Hello everyone!

So I am going to start off by giving everyone a little back story on myself

and my career to this point. I enlisted in the military (U.S. Navy) when I was 19. When I joined
up I was able to choose pretty much any job I was inclined to pursue. At the time I had enjoyed
working with electronics for some of my high school science projects so I wanted to do
something in the electronic technician field. When I was at the MEPS station I was offered to
volunteer for Submarine duty, I had no idea what that was but they explained I would get paid
more money so I said sign me up! I graduated boot camp in March 2004 and went directly to
Basic Enlisted Submarine School and many schools after that. In 2005 I reported to my first
submarine (USS Kentucky SSBN 737). Now I do agree with Dr. Chandler that students
complete projects all the time but I am going to say that my “Project Management” experience
really started when I was made the work center supervisor for my division/team in 2008. This
was the first time I found myself leading a project that delivered many products that I was not
solely doing myself. Fast forward almost 14 years later and I find that I have successfully led
many projects with many products that were a success and a few that were a failure.

One of the most recent projects I led was at my last command. I was assigned to lead a
team in the restoration/preservation of approximately 48,000 square feet of equipment/structure
within a timeframe of six months and a crew of 30 relatively new Sailors, 75% of which had no
background with the associated equipment/structure to be worked on. So the “project” I would
say was getting the resources together, plan of action and milestone generated, team identified
and trained, product criteria established, deconflict the equipment/structure repair schedule with
critical path work, and then provide the client with the requested criteria. The “products” would
be the repair/preservation of the individual equipment and associated structures. I actually had
several clients, the Heads of Departments are who I would identify as my direct clients as they
were the ones responsible for the equipment/structures; however ultimately the true client would
have been the Commanding Officer of the ship.

This project was exceptionally difficult due to the fact that there was no one available in
the initial planning stages of the project that had any experience/background with a project of
this scope or nature due to where the equipment and structures were located on the vessel. I
will admit that one of the weaknesses that I see often in my field of work is that managers are
expected to accept projects without knowing what will be required to complete them or what the
criteria for the products will be. So there was a lot of homework done to identify the scope of the
work to be done so that we could provide a decent plan that could be deconflicted with the other
projects being completed in the same time frame. After a couple of months we had what we
thought would be a solid plan … then COVID hit; probably safe to say this was a pretty decent
contingency. Luckily we had worked in extra time for risk mitigations which helped soften the
blow from the unexpected event. We were able to get a hold of another team that had
performed some work that was similar to the scope of work we would be doing which helped us
identify the quantity of resources we would need and a rough estimate of the man hours that
would be required to get the project done within the allotted time frame. Getting the team
identified and trained up was I would say one of the easier products of the project. After all that
the true aspects of management revealed their heads. A lot of effort was required to gain the
trust of the Heads of Departments that even though the Sailors performing the work were not
the operators/maintainers of the equipment they would still be able to successfully complete the
work and leave the systems in a better condition than they started out in. Most of the
contingencies that revealed themselves during the project aside from the major one (COVID)
stemmed from mis-communication from other project managers which led to work conflicts
related to safety, tools, and resources. The project was overall successful and I would say that
95% of the products met the criteria established by the clients; which because of the scope of
the work and the contingencies that established themselves during the project it was a huge
success in my book!

I am the project manager for this project, the project is teaching/identifying myself the following:

1. The areas and phases of project management and how they are applied.
2. The influences on projects related to cultural, organization, and human elements.
3. Capability to practice effective management of projects.
4. Personal professional progress made from participating in this project

This project will produce the following 30 products:

