Project Management Assignment: Reflection On Learning Experiences Gained Throughout The Assessment
Question
Task:
Context:
At the beginning of your learning journey on this subject, you were encouraged to reflect on your learning experience and knowledge obtained from the learning modules through discussions and participation. This assessment will provide an opportunity for you to reflect on your learning, document lessons learned, identify global project management, including IT project management, practices you hope to adopt in your career. In short, your reflection is a tool for developing knowledge and professionalism in all matters relevant to you as a project manager and leader.
Instructions for project management assignment:
By the first half of Module 6, you will be required to submit a 1500-word reflection of your learning throughout the subject using the given/approved case study.
NOTE: Master of Business Information Systems students must use an IT project as an example in this assessment.
Your reflection should include project management knowledge you have gained throughout the previous learning modules in this subject and appropriate use of additional resources related to this assessment.
Based on what you have learnt in this subject, describe project management practices, implementation and competencies of the project team that result in success and/or failure in the given project. In particular, you should reflect on the importance of teamwork and leadership in project settings. Critically analyse how you could enhance or improve the success rate of the project.
Include references to readings and additional resources discovered.
Answer
Executive Summary of Project Objectives Mentioned in Project Management Assignment
Through the assessment ‘Project Selection Methods and Initial Documents,' I have selected a company, namely 'APM Corporation'. Primarily the company's objective is to establish a sustainable business environment in its existing market. I have created an IT project for the mentioned company, which can enhance and improve the current communication system and strategy of the company. I can consider the mentioned strategy as the objective of the assessment, wherein the company will ensure their order from the client. I also use PMBOK mythology to develop my assessment. This is my refraction report on the mentioned assessment. In this report, I have discussed my learning and experience throughout the assessment. I also described my learning associated with the project reports and contractual performance in strategy making. Overall this reflection report helped me to understand my practical knowledge on the field as well as a valuable lesson learned from the assessment. I expect that the APM Corporation can improve its communication technology using my assessment.
1. Project Overview
As per my opinion, the failure of the assessment is the most significant risk in the project. I have commented on a communication tool in the project. It may occur that the tool may not work correctly due to several reasons such as high consumer traffic, server crash and unskilled workforce, among others. I think the budget can be considered as a significant risk for the project. Concerning the scope, the project can help the organisation to deal with consumers. In addition, it will also improve the communication gap between the clients and the organisation itself. I can claim that client satisfaction will enhance through the project, and the organisation also understands the client demand associated with the product and services. Most importantly, any issues associated with a product such as damaged cargos, transportation latency and payment latency among others can be reduced through the project.
I developed a proper schedule to complete the project. I have followed the PMBOK methodology to develop the project plan. I have segregated the project plan into four phases, i.e. project initiation, project planning, project execution and project closure. In the first phase, I have developed project planning. By following, I have conducted a detailed plan, monitoring and control, and project review, respectively. Based on my opinion, the development phase of the project charter needs most of the cost. Identification of the stakeholders’ contribution and their convincing process needs a higher cost. However, three major aspects have been combined in this project, i.e. intranets, mobile application and newsletters of employees or stakeholders (Biswas, 2018). I have measured the project cost, which will be around AU$ 50,000. This value may vary as per the market changes.
I have considered PMI’s Code of Ethics to develop project quality, which includes responsibility, fairness, honesty and respect during the project development (Project Management Institute, Inc, 2020). At this time, I also ensure that the provided software must be more accessible to operative by all the stakeholders. Data refresh time will be lower than 15 minutes so that product updates can be shared to the consumers or clients. I followed every action as decided in the project strategy. I also recognise the various risk factors of this project work and took help from the organisational experts in order to mitigate the risks properly. Based on the management practices, I have created a clear vision for the project, wherein each of the employee and team members are completely aware with a view to their responsibilities that leads to get effective result from the project work.
2. Project Performance
The project exceeds the estimated budget due to employees training and development. It takes AU$ 62,000 to complete. However, estimated time for the project, i.e., 117 days have been exceeding at 150 days, which is the reason behind the budget failure. Concerning the performance, the project is worked up to the mark. However, certain activities such as software development, implementation and monitoring phase take more time as expected. I can consider that the schedule performance of the project is bad. I have successfully achieved the scope of the project. The communication system of the company has been developed well. In this regard, the communication gap associated with distance and network also has been appropriately improved through the project.
