OGL 320 Final Paper

Dyan Babbitt

4/29/22

PART ONE

Project Management is the process of leading a team/s work to achieve goals

within certain restraints. There are four main phases of project management, and they

are planning, buildup, implementation, and close out. Within each phase a mini project

exists where its own phases occur. I think this is important to understand because there

are so many aspects to plan, the more detailed the higher chance of success I believe.

Before a project team can start working, an understanding of the organizations

culture should be reached. Influencing factors, like culture and structure, can make a

huge impact on the effectiveness of a team or even the success of a project. I would

consider culture a principal factor in project management because you will be working

with a variety of different people that are likely from different internal or external teams.

Not having an understanding of the culture can lead to miscommunication or simply

mean being met with resistance. Organizational culture can also describe the

company’s mission and values like being people or results oriented. Although these

cultures can coexist in an organization, I think that if the culture needed to shift, training

and investing in the team would need to happen.

many things that can go wrong either in the planning phase or because the planning

wasn’t done right and fully. Creating the project charter would be the highest priority

because its is essentially a statement of work. It explains why this project is needed and

who is doing the work. It also contains risks and assumptions as well as project

constraints and the budget summary. Another aspect of planning is using tools that can

help organize the project and identify who is doing what part of the project.

I think utilizing the tools in the planning phase like the WBS and the responsibility

assignment matrix. The work breakdown structure (WBS) is a top-down structure of

events that lists all of the tasks and sub tasks in order to get the project completed. I

would think planning is a practice that sets the stage for other phases to start. Once this

major principle is achieved, the buildup phase begins.

The buildup phase is where teams are determined, and a lot of estimates are set

with more certainness. The text describes this phase as where priorities are set. The

first smaller phase would be clarifying the goal so that stakeholders can give you the

green light. After that you can form the teams and assign roles. I think there’s a

significant amount pf planning in both of these phases as the initial plan was vaguer and

this second planning phase is in much more detail with confirmed budgets and

schedules.

After the buildup we have implementation. Here is where it is important to have a

firm grip on the scope and budget and have a clear time management plan. The triple

constraint is a delicate balance between these three aspects of a project. The text

describes an imbalance that is pulled in either direction as a risk of failure. Being over
the timeframe can upset stakeholders and cause deliverables to be late. Being

overbudget can also cause stress for the clients and the project teams in general. I think

this balance keeps everyone happy and produces deliverables that are of quality.

Of course, there needs to be a closeout, whether the project was a success or

was ended by another reason. Learning from the events and phases of the project can

help support you by celebrating wins and also by helping see where or why things went

wrong. The examples in the course describe a situation where a current project uses

notes and data from a previous successful project. This is important because it can go

both ways. Using previous projects to give insight to how things could be improved is a

good tool to have. The text describes a learned lesson session where the team goes

over certain aspects of the project and its phases and evaluates them. Another way to

hold this session is informally in a smaller organization.

Outside of the four project phases, there are a few key words or phrases that had

a big impact on my learning: scope creep and risk management. Scope creep is

dangerous because it can happen without even realizing it. An uncontrolled growth of

the project can happen from clients adding details or even asking for small additions

that could throw off the triple constraint. Scope creep can also happen from lack of

planning or not being defined efficiently or even having proper documentation. This

goes back to how I think planning is the most important aspect of project management.

Risk management is another strong factor in a successful project. The

PowerPoint from module 6 describes risk management as the process where problems

are identified and then planned for while also monitoring for signs of change early to be

able to take action before the problem becomes overwhelming. I personally think risk
management is essential in any type of project. It is good to expect the unexpected and

be prepared for issues that can arise from different scenarios and departments on a

given project.

PART TWO

As I reflect on the last 7 weeks, I can honestly say I was intrigued with how much

definition project management has. I have been watching shows recently that talk about

how someone is a project manager in construction, for example, and it blows my mind

to think how intricate project management is in many different fields. I would even say

this has humbled me because I came into this class knowing very little about this topic

and I like to think I have a general understanding of a lot of things. From the tools used,

to the language that is standard in this field, I have learned so much.

Planning has always been something that I knew was important, but I never

really followed through on a strict type of journal or calendar system. If I would have

taken a job in project management, I would have had to quit the same day because of

all the tools that are required. I think this is a realization that I need to prepare better for

my future career and start developing habits now that could assist in my change

management after school. I have really been more aware of project management in

different organizations and seeing where this could potentially land me if I take this

further.

I think about what type of phases different companies use, or even how they

would get to their deliverables. In my current role, I think about Starbucks and how
project management would be used. I know rolling out new products and the planning

involved in seasonal launches is project management and I think how many different

people are involved on a single product launch from testing and tasting, to market

testing and even how the retail store would handle the new product. I think its exciting,

and something I have never really given too much thought into.

As much as I love a good planning session, I think I need more clarity on the

tools involved with planning because there were so many. I understand the roles of

each document, but I feel that having more personal experience like we used in our

group project would make me more comfortable. Another aspect of project management

I was struggling to grasp was risk management. Mostly the risk registers and developing

a risk management plan. I think there is so much room to interpret based on the type of

business that is using it. A retail project would have different risks than a tech company

and a construction project would have even more varied risks. I would love to take extra

time in my studies to learn more about application of these tools, hopefully there is

another class in my major map that builds on the content from this class to help me

further.

An area I think I excel at would be identifying culture and providing support for

my team. In my current role, I have a good understanding of teamwork and leading a

divers group of people. I like to think the store has a temperature, and the leader is the

thermostat. If I go in with that mindset, I can easily adjust and set a good temperature

and try to appeal to the team as a whole while also being able to personalize and

coaching or celebrating. I love to see my team thrive. Even though we aren’t developing

state of the art software, I like to think what we do is important and organizational
culture is important. Another recent example of culture shift in my work life is related to

the Union situation we have in Starbucks right now. It is clear management is against

these unions and seems to be in a pivotal point in Starbucks’ leadership and growth. I

can only imagine how many people are working to resolve or mediate all these

discussions and communications.

This class has really opened my eyes to the world of project management and

how many different applications this work can be used. From identification to planning,

and them doing the work to closing the project, there are so many different moving

parts. The fact that projects can run simultaneously, and phases can overlap just shows

how much is involved. I think I have a decent understanding of these main practices and

a good grasp of best practices overall. I found the video content and case studies to be

beneficial for some real work examples and to mentally put myself in the decision-

making shoes to identify solutions. The text and PowerPoints helped clarify the larger

concepts by breaking them down while provided examples that I could relate to.

I have much to learn on my organizational leadership degree, but I feel I have the

basic skills to approach smaller projects more effectively. Hopefully this will lead me into

human resources where I can deal with people and use my knowledge to motivate,

inspire and lead groups or teams into new projects, or at least manage the people side

of larger projects.