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Arizona State University

Module 5: Paper

Cecilia Rice

OGL 321

Professor Pandya

4 April 2021
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“Preventing Scope and Schedule Risks” and the “PMI’s Pulse of the Profession: The High Cost

of Low Performance” were two very useful readings that enhanced my knowledge of project

management. Before this week's readings I did not know much about what a project scope was and the

importance of it. Author Kim Heldman of “Preventing Scope and Scheduled Risks” explained how

crucial scope is in any project and how management can sometimes be off on their scope and create

risks.“PMI’s Pulse of the Profession: The High Cost of Low Performance” talked about high

performance in organizations and in project managers. Both these readings correlated with this week's

Harvard Simulation D as it presented many risks as the project scope seemed unattainable. Two blogs

that also helped better understand my knowledge of project management were How to Make a Scope

Management Plan By William Malsam and What Is a Project Plan? These two blogs gave me a better

understanding of the required readings for this week. The authors of these blogs explained in more

detail what scope is and the benefits of project planning. In this essay I will discuss all I learned

through the readings and blogs in this week module.

Kim Heldman, author of “Preventing Scope and Schedule Risks” states, “two of the most

important elements of a project plan include scope and schedule.” (Heldman, 2010. p.95). In every

project a scope is created to define goals and requirements of the project. If the scope is not reasonable

or well thought out then risks begin to occur. “Schedule risks are associated with elements such as

incorrect estimates, unqualified personnel, and lack of resources, to name a few” (Heldman,2010,

p.95). A project manager who deals with these risks may become overwhelmed and lose balance within

the project. They may fail to stick with the underestimated budget planned or fall off track with the

project deadline. This chapter of the textbook reminded me of the challenges I faced during this week's

Harvard Simulation. The challenges of scope and schedule were present during the whole project in

simulation D after we were given a multifunctional product and had to meet the target set by
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management. The management target budget was $40,000 and the deadline target was 12 weeks! After

6 attempts I was only able to receive the highest score of 635/ 1,000. During all my attempts I had to

choose whether to finish the project in 12 weeks or stay within the budget. The scope for this project

was out of range and did not provide a realistic budget goal to accomplish the project in the 12 weeks.

Management of the project layed out a highly intensified project scope, making it unachievable for the

project manager to carry out the project without any risks.

In the textbook “PMI’s Pulse of the Profession: The High Cost of Low Performance” the author

provides information on high performing operations. “It is vital to understand what high-performing

project management organizations look like and how they execute.To do this, we looked at the data

through the lens of organizations that are high performers and those that are low” (PMI, 2013) High

performers don't only focus time, scope, and budget; but on execution and alignment by making sure

they are improving organization flexibility, tracking benefits past the end of the project, and maturing

portfolio management. They approach project, programs, and portfolio management differently from

their peers by creating efficiencies to drive success, they focus on talent management, and employ

project program management strategically. (PMI, 2013) Each scenario in the Harvard Simulation has

given me a chance to become a high performer during a project by giving me the ability to create a

project towards success. In this week's simulation the expectations of management were unrealistic

with a short deadline and a low budget. I had to focus on different techniques as a high performer to

figure out how to finish the project somewhat near the unrealistic goals.

The blog I found titled “How to Make a Scope Management Plan” by William Malsam

correlated to this week's reading of Preventing Scope and Schedule Risks by explaining in more detail

what scope is and how to make it a plan in your management. Scope can make or break a project when

one messes up the schedule or goes out of budget. It helps with the boundaries of the project, but also

who is responsible for tasks that make up the project. “Processes that are applied to make sure
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everything is done correctly and approved is collected in a scope statement, which is also known as a

statement of work” (Malsam, 2020). This document is referred to many times when a project manager

needs to make decisions to keep the project in its defined scope. It is like the rough draft of the project

and can be changed after requests are made in order to change the scope of the project. This scope

statement is important when creating a scope management plan because it helps get a whole view of the

processes that are going to take place in the project. “The scope management plan is primarily

concerned with defining how the scope is explained, developed, structured and verified” (Malsam,

2020). Project managers use this plan as a map for their project by inputting goals, roles,

responsibilities, and including a high level description of the project. A scope management plan is

crucial to project management and I never knew this until this week's reading! A project manager must

learn and master creating a scope in order to prevent risks and issues during the project.

The next blog I found titled “What Is a Project Plan?” talks about the purpose of a project plan

and how it guides the execution and control project phases. “The project plan answers who, what,

where, why, how, and when of the project” (2021). It consists of four different documents; project

charter, statement of work, work breakdown structure, and the project plan. The Project Charter gives

an overview of the projects reasons, goals, and stakeholders. The Statement of Work defines the project

scope, schedules, and tasks. The Work Breakdown Structure breaks down the project scope into project

phases and work packages. The Project Plan “is the document that is divided in sections to cover the

following: scope management, quality management, risk assessment, resource management,

stakeholder management, schedule management and the change management plan (2021). This blog

enhanced my knowledge of project management by showing me how important a project plan is

because without one a project manager has no control of a project.

I was able to connect this week's readings and blogs with the Harvard Simulation D as I learned

so much about scopes and risks. I never truly realized the importance of scopes and project plans
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within a project until this week's readings. As a future project manager, I have learned that there is so

much more that comes with managing a project and a team! One has to learn how to scope and prepare

for risks. Coming up with a reasonable budget and time for a project is extremely important and

necessary for all projects which is why project plans are crucial before beginning. I recently had

construction done in my backyard and realized how important project management is in any job or

work field! Construction workers have to come up with a project plan to figure out a scope in order to

prevent risks. I couldn't imagine being told a certain price and timeline when getting our construction

done and it completely changed due to the fact that the scope of the budget and timeline was wrong! I

know what to look out for now and prepare for as I work towards my goal of becoming a project

manager.
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Works Cited

Heldman, Kim. (2010) “Preventing Scope and Schedule Risks”. Project Manager’s Spotlight on Risk

Management.

How to Make a Project Plan: The Ultimate Guide to Project Planning. ProjectManager.com. (2021,

March 15). https://www.projectmanager.com/project-planning.

Malsam, W. (2020, September 24). How to Make a Scope Management Plan. ProjectManager.com.

https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/scope-management-plan.

PMI, Inc. (2013) “The High Cost of Low Performance”. Pulse of the Profession.