Deck 19: Project Management

Question 1

How does project management help organizations and individuals do more with less?

Answer 1

Project management refers to the systematic process of planning the company's resources towards specific tasks or duty. Project management is the coordination of work so that the organizational objectives can be achieved within the stipulated time, budget and also the quality of standards.
The factors which contributed to this situation are as follows:
• Government regulations: Person P was fully aware of the importance of fulfilling the government contracts over the stipulated time and within the budget. However, the economy of that country was very tight with strong government rules and regulations which complicated the chances for completing the project on time.
• Mistakes by subcontractors: The first sign if trouble came when the subcontractor A installed a radar system which was not compatible with the electric system which was installed by subcontractor B.
• Lack of coordination: There was a clear lack of coordination between the government and the two subcontractors. Government had changed the order of the task without confirming with person P, who were the original designers of this project.

Question 2

Why is it important to determine project stakeholders as well as project participants ?

Answer 2

Project management refers to the systematic process of planning the company's resources towards specific tasks or duty. Project management is the coordination of work so that the organizational objectives can be achieved within the stipulated time, budget and also the quality of standards.
Person C could have taken the following measures to avoid this complication:
• Communication: Person C should have clearly communicated the nature and the scope of the project with the government and the other subcontractors. Person C should have discussed about how to efficiently and effectively complete the project within the stipulated period of time and at a given budget.
• Persuasion: Person C being the project manager should have influenced and persuaded the government and his other subcontractors to build a momentum and maintain a proper commitment towards completing the project during the estimated time and budget.
• Team building: Project management is a team process. Therefore, person C should have focused from the beginning to build an effective team followed by active participation from all the participants. Person C also needs to manage the conflicts effectively.
• Empowering and delegation: Project can be accomplished smoothly through empowering and delegating the authorities to the teams effectively. Person C should have kept a close eye on the all the process so that he can make necessary changes in advance to complete the project on time.

Question 3

What are some reasons projects veer off schedule? Discuss ways to deal with these reasons.

Answer 3

Project management refers to the systematic process of planning the company's resources towards specific tasks or duty. Project management is the coordination of work so that the organizational objectives can be achieved within the stipulated time, budget and also the quality of standards.
Person C should communicate with the other team members and the stakeholders to ensure that roles and responsibilities of all the subcontractors are determined. He should call up a meeting and ensure that each member understands their roles and responsibilities towards completing their project on time. He should make sure that they establish a good performance evaluation system so that there is instant communication which is very critical to the success of the whole project. He should make responsibilities very clear and make sure the team members understand it before restarting their project.
During the future projects he should make sure that he follows the guidelines of how to execute the project successfully. In his future projects he should meet with his team on a regular basis to discuss on the key components of the project management. He should assign individual tasks to all the team members and evaluate its results on the regular basis to compare the actual and the standard performances on a daily basis. He should keep in touch with all the team members and monitor the progress of the project work. He should learn from his mistakes and try not to replicate that in the next project.

Question 4

Let's say you and project team are three months into an eight-month project and you realize that you're already 2.5 weeks behind schedule and 15% over budget. What would you do?