In order to create a clear vision for a project, team management is an essential factor because it enhances team performance in a project (Wehbe, 2017). In the project of communication development, my team performed effectively and that increased the overall performance of the project. However, the variance between the actual and the expected project budget has been identified in order to recognise the project progress perfectly. In addition, I also spend extra time as expected for this propjet to get a validate outcome. I have expected that the project will be completed in AU$ 50,00, but it takes more AU$ 12,000 to complete. hIn addition, the expected time also has been exceeded. Through the entire project, I have learned that team management is an essential aspect of a project. However, I need to develop an alternate strategy before the budget fails in a project.
3. Contractual Performance
My team and I developed an online invoice system in order to ship the products to the clients. About the contracts, I followed the rule of ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, n.d.). However, our system and the mentioned law help me to avoid any kind of contract and invoice disputes. In the change, some of my teammates are not working properly due to their low skill and family issues. I have requested some of the skilled and efficient members, but the company does not ready to involve the highly efficient employee in the project.
Most of the business contracts have been appropriately maintained but contracts of project completion and its time have been exceeding. It created an issue in the project, and it also affects contract closure. I have learned the contractual processes throughout the project. I also learned the legal aspect of contract and invoice making within an Organisation. Most importantly, I observed that contract making is then the main factor in any project management. Frauds and trust issues may arise if the contract has not been created in a project plan.
4. Project Reports
The project manager plays a vital role in an Organisation because the success of a project and project performance depends on it (Anantatmula, 2015). In the project, as mentioned above, I choose the role of the project manager. I lead the entire project under the company and the PMBOK ethics so that each of the project stakeholders and work properly. About the sponsor, I have received an assist from the organisation itself. Besides, the financial department of the organisation arranged small investors to work on the project. However, the NPV value of the company plays a major role herein to invest in the project. Besides, the officials of the organisation, especially the management team of the company help me to develop the project effectively. Most of the decision and strategy of the project has been created by the board of the directors of the company, wherein I have received guidance from the management team to execute the project decision in favour of the company.
I provided the project to the company after the completion of the software. Though the company faced an issue with implementing the project, I helped them to provide adequate training and development. In the initial stage, I provided the software to the management team to develop their knowledge associated with the software. After this activity, they approve the software and upload it in their internal business operation system. I also helped to monitor and guide the employees so that they can operate the system properly. I was completely handover the project when they are ready to launch in their business.
Throughout the entire project, I have learned several things. Team management and leadership are the most important aspect, which I learned from the project. A, I also learned that proper budgeting and time management is an essential factor for any project. Developing new communication software as per the organisational requirement is one of the important lessons I have learned from the project. Overall, the project helped me to develop risk management and decision-making skills, which I can implement in my future workplace.
Making new software for the company is the biggest challenge for me. In relation to the issues, I have faced difficulties with matching the organisational requirements associated with the software. In addition, I hesitated in the initial stage of the project, wherein I gathered importation form the higher officials. I also not received all information associated the communication issues within the organisation. However, I reach the communication of the issue during the monitoring phase, wherein I have taken more than ten days to develop the software as per the need. Besides, team management is one of the major issues I faced in the project initiation phase. Proper interaction was not occurred in the first fifteen days, which increases the work pressure and work latency.
References
Anantatmula, V. S. (2015). Project manager leadership role in improving project performance. Engineering Management Journal, 22:1, pp. 13-22.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (n.d.). Standard terms and conditions. Retrieved from https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/ACCC%20standard%20terms%20and%20conditions.pdf
Biswas, S. (2018). 3 Low-cost, high-impact internal communication tools for small businesses. Retrieved from https://www.hrtechnologist.com/articles/employee-engagement/3-lowcost-highimpact-internal-communication-tools-for-small-businesses/
Project Management Institute, Inc. (2020). Code of ethics & professional conduct. Project management assignment Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/about/ethics/code
Wehbe, S. (2017). 5 important reasons why teamwork matters!. Retrieved from https://www.potential.com/articles/5-important-reasons-why-teamwork-matters/
