DBR1-1 (CS)
Hello all!
My name is Cheyenne Smallwood and I live in Central Missouri. I am close to finishing my bachelor’s in Applied Psychology, however, I wanted to add a Project Management minor to my degree for a few future business ventures. I have learned so much through both my major and the courses for my minor and I am very excited to begin this class with you all!
Discuss the five fundamental phases of projects. Can you think of other areas that should be included for projects?
The five fundamental phases of a project are initiation, planning, execution, controlling, and closure (Project Life Cycle). Through the first phase of initiation lays the ground work for the project being that the scope is determine, staff is selected, etc. (Project Life Cycle). Planning goes into further detail by identifying and assigning the tasks that will need to be completed within the project as well as the potential risks within the project (Project Life Cycle). Through the execution phase, assignments are acted out, solutions are implemented to problems, and progress is made (). Within the controlling phase, certain aspects are tested and monitored to ensure no further issues. The last phase is closure, brining everything to a close which is typically by writing a formal report that reviews the project in entirety, lessons learned, acceptance by client, etc. (Project Life Cycle).
In your discussion, use examples from a project you know of or were involved with.
Discuss the planning process and steps used to create the project plan.
In my previous job, I was involved in a project to better the process of purchasing products. I had been brought in as I was in the customer service department and had delt with the system and customers every day, so, I provided insights that employees from other departments did not have. I was not involved in multiple areas of the planning stage, however, the project did have a scope statement that covered the basis of the project making the purchasing project simpler and more streamline for customers and the staff working with customers. The budget plan was written with the regard of how much staff effort and how many man hours would be put into the project. Staffing was designated by the project manager with employees who best suited the needs of the project which then allowed the schedule to be created as tasks began to be assigned to different employees.
Did those plans align with the general areas/phases of projects?
The project did align with the fundamental phases of a project. The project was initiated (which I was not a part of) by basically creating an outline of the project. The upper management was determined, scope was determined, and initial risks were identified. Through planning, remaining staff were selected, schedule and budget were detailed. Through execution and control, we all worked in improving the process, whether through updating the applications, testing the updates, providing new insights, gathering beta feedback, etc. Once all known issues were found and finished, the closing went back to the project manager in order to deploy the final version of the updated process, send updates to customers and the website, and write a finalized report.
What challenges did you experience? What would you do differently? What did you learn from the experience?
I experienced challenges of trying to provide information to multiple people at once, however, I was the only individual who knew the specific process that was needing to be explained as the other employee had quit just before the project started. I learned to balance and prioritize different tasks throughout this project. I had also learned more on hand experience with projects which I had greatly enjoyed. I did wish that the project manager had prepared customers a bit more with more notifications of the process change.
Project Life Cycle – Project cycle management. Visitask – Project Life Cycle. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20171221225535/http://www.visitask.com/project-life-cycle.asp
