Business Finance - Management QSO 355 Homework ( week 7)

In response to your peers, find posts for which you can provide valuable input, and give it. This discussion topic assignment is intended for the class to collaborate to help improve everyone's plan before completing the Final Project Part II PDF in Module Eight.

Refer to the Discussion Rubric PDF for directions on completing these discussions.

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Jesse Silva

Hello Everyone,

After reviewing case study B, I was surprised to learn that the project had fallen a month behind and that costs would overrun by 20%. This caused a significant problem for the PM (Chris Johnson), realizing that Robertson had let the project get so far off track from the initial schedule and budget. One of the most significant issues faced is bringing in new personnel (consultants). They require a long lead time and will need to be brought up to speed regarding the project's progress. This will require meeting with project team members, which takes time away from their scheduled tasks that are already behind schedule. Also, adding bundles will require new programming and testing to make sure the bundles operate flawlessly. The most significant difference between cases A and B is the scheduling required to make the project successful. Case A had some of the legwork already done and had a tight schedule, but it was manageable if the project risks were mitigated and scope creep was appropriately managed. Case B is like operating at Defcon 5; you have no room for error and will need to repair damages already done to the schedule and budget.

The feedback that will be helpful from your peers is if they can handle their workload enough to take on multiple tasks. If this project is going to be successful, project team members will need to work on multiple tasks simultaneously. Also, peer feedback about their current tasks will help discover where the project began to fall behind schedule and budget. The biggest issue I have encountered in this project is the timeline. In case A, the timeline was already very tight, and the person-hours required seemed too much to meet the deadline. Adding scope creep and budget issues will make completing this project successfully tricky.

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Tomas Hormazabal

The only constant in project management is that there will be changes. This is certainly the case with this project. The lack of communication, or lack of integrity (whichever the case) on Robertson’s part has not only led to him losing his job, but also the project becoming at risk for failure. The limited timeline that was associated with this project made for a tremendous challenge from the onset. This would require constant updates from the project manager to the sponsors. While doing my scheduling for the Part I final project, I noticed that the project was going to go way past the necessary timeline. This should have been communicated up front. This would have allowed for steps to be taken to minimize the impact or mitigate these delays. The addition of the holiday bundles will certainly add to the scope of the project as well as the budget. This will be difficult to account for as the project was already behind as well as over budget. Reworking the project plan to incorporate the delays of training and lead times will require a good deal of effort on the PM. Additionally, the project will encounter new risks associated with the addition to scope. These risks must be minimized in order for the project to achieve the already tight scheduling. Some peer feedback that, I think, would be helpful is understanding how to incorporate the scope changes into the project schedule without disrupting the entirety of work already done. Additionally, what risks do you think are associated with these new parameters, and how would you mitigate them?