As I gather my thoughts, contemplating the day’s snowfall and shoveling, I consider a previous project I once worked on. One I remember too well, and, to this day I am unsure has finally been completed.
Consider management requesting to have the course you are an instructor for be “upgrade” to the next level of instruction.
There were two, I feel, dominate scope creep issues that impacted this project. First, a delay in the ability to interact with stakeholders--those outside the organization; this sounds askewed, but true. As a team, we discussed what we could do, researched as able, to fulfill the requirement with what we felt we were able with our hands tied; even my inexperienced in project management told me this was wrong and caused undue delay and stress on the team.
Without going into detail, as a team, we did our best to move past this restriction, finally, returning to management, explaining what we were able to find, but insisted the need to converse with the stakeholders. I learn in project management the importance of stakeholders, which inturn makes me wonder if other issues dictated the initial directive. Lesson Learned: When embarking on a project, ensure the pending project has the appropriate backing/direction. Once cleared to proceed, ensure everyone, including stakeholders, are part of the ENTIRE project.
Secondly, no real projected completion date, which also meant no project schedule. We looked at the next meeting--established from the last meeting, but nothing further down the road. The magnitude of this project needed a schedule to illuminate all possible risks to the project completion date. This included the instructor’s course schedule--courses continued through this process with adjustments to each subsequent iteration, and to officially establish a completion date.
Managing issues is very important for the success for any project, including identifying, documenting, and communicating issues to those involved (Lynch & Roceker, 2007).
Bottomline, if you have a project, no matter the size or importance, you need to establish a schedule and utilize all stakeholders.
_______
Reference
Lynch, M. M., & Roecker, J. (2007). Project managing e-learning: A handbook for successful design, delivery, and management. London: Routledge
Hi Marnie,
ReplyDeleteYour inability to communicate directly with all the stakeholders is a valid concern, and I’ve been in that position several times myself. You can only hope that the intermediary conveys your questions and delivers the correct answer. Also, the fact that your project did not have a timeline or deadline seems to indicate a lack of importance within the organization. It sounds like you needed a project champion who had “sufficient power and influence to encourage serious, ongoing organizational commitment to the project” (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008, p. 15). Furthermore, “the success of a project depends on how clear and accurate the plan is and whether people believe they can achieve it” (Portny et al., 2008, p. 79). I’m sure you and your teammates felt disillusioned and would have preferred working on an assignment that could be completed. I guess, working on that project wasn’t much more gratifying than your current project: shoveling snow in snowstorm. A thankless job with no end in sight.
--Deanna
Reference
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Marnie,
ReplyDeleteThis scenario is exactly the opposite of what I attempting to both as an instructor and a curriculum developer at work. Currently our course of instruction has 9 modules that are in desperate need to be revised due to upgrades in technology. In essence, my students are getting the fundamentals, but are far as system specifics, they are being taught components that have been superseded. My training staff is onboard with these requested changes and we do have clear documentation of feedback from supervisors that will receive these students after course completion. They [supervisors] have stressed the issue that retraining is often conducted to get these young technicians certified in a timely manner. The problem is, is that management does not recognize this as an issue that needs to be addressed. For now they would rather pump out students at a rapid rate; therefore it seems to be quantity vice quality. My coworkers and I have been working on a very easy solution to revise these modules and the best part is we have all of the talent, “availability and condition of equipment and resources that are used to perform the work” to achieve success without spending a single penny (Portny, et al., 2008, p. 210). Sometime I just do not know what the management is truly invested in. The presentation that was created will be sent to them as soon as the timeline is completed. Easy day for us, now the ball will be in management’s court for approval and to prove their commitment. No pressure!
Dave
Reference
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E.
(2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken,
NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Hi Marnie,
ReplyDeleteWhat a challenge! First, without a schedule or deadlines how can anything get accomplished. I think of my day-to-day life and how often it seems like those things that have a deadline in a day or two are at the top of the list and get done. If they don’t need to happen today, they often get pushed to the bottom of the list to wait until tomorrow.
The lack of communication with the stakeholders outside of your organization seems a difficult hurdle to overcome. “The project manager and the project team tell people about scheduled achievements that are realized, problems encountered, and revisions to the established project plan” (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008, p. 80). None of those adjustments or issues could be effectively dealt with if there was no communication. Dr Stolovitch’s advice to “communicate with the client” because “they hate nasty surprises” was moot in your circumstance (Laureate Productions, Inc., n.d.). I can only imagine your frustration in trying to complete the project with so little direction or guidance.
Susan
Reference
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.). "Monitoring projects" [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Portny, S.E., Mantel, S.J., Meredith, J.R., Shafer, S.M., Sutton, M.M., & Kramer, B.E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Hi Marnie,
ReplyDeleteI am sure finding in this week's blog postings valuable resources for situations similar to some I've experienced.
When reading your situation, it appears that you didn't have a formal project manager? The need for formal project management is clear in almost every situation in our case book, as well as our colleagues' experiences. To me this begins with a trained project manager.
Thank you,
Jenni