The VA1DER Project – or how I go from wanting to be an amateur radio operator for most of my life to actually being one. I had been spinning my wheels… trying to do too many things at once and not really accomplishing much… until, as I described in my blog post, I came to the realization that, as someone with project management experience, I should apply the same principles I used in managing large projects for other people to my own.
There is too much to being an amateur radio operator for any one project to encompass. Or, rather, there is unless it is properly managed and divided into bite-sized chunks. The VA1DER Project is the, thus, the umbrella project for all my amateur radio activities. I envision this as a hierarchy of projects with this one as the overarching supreme parent. The base class, if you will. This project will spawn off child projects for all the main aspects I intend to pursue, and those will spawn off their own child projects as required.
To properly focus the project, it needs a mission statement:
Mission:
Explore the science and technology of radio and communications with special regard to those technologies offering the widest range and scope of communications with the lowest requirement for intermediate infrastructure with the intention to use this technology to:
- Enhance my and others’ ability to communicate with friends and family,
- Create and foster friendships,
- Learn about world events,
- Assist with emergency preparedness and response, and
- Advance the state of the art
- Work to train and mentor others
The reasoning behind this mission statement is recorded in the blog entry where I announced the project, and also the blog entry where I expanded the mission a little. Suffice it to say here that the mission statement for any project is what helps keep that project on task and the above is what is going to keep me on task. Any child project I create has to meet the criteria established in this statement. And those child projects will have their own mission statements and goals to keep them on track. The way I work this is that in order to be adopted, any sub-project must meet the criteria established in the mission statement of all higher level parent projects, not just its immediate parent. I have established this rule to help avoid project scope creep.
Child Projects:
To date, there are two direct child sub-projects that have met the prime criteria and been adopted:
- Project “Huff” – The High Frequency Project
- Project “Victor” – The VHF/UHF Project