1. Engagement with concepts in “O’Connell(2011) Ch.1 & Ch.2”

2. Understanding of concepts in “Project Management Terminology Video”
3. Understanding of concepts in “Baseline Assessment Video”
4. Understanding of concepts in “Conversation with a PM - Part 1 Video”
5. “Baseline Assessment”
6. Engagement with concepts in “What is Quality Assurance?”
7. Understanding of concepts in “Rubrics Video”
8. Understanding of concepts in “Product Specifications and Quality Criteria Video”
9. Engagement with concepts in “De Reyck(2010) - Effective Project Planning”
10. Understanding of concepts in “Planning for Contingencies Video”
11. Understanding of concepts in “Project Planning Video”
12. “Product, Tasks, and Subtasks”
13. Engagement with concepts in “Work Break Down Structure (WBS)”
14. “Initial Project Plan”
15. Understanding of concepts in “Feedback Video”’
16. “Peer Reviews of Colleagues’ Initial Project Plans”
17. Understanding of concepts in “Habits Video Quiz”
18. Engagement with concepts in “Halvorson and Rock(2015) and with Desjardins(2018)”
19. Understating of concepts in “Biases Video”
20. Engagement of concepts in “Cottrell(2011) - Critical Thinking”
21. Understanding of concepts in “Critical Thinking Quiz”
22. “Fulfilling PM Principles”
23. “PM Principles at Work”
24. Engagement with concepts in “O’Connell(2011) Ch. 4, 5, & 6”
25. “Pre Peer Feedback on Updated and Improved Project Plans”
26. “Updated and Improved Project Plan”
 27. “Peer Reviews of Colleagues’ Updated Project Plans”
28. Engagement with concepts in “Why People Fail to Recognize their own Incompetence”
29. Understanding of concepts in “Conversation with a PM - Part 2 Video”
30. “Culminating Project Management Performance Review”

I think the value of anything is what we make of it so with that being said what I want
from this course is to get out of it what I put into it, what I do not want from this course is to not
get out what I put into it. I am about 3 full time semesters out from getting my undergraduate in
organizational leadership completed, I intend to continue on and get my masters in
organizational leadership after that. For strategies I have been employing to ensure success … I
think that is difficult for me to call out initially because I have been managing projects for a while
now. If I were to write it down I would say that my strategies are:

1. Begin with the end in mind.

2. Prepare for the worst.
3. Make no assumptions, only educated guesses.
4. Keep an open mind.
5. Get back on the horse and don’t fall off again.
6. This is not a one man show, someone has done something similar before “Collaborate”.

Strategies for mitigating the ultimate contingency (COVID) , I have been relying on
remaining flexible and communicating early and often to deconflict any potential issues.

For me the essentials for succeeding in online courses is making sure you understand
the expected criteria, communicate early before deadlines if you do not understand something,
ensure you understand the preferred method for communication and reporting resolving
technology issues, check your online course daily for new messages/changes for the course.

I am good at reading inbetween the lines and picking up on what is expected/required

from the assigned course work (products). I am also fairly resourceful and can usually find the
right answer or someone who does have the right answer. Last thing I would say is that I am
straight forward and tend to look at the root/purpose of things and always willing to help out
when it is needed.

I am investing myself and the time necessary for me and my fellow project managers to
successfully complete this project!

Here is my projected time management for this course:

● Monday
○ 0530-0730 Commute to Work
○ 0730-1430 Work
○ 1430-1630 Commute to Home
○ 1730-1930 OGL 300 Course Work
 ○ 1930-2130 OGL 320 Course Work
○ 2200-0500 Sleep
● Tuesday
○ 0530-0730 Commute to Work
○ 0730-1430 Work
○ 1430-1630 Commute to Home
○ 1730-1930 OGL 300 Course Work (2 Hours)
○ 1930-2130 OGL 320 Course Work (2 Hours)
○ 2200-0500 Sleep
● Wednesday
○ 0530-0730 Commute to Work
○ 0730-1430 Work
○ 1430-1630 Commute to Home
○ 1730-1830 OGL 300/320 Course Work (1 Hour)
○ 1830-2030 Youth Activities
○ 2030-2130 Free Time
○ 2200-0500 Sleep
● Thursday
○ 0530-0730 Commute to Work
○ 0730-1430 Work
○ 1430-1630 Commute to Home
○ 1730-1930 OGL 300 Course Work (2 Hours)
○ 1930-2130 OGL 320 Course Work (2 Hours)
○ 2200-0500 Sleep
● Friday
○ 0530-0730 Commute to Work
○ 0730-1430 Work
○ 1430-1630 Commute to Home
○ 1730-1830 OGL 300 Course Work (1 Hour)
○ 1830-1930 OGL 320 Course Work (1 Hour)
○ 1930-0000 Party Night
○ 0000-0800 Sleep
● Saturday
○ 1030-1430 OGL 300 Course Work (4 Hour)
○ 1430-1830 OGL 320 Course Work (4 Hour)
○ 1830-2300 Date Night
○ 2300-0630 Sleep
● Sunday
○ 0730-1300 Church Meetings
○ 1600-1800 OGL 300 Course Work (2 Hours)
○ 1800-2000 OGL 320 Course Work (2 Hours)
○ 2000-2130 Free Time
○ 2130-0500 Sleep