Proj586 Final Essay Huntsville Project
What I Learned About
Project Management
Prepared by Jonathan Leslie
PROJ586
February 17, 2013
Seeing that is my first formalized experience with project management, both professional and educational, most everything I can make a relation to in my life comes from the realization of things I take from this course.
Planning a scope is probably the most important step of starting any project. In the Huntsville Plant Project, I created a Project Charter, wrote a Scope Statement, and prepared a two-level Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The three items comprised the bulk of the scope planning. The Project Charter was a high-level document describing the key stakeholders authorizing the start of the project. It also included brief mission statement, summarization of the scope of the project, key objectives, a list of assumptions, major perceived constraints, and a generalized timeline of events, cost/financial assumptions, customer quality criteria, initial list of major risks, and an introduction to the project team members (Gido 38-41). Following the charter, a scope statement is developed using the project team, including subject matter experts, to more concisely state what the project’s purpose, or mission, is. It also more accurately describes the end product, major deliverables throughout the course of the project, and measurable objectives to be accomplished. Finally, the WBS is designed. The WBS lays out a basic hierarchical outline of activities and who is responsible for doing the work, who is responsible for its completion, who is the “expert” in regards to completing the work, and the interested parties to be informed (usually stakeholders) (Wikipedia, n.d.). While my current position does not rely on all of these items, I will certainly be able to identify apply aspects of them to my everyday life. Having a clear understanding of what is needed, how to achieve it, and what a quality result should be is much easier to plan for than a generic
Project Management
Prepared by Jonathan Leslie
PROJ586
February 17, 2013
Seeing that is my first formalized experience with project management, both professional and educational, most everything I can make a relation to in my life comes from the realization of things I take from this course.
Planning a scope is probably the most important step of starting any project. In the Huntsville Plant Project, I created a Project Charter, wrote a Scope Statement, and prepared a two-level Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The three items comprised the bulk of the scope planning. The Project Charter was a high-level document describing the key stakeholders authorizing the start of the project. It also included brief mission statement, summarization of the scope of the project, key objectives, a list of assumptions, major perceived constraints, and a generalized timeline of events, cost/financial assumptions, customer quality criteria, initial list of major risks, and an introduction to the project team members (Gido 38-41). Following the charter, a scope statement is developed using the project team, including subject matter experts, to more concisely state what the project’s purpose, or mission, is. It also more accurately describes the end product, major deliverables throughout the course of the project, and measurable objectives to be accomplished. Finally, the WBS is designed. The WBS lays out a basic hierarchical outline of activities and who is responsible for doing the work, who is responsible for its completion, who is the “expert” in regards to completing the work, and the interested parties to be informed (usually stakeholders) (Wikipedia, n.d.). While my current position does not rely on all of these items, I will certainly be able to identify apply aspects of them to my everyday life. Having a clear understanding of what is needed, how to achieve it, and what a quality result should be is much easier to plan for than a generic
References: Gido, Clements. Successful Project Management, 5th ed., 5th Edition. South Western Educational Publishing, 02/2011. <vbk:9781133614487>. Responsibility assignment matrix. (n.d.). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved February 17, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_assignment_matrix