Fitbit for Pets

Background Fitbit, Inc. is a consumer electronics firm known for its products of the same name, which are activity trackers, wireless-enabled wearable technology devices that measure data such as the number of steps walked, heart rate, quality of sleep, steps climbed, and other personal metrics involved in fitness. The company has sold 120 million devises with 29 million users. Building on its success with the human Fitbit product, the company is developing a companion fitness tracker for pets. The first product launch is a Fitbit for medium to large size dogs that would be worn with a traditional neck collar or shoulder harness. Using the working product development name FitDog, this new product is scheduled to launch in 18 months. This will be a major research and development endeavor with significant veterinary science research, biotechnology development, GPS tracking and data communication, website application development, and product and marketing research. First to market, reliability, and animal ergonomics are critical success factors. Directions Determine if agile is a best approach for this project. Assess the advantages and disadvantages along with your chapter reading description of agile projects; and compose an informative argument for or against an agile approach to the FitBit for Pets project. Compose your argument in 500-words or less and submit as a PDF document. Exercise 15.2 Retirement.gov The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) operates the federal government’s social insurance program that covers 173 million workers. There are 65 million people receiving retirement, disability, or survivors’ benefits from a $920 billion annual operating budget (source: U.S. Social Security Administration, www.ssa.gov). Currently all social security tax contributions are invested in risk-free U.S. Treasury bonds and bills, however under a proposed federal mandate, the SSA is launching Retirement.gov to allow workers and recipients to control how their contributions are invested. Retirement.gov would operate similar to HealthCare.gov where individuals can review and select a private sector investment management company to manage their retirement fund, similar to how private pensions, IRAs, and 401(K) retirement funds operate. Retirement.gov is scheduled to launch in 24-months. You are the project manager for the Retirement.gov project. This will be a major information technology endeavor with significant software programming, website application development, TCM 701 2 database equipment hosting networking, and financial transaction and personal information protection. Quality and security are critical success factors. Directions Determine if agile is a best approach for this project. Assess the advantages and disadvantages along with your chapter reading description of agile projects; and compose an informative argument for or against an agile approach to the Retirement.gov project. Compose your argument to 500-words or less and submit as a PDF document.