Peer Responses Project Mgnt

Respond to two students discussion post. Just type the paragraph under the discussion. It doesn’t have to be in essay form.

Also, make sure that your response(s) are substantial and at least 100 words.  In your responses, you must include connections to course learning objectives. 

Discussion Post #1

William Dowdell

 

  This week’s reading assignment covered Chapter 3. This chapter covered the steps involved in project management planning. “Define the problem to be solved by the project. Develop a mission statement, followed by statements of major objectives. Develop a project strategy that will meet all project objectives. Write a scope statement to define project boundaries (what will and will not be done). Develop a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Using the WBS, estimate activity durations, resource requirements, and costs (as appropriate for your environment). Prepare the project master schedule and budget. Decide on the project organization structure—whether matrix or hierarchical (if you are free to choose). Create a project plan. Get the plan signed off by all project stakeholders” (Heagney, Pg. 43-44). These steps are important to any project planning process. Following these steps can assist any organization with successful project implementation. Strategy, tactics, and logistics were the three activities that must be performed during the life of the job. ”If you have no plan, you have no control“ (Heagney, Pg. 44). This may be the most important key point to remember. If you do not develop a plan you will not have any control of the project you are implementing. Planning will set any organization up for success with any project it wants to implement. All of the other key points are directly related to a plan. You must have a plan to determine who, what, when, where, and how. Those components are contained in a plan as well as who stakeholders are, who customers are, and identified resources.

 There were two videos provided in this module. Your First Step as a Project Manager and Project Planning Process: 5 Steps to Project Management Planning was the short video in this module. The videos reinforced that all projects must have a plan for the project manager to have control of the project.

Discussion #2

Kristin Johnson

Planning is probably one of the most important steps of anything. Throughout Chapter 3, Heagney discusses a lot of key points regarding planning. In earlier chapters of the book, Heagney states that "project failures are caused primarily by the failure to plan properly (2012, pg. xii). So, you would think in order to properly execute a decision, effective planning is needed. And you would be correct. Planning answers the main questions: who, what, when, why, and the hows. Who will do it? What must be done? When must it be done? Why does it need to be done? How should it be done? How much will it cost? How good does it have to be? These are all questions that must be answered in the planning process. Obviously, there will be more questions depending on the particular task being done. But, if one questions is left out, for instance "How much will it cost," when the project begins, no one is going to know the budget and how much is too much. Leaving important information out causes failure. Planning is not just having one meeting and starting a project. This is a process, and should be done so accordingly. Heagney goes on to state that there are plan "ingredients": problem statement, project mission statement, project objectives, project work requirements, exit criteria, end-item specifications, work breakdown structure,  schedules, required resources, control system, major contributors, and risk areas (Heagney, 2012, pg. 39). All of these "ingredients" help paint the larger picture of the project. 

One of the Key Points to Remember that I am going to discuss is, "The people who must execute a plan should participate in preparing it" (Heagney, 2012, pg. 44). This is an important key point that he states, because it is true. The people that are carrying out the plan should have a say-so in what goes on, as they are the ones who are physically doing the project. For instance, the ones who are building a new hospital, should be in all of the planning meetings surrounding the new building. They will feel a sense of security when they are a part of something that they will later be physically doing themselves. They can also put their opinions and advice in, as they have probably done this a time or two before. 

One Key Point to Remember that I can relate to another resource is when Heagney states, "If you have no plan, you have no control" (Heagney, 2012, pg. 44). I can relate it to the video, "Project Planning Process: 5 Steps to Project Management Planning". Throughout this video, she goes through 5 simple steps of project planning. The Key Point, regarding having a plan, talks about control. In the video, she talks about planning paralysis. Without planning, there is no control, and the process is basically paralyzed. It will need to go back to the drawing board.