. I've been puting off redoing a subfloor in the bathroom but that's gotta go next. The hard part is that being on the farm means there are always some projects to do so it is tough to get the time to do projects on just my own house.

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God Made Man, Sam Colt Made Him Equal.

Jason
rayb


Hot Air Balloon

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I'll jump in. Get stuck. Have to go back to the drawing board... and then, will try again.

Usually my projects are creative in nature. Often about writing. I often prefer to write before I've done much research... which is bad, I know, but when it's fresh, or I'm trying something fresh it just seems to work.

Other things, like at work, I research the crap out of stuff until I know every finite detail before I even try writing a single line of code, which is a bad habit I have that well... has left me less productive than I'd like. I'm often an expert at a task before I even get done with it, but seeing as how most employers only care about the doing part... I think they tend to get annoyed... A lot of these tendencies come from working in system verification, in which you're supposed to think of every possible way a system will break if a change is made here or there... biggrin 

--Ray

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Cocobeem


Keeper of the Holy Grail

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I plan. Love to plan. Plan, plan, plan. Planning is fun. Vacation '08 is 80% planned as of right now. Plan, plan and more plan. The best laid plans...

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bokbadok


Senior Bucketkeeper

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I'm a great planner. it's the execution that sometimes suffers.

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"My Karma Ran Over My Dogma"
arbilad


Head Chef

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For some reason, Bok, I thought that you'd be a great executioner.

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PollyAnna


Senior Bucketkeeper

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I am a planner and once I get it down I generally stick with the plan, UNLESS all hades breaks loose... I like order... hubby is my "counter-SINK-stone"... We make a GREAT team!!! wink.gif

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bokbadok


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arbilad wrote:

For some reason, Bok, I thought that you'd be a great executioner.


laughing.gif

 



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"My Karma Ran Over My Dogma"
Cat Herder


Understander of unimportant things

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She hasn't quite got the swift, clean cut down yet... wink.gif

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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
salesortonscom


Wise and Revered Master

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Cat Herder wrote:

She hasn't quite got the swift, clean cut down yet... wink.gif



Reminds me of that most famous of Avians, Mike the Headless Chicken!
http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/story.html

I know, I know.  Yer probably wondering how the heck I know this stuff.  It's a farm story and farmers are full of you know what!biggrin



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God Made Man, Sam Colt Made Him Equal.

Jason
Roper


Senior Bucketkeeper

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I jump right in.  After working with groups on projects before, my colleagues realized that the best thing was to give me some part of the project to go and get started on right away, while they worked out the details for all of the other stuff.  I detest planning meetings.  My bad attitude about administrivia and my anxiousness to get started on something, anything, disrupts serious meetings. So I'm grateful to have something to do right from the start. 

__________________

The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. - Julie Beck
rayb


Hot Air Balloon

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me too.

I think the Brother of Jared tended to be this way. :)

--Ray


__________________
I'm not slow; I'm special.
(Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
Cocobeem


Keeper of the Holy Grail

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Yeah, Peter, too. biggrin.gif

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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid.  -John Wayne
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