Running head: BUSI 680 DB FORUM 1 – GROUP 1 REPLY 1
BUSI 680 DB Forum 1 – Group 1 Reply
The following paper is a collaboration of Group 1 in regards to the top five greatest
achievements in the last five decades. The focus is on the definition of a project and the
importance of project management.
Apollo 11 Landing on the Moon
On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy challenged the United States to accomplish
the amazing feat of landing a human being on the moon by the end of the decade. On July 20,
1969, as the world watched, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left the confines of their spaceship
and walked on the moon. The impact of the effort by the scientists, engineers, and astronauts of
the National Aviation and Space Administration thrust the world into an amazing scientific
discovery era; and has catapulted many industries into quantum leaps in technology
breakthroughs. Admittedly, when Kennedy spoke these famous words, "land a man on the moon
and return him safely to the Earth" (Riley, 2012), no one in United States truly knew how that
was going to take place. However, the project that ensued “reshaped how we see the Earth and
ourselves, while the ingenuity that put men on the moon gave birth to technologies that we all
use today” (Riley, 2012).
From a project standpoint, the efforts and incredible engineering feats that took place
during that decade had a specific objective and time frame as described by Kennedy’s speech.
The inflow of cross-functional teams and professionals that worked to develop propulsion,
navigation, and other systems were attempting, in many ways, something that had never been
done before. Finally, the overall project followed a specific time, cost, and performance
requirements.
BUSI 680 DB FORUM 1 – GROUP 1 REPLY 2
The Development of the Internet
The early-start of the Internet begins in the early 1960’s with a simple computer communication
network called ARPAnet (Castells, 2014), but the explosion of what we call the Internet today
and the associated World Wide Web has its beginnings throughout the 1980’s and truly is
established in the early 1990’s. The overall impact of the Internet can be seen globally and “our
current ‘network society’ is a product of the digital revolution and some major sociocultural
changes” (Castells, 2014). The global market and industries are exploding on the Internet as
companies like Amazon and Walmart use the Internet to allow their customers to shop from any
location and at any time. Online banking and other online services are bringing every aspect of
one’s daily life to a mobile phone via the Internet. Furthermore, the Internet is a roadway that
allows massive amounts of content delivered directly to the customers’ hands; and significant
changes of the amount of online activity and shopping will continue to increase over the next
decade. The days of the conventional storefront shops will ultimately go by the wayside as the
ability to buy online and cheaply deliver the products to homes and offices continue to decrease
in price. Moreover, the use of paper as a mode of communication will continue to dwindle as
more and more people go to a paperless office and begin to store large volumes of content on the
cloud.
As a project, the Internet has had an objective of connecting and linking computers since
the beginning of the project in the 1960’s. The time frame of the project has evolved but clearly
had a starting point and an ending point as the Internet came on line for customer use in the early
1990’s. The project included a wide array of individuals and teams that worked to evolve the
Internet and the overall World Wide Web. This was something that was unique and that had not
BUSI 680 DB FORUM 1 – GROUP 1 REPLY 3
been done before. Finally, the Internet development connected time, cost, and performance
requirements as the project developed.
Facebook
Without a doubt, Facebook has changed the world. With more than one billion active
users, Facebook has more than 17 percent of the world using this social network (Wagoner,
2014). Put plainly, Facebook gets more than a billion people to do something at the same time
on a regular basis, which is something no other company has ever been able to achieve. In 2013,
users shared roughly 41,000 posts per second (Wagoner, 2014). Additionally, Facebook has done
so without charging any membership or user fees, thus changing how businesses interact with
customers. Consumers can post, tag and share complaints, comments and reviews and have their
words, thoughts and images go “viral” in a matter of minutes. News travels fast on Facebook;
approximately 71 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds use social media for their primary source of
news, and of those 30 percent use Facebook exclusively. Even Facebook’s “news feed” is
designed to be a personalized newspaper for users.
Facebook is not a typical software company that provides a discrete product installed at a
customer site. The applications they provide are run on Facebook servers, called Software as a
Service (SaaS); this provides an easy environment for quick solution updates and tight-fisted
control over version and access. The unique culture of Facebook assigns various small groups of
engineers as their own project managers. Before general release of an update, code receives peer
testing, in-house beta and alpha testing, and intensive programmed analysis. After general
release roll out, the groups thoroughly monitor site diagnostics to immediately correct or modify
the code as needed. Feitelson, Frachtenberg, and Beck (2013) stated that, “such technical
facilities aren't enough, however. Facebook also relies on a culture of personal responsibility in
BUSI 680 DB FORUM 1 – GROUP 1 REPLY 4
which all engineers are responsible for the code they write and, when necessary, code they didn't
write that's affecting users or colleagues” (p. 9). The interesting and unique culture of Facebook
considers failures as an occasion for advancing and enhancement versus an opportunity for
dispensing blame.
Laparoscopy
A pivotal moment in the last 50 years is the medical advancement in surgeries,
specifically laparoscopy. With laparoscopy, surgeries that were once extremely invasive are now
considered outpatient surgeries. This advancement allows surgeons to make small incisions and
use robotic technologies to operate on an individual without completely cutting them open.
Doctors even have the option to conduct 3D surgeries, using cameras to view the area of injury
in three dimensions during surgery. “These technologies review achieve stereoscopy by
capturing 2 slightly different images of the same scene, which are displayed simultaneously but
at different polarizations or spectra’s on a passive 3D-monitor.” (Fergo, 2017). This
advancement has both increased overall health in individuals as well as decreased the recovery
time and risk associated with surgery in general.
