Many projects in many different fields end up over budget and are not delivered on time.

This fact demonstrates the need to incorporate the knowledge areas and process groups of project

management as described by the Project Management Institute (PMI) to ensure project success.

Not every project is created equal, so taking care in developing the appropriate plan that covers

the needs of the project itself and the organization is important. Project initiation entails “the

context of initiating the project” where the who, what, when, where, why, and how are discussed

and decided and the methods that will be used in developing, planning, and executing the project

(Shafer, 2017). This foundation is required to keep the backbone of the project strong and on the

right track and make sure it is for the right reasons. Authorization for the PM to perform and

organize work along with establishing roles and responsibilities is key to getting the team to

work well together. In my experience teams/roles have not always been established so work was

either not completed at all, not completed on time, or was not correct more times than desired.

Project planning is the meat of getting the project ready for execution including defining the

scope, gathering resources, determining costs, detailing the schedule, and assessing risks. Scope

creep can be a serious setback that can be detrimental to both the schedule and budget if more

tasks are added that carry more costs. In my previous position at a pharmaceutical company, I

saw many new projects have to be crashed at the end to try to meet some semblance of a

deadline because the customer continued to ask for more and the PMs did not adjust for cost and

time. It is very frustrating and exhausting when there is a matrix organization where key players

have daily tasks to perform. Project execution is the most activity rich and expensive part of a

project where activities are performed, risk responses are implemented, and interactions within

the team and stakeholders are occurring the most. Monitoring and controlling the project is also

an important part of the project where “processes required to track, review, and regulate progress
and performance of the project” are happening (PMI, 2017). I have not seen enough of this

happening in my experience. In my last place of employment tracking only occurred with

deliverables with an arbitrary deadline. A schedule baseline was not really followed that really

considered the real amount of time it took to create documentation, test product, or go through

the chain of approvals. As can be assumed, this is a runaway train ready for a crash. Since there

were no baselines, of course there were no methods for getting back on track either resulting in

screaming matches and interdepartmental turmoil. Closing is also something that does not seem

to be taken seriously as it does take time and resources, but making sure that everything is

complete and checked off and all financials have been sorted out can provide much insight on

current performance and how performance can be monitored or changed for future projects.
 References

Project Management Institute. (2017). A guide to the project management body of

knowledge (PMBOK® guide) (6th ed.). Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.

Shafer, J.R.M.S.J.M.J.S. M. (2017). Project Management: A Strategic Managerial

Approach, Enhanced eText. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from

https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781119369110/