Bababa: A Case of Communication Disparity 0 Comments

Do you understand what is being illustrated in the dialogue above? I can, because I am Filipino. However, if you have no understanding of the Tagalog language, then this would seem to be just a ridiculous cartoon to you. I thought this was a good example of the importance of effective communication. Notice that I have emphasized the word "effective." Person A might have said something to Person B, but if it was not effectively communicated, then the message is lost in the process.

Displayed below is the translation of the Filipino conversation:

Now, it makes more sense, doesn't it? Likewise in Systems Analysis & Design, communication is essential. As Brother Brian Smith has reiterated in class, communication is one of the four vital concepts we need to understand in this IS242 class (along with balance, iterative, and incremental). Sometimes, analysts and programmers get so technical in their terms and wording that the end-users fail to comprehend how and what to do with the project. For a project to be developed effectively, all stakeholders must have a good understanding of the project scope and specifications.

As we learned last week in class, joint application development (JAD) is "a popular systems development technique that uses a cross-matrixed task group of users, managers, and IT professionals that work together to gather information, discuss business needs, and define the new system requirements." This is a good means of including users in the process of the project design and in ensuring that the needs of the various users are met. Successful systems must be user-oriented and the JAD approach accomplishes this objective.

Braving the New Semester 0 Comments

Five months have come and gone and I am back at the LDS Business College. It has been a wonderful and productive summer for me – tied the knot with my sweetheart at the Mesa Arizona Temple and worked as a Tech Support Intern at Queen Creek Primary Care. I am quite excited for this Fall Semester 2009. I finished my Business Transfer degree last April and I am now working towards finishing Business Information Systems. I am facing such challenging classes, so I know I can't rely on luck alone to get through this semester. Diligence and divine inspiration might just do the trick.

All my classes started with the discussion of the school's Learning Model, i.e., "Prepare, Teach One Another, Ponder and Prove." This is inspired by Doctrine & Covenants 88 : 78-80; 118-126. This is one of the many reasons why I love the LDS Business College! It is not only an academic school, but more so, it is considered to be a Temple of Learning. My experiences here have made me realize how much I have grown academically and spiritually.

For IS 230 (Advanced Spreadsheets and Databases), we learned about Logical Functions. Terms such as NESTED IF and HLOOKUP were enough to make my head spin. However, after reading Chapter 1 and discussing the issues with my classmates and instructor, I then finally understood the concepts and completed the exercises. It was an exhilarating feeling knowing you've done something right, ha-ha.

Kidding aside, it was really interesting to see how to go about putting in the correct formula in the correct cell in order to generate the correct results. The key here is consistency. Similarly in life, we can mostly expect a good outcome, if we've put in a good effort and did so with good intentions.

Working on these logical functions, I have seen the similarity of this IS 230 class to my Finance class. FIN 101 has taught me valuable life lessons on major purchase decision making, budgeting, and making sound investments. We dealt with a lot of Excel worksheets, and indeed, I have realized how the usage of formula(s) provides a more efficient way of dealing with finances.

Overall, I think we really kicked off this Academic Year with a bang. I am looking forward to the what this semester will bring, and though my classes seem tough, I am welcoming the challenge!