Medical engineering development is a time consuming and challenging process. The
project demands both resourcefulness and a disciplined method of accumulating, translating, and
utilizing data. This process is explained by Hagedorn, Grosse, and Krishnamurty (2015) as,
“Medical environments involve a complex interaction between regulations, a highly diverse user
base, a multitude of established, essential procedures, and a vast body of underlying science, all
of which must be factored into any medical device design process” (p. 219). The life-threatening
and disruptive nature of medical advancements must be managed with an acute awareness of the
consequences.
BUSI 680 DB FORUM 1 – GROUP 1 REPLY 5
Applications of Additive Manufacturing
Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, will change the world of
manufacturing. The potential of AM is explained by Banning (2014):
3D printing (3DP) is a classic disruptive technology that is likely to have a huge and
widespread impact on the world. This revolutionary technology is likely to dramatically
change business models, shift production location, shrink supply chains, and alter the
global economic order, potentially degrading the importance of the Asian export
manufacturing platforms and revitalizing the US innovation engine and the US economy
(p. 70).
The intent of this section is not to discuss the development of AM, but the project
associated the implementation of AM.
The definition of an AM project will need to define the goals, specifications, tasks, and
responsibilities related to the implementation. It is important to understand the cultural reform
involved with AM as explained by Mellor, Hao, and Zhang(2014) in that, “Additive
manufacturing is defined as “the process of joining materials to make objects from 3D model
data, usually layer upon layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies, such as
traditional machining” (p. 194). The goals of the project will need to be directly linked to the
company vision and mission and must take into account the market and product features. The
techniques employed by AM will have a disruptive effect on the entire value stream process.
Strategies and organizational change will be directly influenced; and the mind-set and behaviors
of AM versus a traditional form of manufacturing will need to be transformed.
The specifications related to manufacturing processes, job descriptions, and supply chain
activities will all be part of the project. Tasks and responsibilities will be best handled by the
BUSI 680 DB FORUM 1 – GROUP 1 REPLY 6
actual decision-makers and originating level management as the intricacies involved would
confound upper level management. The move to AM will be seen more and more as time
progresses due to the massive potential for discrete manufacturing and mass customization
initiatives. The project will involve a fundamental shift in culture and will need total buy-in
from upper management along with a successful pilot program to demonstrate success.
The Importance of Project Management
Larson and Gray (2016) advocate that projects are initially, “temporary endeavors
undertaken to create a unique product, service or result and must consist of five major
characteristics” (p. 6). The five examples listed above are, by this definition, projects. Each
achievement has an established objective that expresses a singular purpose, which meets the first
of the five characteristics.
Secondly, the projects must have a defined starting point and ending point in its lifecycle;
for the five listed achievements, it will be difficult to ascertain the closing stage of Facebook, but
other competitors have been making significant strides in undermining their base. Additionally,
the Internet has already seen a dramatic advancement of SaaS and mobile technologies that
operate more efficiently, at less cost, than that of a traditional in-house server based software
technology.
Third, projects most likely require cross-functional organization, which include multiple
departments, persons, and initiatives (Larson & Gray, 2016). Fourth, projects usually lead the
entrance of or grow emerging technologies by doing something new, creative or uniquely
different. The fifth and last of the major characteristics forces the lofty dreams of entrepreneurs
back to reality like an albatross around the neck of hope: projects are rooted to “specific time,
cost, and performance requirements” (Larson and Gray, 2016, p. 7).
BUSI 680 DB FORUM 1 – GROUP 1 REPLY 7
Proverbs 24:5 (English Standard Version), says, “A wise man is full of strength, and a
man of knowledge enhances his might”. It is important for us as Christians to increase our
knowledge of the things God has given us so long as we ensure we do not lose sight of who gave
them to us. It is easy to get wrapped up in worldly views and excitements, but so important that
utilize these treasures to spread His Word. As long as we use these gifts as tools to strengthen our
relationship with Him, we will have the potential to be strong disciples for the Lord.
BUSI 680 DB FORUM 1 – GROUP 1 REPLY 8
References
Banning, G. (2014). 3D printing: New economic paradigms and strategic shifts. Global Policy,
5(1), 70-75. doi.10.1111/1758-5899.12119
Castells, M. (2014). The impact of the Internet on society: A global perspective. MIT
Technology Review. Retrieved from https://www.technologyreview.com/s/530566/the-
impact-of-the-Internet -on-society-a-global-perspective/
Fergo, C., Burcharth, J., Pommergaard, H., Kildebro, N., & Rosenberg, J. (2017). Three-
dimensional laparoscopy vs 2-dimensional laparoscopy with high-definition technology
for abdominal surgery: A systematic review. The American Journal of Surgery, 213(1),
159-170. doi:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2016.07.030
Feitelson, D. G., Frachtenberg, E., & Beck, K. L. (2013). Development and deployment at
Facebook. IEEE Internet Computing, 17(4), 8-17. doi:10.1109/MIC.2013.25
Hagedorn, T. J., Grosse, I. R., & Krishnamurty, S. (2015). A concept ideation framework for
medical device design. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 55, 218-230.
doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2015.04.010
Larson, E. W. & Gray, C. F. (2016). Project Management: The managerial process (6th ed.).
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education
Mellor, S., Hao, L., & Zhang, D. (2014). Additive manufacturing: A framework for
implementation. International Journal of Production Economics, 149, 194-201.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2013.07.008
Riley, C (2012). Apollo 40 years on: How the moon missions changed the world forever. The
Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/dec/16/apollo-
legacy-moon-space-riley
