17 Jan You have now delivered the

BUS375 Project Management

Week 1 Discussion

You as a Project Manager

Many of you may believe that you have never worked in project management, but in reality, most of you have already at some point in your life. Think back to a time when you organized a key event (e.g., birthday parties, weddings, yard projects, house renovations, family vacations, projects at work) that meets the definition of a project.

Describe the event you planned.

Summarize the things that went well and / or things that went wrong.

Be sure to reference some of the key skills covered from the chapter.

BUS375 Project Management

Week 2 Discussion

Project Structure

You have been hired to lead a project (e.g. a relocation of a corporate HQ office), similar to this project: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp/2016/10/18/marriott-to-move-headquarters-to-downtown-bethesda/?utm_term=.721d2114db06. As the Project Manager, you know it is important get the project off to a good start. You are working with your Project Sponsor to decide on the optimal project management structure for this project. You are confident that either a dedicated project team structure or a matrix structure will work for the project, but the Project Sponsor thinks either will fail. Describe how you will reassure him that either structure will be successful.

BUS375 Project Management

Week 3 Discussion

Developing Your Project Scope

You have now completed the charter for your office relocation project. The Project Sponsor wants to expand the scope of the project, but you are hesitant to do so per the constraints in place. One reason the sponsor is looking to expand the scope is because of a financial incentive for him. Discuss why increasing the scope of this project is not a good idea. If you must increase scope, what additional considerations (i.e., costs, timeline) must be given to accomplish this scope change?

BUS375 Project Management

Week 4 Discussion

Your Project Budget

Now, it is time to estimate your project’s budget. Your Project Sponsor has set a limit on the amount of money you can spend. You know your budget will exceed that limit. Using the information covered in the required readings, describe the importance of properly establishing a project budget and what controls you can implement to keep your budget in check.

BUS375 Project Management

Week 5 Discussion

Dedicated or Non-Dedicated Resources

You are now deciding on resources for a project team. Some of the resources you are planning to add reside outside of the US. You selected them because of their expertise with similar projects. You were able to convince your project sponsor on a structure, but he is not sold on dedicated resources. Using information from the readings, which set of resources will you choose? Or, will you choose a combination of both? Why?

BUS375 Project Management

Week 6 Discussion

Project Challenge – Schedule Change

Your Project Sponsor and customer are impressed with your project schedule, but due to some factors out of your / their control, you’ve been told to deliver your project early. Using the information from the readings, explain how you would go about assessing the possibility of delivering your project early. How will that affect scope, costs, and schedule?

BUS375 Project Management

Week 7 Discussion

Being a Leader for Your Project

As we learned in Week 6, your Project Sponsor informed you that you have to deliver your project much sooner than anticipated. When you break the news to your team, they are not happy with the decision for they are concerned that the project will now fail. Using the information that you learned from readings, what can you do as a leader to ensure your project team that this is the right thing to do? What will you do to motivate them?

BUS375 Project Management

Week 8 Discussion

Adding New Resources to Your Project

You have added some new staff, including an outside partner to your project team, to help you reach your new deadline. They have very little understanding of your project and you don’t have a lot of time to educate them on the project’s specifics. Describe how you plan to incorporate them as members of your project as well as how to get them up to speed on your project.

BUS375 Project Management

Week 9 Discussion

Educating Your Project Sponsor on EVM

Your Project Sponsor is not familiar with earned value management (EVM). You have been asked to provide him with a quick overview of EVM. Using the information covered in the readings, suggest the top three (3) EVM performance measures you would educate your Project Sponsor on. Also, identify other performance factors beyond EVM that you would communicate to your sponsor. Provide a rationale for your selection of topics.

BUS375 Project Management

Week 10 Discussion

We are done! Not so fast!

You have now delivered the project to your customer. The project was delivered ahead of schedule, as requested by your project sponsor, but over budget by 20%. Now, it is time to reflect on what went well and what didn’t go so well. Based on feedback throughout the course, what would you have done differently in terms of scope, resources, and / or schedule, and why?

BUS375 Project Management

Week 11 Discussion

What’s Next?

You have reached the end of this course. Many of you took this course as part of your concentration in project management while others took it as an elective. What are the top three things that you learned about project management that you did not know?