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Running head: BLUE SKY PROJECT CASE QUESTIONS 1

BLUE SKY PROJECT CASE QUESTIONS 2

Blue Sky Project Case Questions

CMGT-570

Blue Sky Project Case Questions

Question 1: If you were Hudson, how would you respond to the director?

If I were Hudson, I would convince the director that I have played an essential part in ensuring the project is a success, and the organization still needs my services to ensure that the cloud computing project is a success. I will remind the director that since I was part of the team that conducted the transition to a new project, it is appropriate to maintain my existence in the organization so that I can continue with the implementation of the plan.

Another thing that I will do is to convince the director that I have stayed in touch with Open-Range and I have learned significant details about the project which I intend to continue using to ensure the objectives of the project are realized. I would remind the director that I was much responsible for the choice of the cloud provider and I have maintained a special relationship with them. Therefore, it will not be a good idea to bring in a new person to deal with the cloud provider because it may disrupt the implementation of the project. Equally, I would focus on my strengths and show where I positively impacted the project. He should talk about how he helped Professor Amanda Johnson collaborate with colleagues around the world (Maculley, 2008). He also saved the institute a lot of money by going with the Open Range as their cloud service provider. He should tale about how he interacted with his counterparts as Open Range to ensure that the service worked well for the institute.

I could also point out my capability as Jackson in his level of work by pointing out that I was the one who worked all weekend when there were issues with servers at work, while Jackson did not. I could also show confidence that I was the most likely person to understand the general Blue Sky Project much better than the rest, and that I would be more resourceful going forward. Finally, I could point out that he could build relationships that were just as strong as Jackson's with the rest of the team. That is one of the areas that Jackson has a leg up over Hudson. If Hudson were to build these relationships really, he would be more promising in leading the company to success.

Question 2: What mistakes did Hudson make?

The first, which could have been the most detrimental, was his lack of interaction with Blue Sky Project employees. Avoiding meals with others because of food allergies was not appropriate since he could still attend the lunches but not ate. His presence there would have shown that he wanted to be part of the team. His lack of attendance, in a way, symbolized that he lacked skills in overcoming obstacles. This aspect was a little obstacle with a simple workaround, but he did not even make an effort. As for the staff meetings, he was giving the sense to his colleagues that these meetings were not important enough for him to be there or that he had more important matters to attend (Maculley, 2008).

Another mistake that Hudson committed is to prefer to staying in his office working on several assignments and overlooking the need to know his colleagues and work together as a team. Hudson was on top of the latest developments and was knowledgeable about his responsibilities, but he did not see the need of interacting with other staff members to share his knowledge. This behavior enabled Jackson to have an advantage over him because the former was popular with the employees and seems to understand them better. Hudson chose to work at the back end and leaving Jackson to meet with the staff and identify noncritical information (Maculley, 2008). If Hudson had preferred to work closely with the rest of the team, the implementation of the project would have been smoother and more manageable as they could share information and ideas in the course of their work.

Another mistake made by Hudson was that he found it difficult to conduct training for the staff on the use of information technology even though he knew that his team had little knowledge about IT. If he had agreed to carry out practical training for the staff, the implementation of the new project would have been easy.

Hudson made a mistake of convincing the committee to choose Open-Range as the cloud service provider. He assured them that he was confident in Open-range and cost-cutting was the principal objective (Maculley, 2008). This act was a mistake on Hudson's side because various factors should be taken into consideration when implementing a new project rather than considering the costs only. He ought to have understood that reliability and security of cloud service provider were vital to the success of the project. Finally, he chose to quit his previous job at Bluegrass systems' to go for a new one that was not secure in the long run since he was not sure of its job security.

Question 3: What are the lessons to be learned from this case?

Lessons learned from this project include the importance of teamwork. Hudson did not build meaningful relationships from the start of the project. Jackson seemed to be the only one who did this with, and it was to a small degree. The people who did not believe in the project or trust the servers would have been great to have on his side, and Hudson could have achieved this if he tried harder to build work relationships with them. It was shown when Jackson did not voice his dislike during the meeting about the servers, although Hudson knew his feelings (Maculley, 2008). He was thankful for that, and Jackson probably did it because the two did have somewhat of a relationship. This situation could have been the case for several other people had Hudson put the effort. Although he was great at his job, he should have used some of that energy toward building bridges.

Another lesson is the importance of time management; people run out of time, or some don't make enough time and give up on the project. Scheduling over time is a great choice only because it takes some time of your day, but it gets activities done quicker. There are fewer distractions and a lesser way of having your project crash.

Finally is the essence of cost-effectiveness; the expense of a project can cause someone to crash it also because they don't have the money to cover all supplies. Stress/overwhelmed, with all of what is going on with a project can cause financial mistakes that will, in turn, lead to a series of downfalls. This way, there will be limited resources to support your informational needs or support. And failure to meet the needs of others can crash a project.

Reference

Maculley, J. R. (2008). Blue sky project management: How 21st century innovation gets to market. Charleston, SC: Booksurge.