Key 1 - Name: Michigan Agile Philosophy (MAP) Project Key

1.  Name of Project

Welcome to the official kickoff of “Getting to know the project key…”  Yeah, ran out of creative ways to name this already.  Anyway, we start with the first key “Name of Project.”  It isn’t sexy, but it is worth a few minutes to get us on the same page here.

A lot of times there is confusion about the work we are doing because we know a project by multiple names.  For example, Contact List, Dial Tone, and MSIS Roster.  Another example from the Iron Shrimp team: Orange Card, CME Orange Card, CME, or something else?  GPP, Grateful Patient, or Grateful Patient Program.  PIBS or PDEP?  Dr. Eval or Clingrade Replacement?  They are all the same thing yet I hope you see that it is possible to confuse these different names.  Where it gets really contentious is when Management thinks we are doing triple the work because a project is known by three different names.  In general the practice we should adopt is to standardize on what our customer calls the project so we can eliminate the confusion from the start.

The name should be written consistently as well.  Sometimes we’ll see update charts, inception decks, emails, project names in JIRA, or other artifacts that have shorthand names of the projects.  I’m not talking about acronyms.  Heaven knows we won’t be getting rid of those any time soon.  I’m talking about totally different names.  Because we work with the project daily we sometimes come up with “pet” names for it.  Seems fun and harmless until someone overhears and starts propagating the madness.  It’s not a good idea to use those names on written or oral communications, reports, updates.  I’m all for creativity, but we have to be selective about where/when/if we call a project by an alias.  The best scenario is to use your creative influence when a project is being created so that everyone is on the same page.

Some things to think about as we name a project.  It would be fantastic if we got into the habit of using a verb in the title.  Something like “Upgrade of SAN Firmware” at least gives us a glimpse of what is going to happen.  “SAN Firmware” or “Project SF” or “Project Catching Fire” doesn’t do much in the way of reminding us what the project is about. Remember, we want a name that clearly describes the project.

Takeaway:  Names are important.  We want them to be clear and we want them to describe what the project is/does.  Once we settle on a name, we should stick to it.

Extra Credit

As a bonus I’m going to give you a life tip courtesy of Ebay.  When you’re trying to sell something on Ebay, here are some tips.  Coincidentally, most of them could be useful when naming a project.

Writing an effective title

Make a clear, compelling first impression by writing a great title for your item.

Here are some elements of an effective title:

• Use descriptive keywords to clearly and accurately convey what you're selling.You're allowed up to 80 characters, but you don't need to use them all.
• Include the item's brand name, artist, or designer.
• Include item specifics. For example, include size, color, condition, and model number.
• State exactly what your item is, even if your title repeats the category name.  
• Don't use multiple synonyms or plurals. It's not needed for search and may make your title less attractive to buyers.
• Omit punctuation marks and asterisks.
• Don't include words like "wow" or "look." Buyers don't search for words like these.
• Use correct spelling.
• Don't worry about creating a grammatically correct sentence.
• Don't overuse acronyms.
• Don't use all caps.

You’re welcome.  :)