There were several things that fell apart during this
project. First of all, none of us could agree on the direction of the training
program. Then, further along in the project we felt this was too broad and not
sure if training was really the answer. We didn’t want to start over but half
the group wanted to revise the project while the other half just wanted to
continue.
I wouldn’t say the project was a failure but it was not a
complete success either. A main contributing factor is we could not agree on
what we wanted the outcome to be. Also, we each had team assignments and one
was designated the project manager. However, I suppose none of us left it to the
project manager to make all the decisions.
If we were to follow the Project Management process, we
should have agreed to let the Project Manager organize and control the project.
Organizing allows the Project Manager to define the individuals working on the
project roles and responsibilities (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton,
& Kramer, 2008). In doing so, each of us would have understood our role at
the beginning of the project (and would maybe have accepted our job in the
project versus each trying to control everything).
Controlling the project would have been another importance piece
of the process. Controlling would reconfirm the individual’s expected
performance (which is only somewhat applicable in my situation), addressing
problems encountered, and sharing information with interested people (Portny,
Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008).
I think overall we really learned from it. We had to learn
how to come to a common agreement to complete the project and to understand
that each of us have a specific role we had to follow. We couldn’t all do the
same job because then we would just continue competing!
Resources
Portny, S. E., Kramer, B. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J.
R., Shafer, S. M., & Sutton, M. M. (2008). Defining Project Management
Today. Project management (pp. 6-24). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.
Your experience with that assignment sounds very similar to my group woes. I am glad we learned from it, otherwise what a horrible experience it would have been.
ReplyDeleteDear Melisa,
ReplyDeleteHello! It is interesting to hear your experience with the team project. I also took that course and experienced by own strife with the team project. I work in teams often and was not expecting to encounter an issue. Given what you experienced, do you think that the team project would have turned out differently if you had had this course on project management prior to being in a situation with a project manager?
In the Project Management Minimalist, the Step 2 includes brainstorming and discussing the project concept (Greer, 2010). Do you feel that the project was adequately analyzed and scoped by the team prior to starting?
In your summary, you mentioned that control and decision-making was an issue. Given the dynamics of a class project, do you think that they project manager could have made the final decision with authority?
Best,
Natalie
References:
Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.
Hello Melisa,
ReplyDeleteHaving members that do not agree on a decision and take the decision-making completely from the project manager can cause some project delays and difficulties. I have to tell you that I am one of those people that have to work really hard not to do the project manager's job when I'm not the manager of the project! I have learned how to make suggestions and even demonstrate the suggestions instead of coming out and saying "we should do this" or "no, this is a better idea". As members of a project, our ideas should be presented as "I think this will work well, what do you think?" and be open to other suggestions. The suggestions could be combined or partial of the idea can be implemented. As project managers, an open mind is still a plus. Also, feelings cannot be the deciding factor. Project managers cannot go with every idea all of the time. Sometimes, someone's idea will have to be discarded or used for another project.