Kenneth L. Thomas, Jr.

Negotiated with a company that offered me kenneththomas.com for $500 to sell it for $150. I now own kenneththomas.com!

Gained new employment with The Zimmerman Agency of Tallahassee.

The following are a few updates since the previous blog post! (Documents found on Education Page)

Health Informatics: Nintendo Wii Fit presentation, About eHealth document and Health Informatics Wiki

Perspectives on Information Technology: Strategic Career Plan, How to Video (Make your laptop a hot-spot) and 15 second pitch (found on home page)

Network & Telecommunications: Network Design Proposal, Physical Network Diagram and Logical Network Diagram

Systems Approach Informarion Env: Feasibility Report, Data Flow Diagram, ER of Data store

1. Compare how you expected the project would unfold to what actually happened. What did you learn along the way? What unexpected obstacles did you encounter and how did you overcome them?

• The project unfolded the way as planned until the direct end. The project planning was successful but the deployment wasn’t 100% successful. I learned that communicating with others may not always go as planned but when that happens always have an alternative plan available. Unexpected obstacles that I encountered within this project was ordering the correct products. There were instances where the incorrect product got ordered but I overcame that buy politely contacting the representative of the retailer and had an exchange of products.

2. Did the tasks of the project take more or less time than you thought? Why? What did you learn about time estimation? Do you know your ’multiplier’ now?

• Some tasks of the project took longer than I predicted. Take shipping for an example. Even though I have no control over shipping times the best thing I could do in this situation was to keep an eye on the statues of the shipping process. Something I learned about time estimation is always leave room/more time for error in which my case more time was a necessity.

3. How did you use the skills you acquired from coursework to complete the project? What skills/classes were especially useful and why?  What skills did you have to teach yourself during the project and what was your method for learning what you needed to know?

• They way I used the skills acquired from coursework to complete the project was to always compare and contrast and weigh the pros and cons. This was not only helpful while ordering products but was helpful in almost every decision within the duration of the project. Skills that I had to teach myself was to actually figure out how to classify what maybe a ‘pro’ and classify what maybe a ‘con’.

4. What are your personal ‘take-aways’ from this project? How will what you have learned change how you approach your first project on the job? Did the project help you be better prepared for the challenges of an IT career?

• My personal take-aways would be verbally describing a situation. I am top-notch in drawing out a situation on paper within a diagram but I need work on verbally relaying those messages. What I learned would change how my approach to my first project on the job is to try not to set concrete deadlines. There should be flexibility with deadlines/due dates within project management as longs as that are within consideration. This project definitely helped me be better prepare for the challenges of an IT career.

The Gadsden County Project has finally come to a close. The purchasing and testing of all hardware, software, products and technologies have been a success. At this time the IT department isn’t allowed to deploy/implement the products into the County Manager’s conference room at this current time, with the explanation being disclosed only to the county manager himself and other employees of superiority. All diagrams and documents will be kept in the event that the project will proceed and resume to a successful finish as planned.

There hasn’t been much of anything new happening since the last update but there has been a small block in the path. During the process of finding out more information about mounting the monitors on the wall the Facilities management department mentioned that the type of VGA cabling was not rated for tunneling through the ceiling. This being the case we have to contact out retailer and reorder VGA cabling with the proper rating.  Hopefully, this will not cause too much delay.

The progress of the Gadsden County project has been jarring but at this point everything is all coming together for the better. All of the products have been received and tested by the IT department and the equipment is ready to be setup (displays mounted on walls) and put to use. The county manager and the project manager are pleased to see such progress and the usability of the new products.

Diagram of Equipment: Sympodium/LCD Diagram (PDF)

There are a couple of things about the Gadsden project that weren’t quite as easy as I thought they were going to be. For example, when the project was assigned in the beginning even deciding what was needed in the room (or what should be implemented) was a difficult task. Half of the reason being was because we had a set budget and we didn’t want to implement any technologies that was too difficult to use.

Also there are a couple of things about the project that weren’t quite as hard as I thought they were going to be. For example, locating and getting in contact with a local retailer. Normally tracking down an Electronics’s (Audio/Video) retailer would be a hard enough task and I was sure that finding a local retailer was going to be near impractical. What made this task easy was the fact that I found the A/V products that were needed and researched their site for a local retailer.

There are things that I could not learn in a classroom setting that I am learning while doing this project. Communicating verbally with individuals via telephone, conducting myself properly within a professional work environment and comparing and evaluating different products based on set budgets. Overall, this experience has provided a wealth of practical knowledge.

The progress of the Gadsden County Board of County Commissioners project hasn’t been a complete solid pace nor have all the things gone as planned. There are specific things that must be done and/or put in place before a certain deadline. Below is a list of deliverables within the project that have been completed thus far:

• Meet with county manager
• View Conference Room
• Meet with IT Department
• Find a Local Retailer
• Contact Representative
• Product demonstration
• Order Products

Deliverables that haven’t been completed to this date

• Setup Products
• Learn how to use products
• Train Staff

There are many different ways that I can start and maintain professional contacts/relationships throughout my academic career. Depending on whether the individual is a professor, guest speaker, supervisor or dean there are many things I can do to start/maintain a relationship with them. At the same time, the type of relationship may be different but ways to maintain those relationships may remain the same.

Professors/Instructors/TAs

• Email and get to know them before the semester starts
• Meet with instructors after class
• Utilize office hours other than just for getting help
• Keep in contact after the semester by email or by visiting office

Guest Speakers

• Get their contact information
• Engage in conversation with them after class
• Keep in contact with them via email
• Pay visits (if possible)

Supervisors

• Engage in somewhat of a personal relationship
• Keep positive relationship
• Maintain relationship and stay in contact after employment

Deans

• Meet them before/while you’re enrolled
• Start/Maintain a positive relationship