User Manual

Click Get started on the welcome screen to create an account or sign in with your username and password (Google sign-in is also available). The first time you sign in you must read and approve the End User Licence Agreement; this is asked only once.

The buttons at the top right of the simulator open the Tutorial (with screenshots), this User Manual, the recorded Lecture, the Admin console for administrators, and Sign out. On every screen a small lightbulb line tells you what to do next.

This is a turn-based project management decision game. You choose a project type and then lead it turn by turn until it is either completed successfully or fails.

Each turn represents 5 working days. On every turn you pick one management action. Random events can help or hurt you. Your job is to balance three key resources:

• Budget — money remaining for the project.
• Team morale — how motivated and productive the team is.
• Risk — the chance that things will go wrong.

At the start of the game you choose one of four project profiles:

• Startup (AI App) — small budget ($50,000), short timeline (20 days), high starting risk (40%), fast progress.
• Government System (E-Gov) — huge budget ($250,000), long timeline (50 days), low starting risk (10%), slow bureaucratic progress.
• Enterprise Software (CRM) — balanced budget ($120,000), moderate timeline (35 days), moderate risk (20%).
• Theater Show Development — modest budget ($80,000), hard premiere deadline (30 days), moderate risk (30%), morale is everything.

Each project type has a different speed factor that affects how much scope you gain from development actions. All amounts are shown in US dollars.

Every scenario also lists five project activities. They are shown on the scenario card before you start and again during the run, where the current activity is highlighted with a Current badge and completed ones are checked off as progress grows.

On each turn you can choose exactly one action:

Exact scope gains depend on the project speed factor shown in the table above.

After each action there is a 40% chance of a random event. Events can change budget, scope, morale, and risk. Examples include a key developer getting sick, a client changing requirements, the team finding a clever shortcut, or a critical security bug being discovered.

You cannot prevent events directly, but you can lower their impact by keeping risk and morale under control.

If your risk level rises above 50%, there is a 50% chance each turn that high risk will cause failures and delay the project by 10% scope. Keep risk low with quality-control actions, especially on fast, high-risk projects.

You win if your project reaches:

• 100% scope or more, and
• Budget ≥ 0 at the moment scope crosses 100%.

The earlier you finish, the fewer turns you use — but finishing with money left is the main goal.

The project fails immediately if any of these happens:

• Budget runs out — you spent more than you had.
• Morale drops to 0% — the team quits.
• Time runs out — days reach 0 before scope reaches 100%.

After each turn, three line charts update to show how scope, budget, and morale changed over time. Use them to see where your strategy is working and where it breaks down.

• Progress chart — the red dashed line marks 100% completion.
• Budget chart — watch for sudden drops caused by events or intensive development.
• Morale chart — morale usually falls during crunch and rises after team meetings.

When a run ends, a PDF report is downloaded automatically. It contains your user name, the project name, whether the project succeeded or failed, the duration used out of the allowed days, the total cost against the budget, the remaining budget, final scope and morale, and the full activity log.

You can download the same report again at any time from the Download PDF report button in the end-of-run panel.

• Do not spam Intensive development — it burns budget and morale quickly.
• Use Team meeting after several intense turns to recover morale.
• Use Quality control when risk climbs above 30% to avoid the 50% danger zone.
• Routine work is your safety net when the budget is low.
• Government projects have plenty of budget but slow progress — plan for the long haul.
• Startup projects move fast but can spiral out of control; manage risk from the first turn.