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OGL 320: Final Paper Managing Projects Effectively

Part One
Some of the guiding principles in project management are to lead ethically, be

transparent, a strong communicator, open and adaptable and aware. These qualities in can be

found in strong leaders, something a project manager must be to develop a strong team, plan,

budget, and schedule to execute successfully. There are also many tools for planning,

strategizing, scheduling, and assessing. risk which can help guide and keep the project running to

a successful, on time completion. A project manager can be defined as, the individual charged

with planning and scheduling project tasks and day-to-day management of project

execution (Luecke, 2004). The project manager manages the whole of the project, with the

objective of obtaining results from their team. Project managers may appoint a team leader, who

reports to the project manager, and who is reported to by teams they are directly supervising.

Large projects likely have a project manager and a leader, but in small projects the projects

manager may be both, manager, and leader. Some duties of the project manager are recruit

effective participants, provide framework, keep the vision clear, coordinate activities, negotiate,

mediate conflict, identify resources, set milestones, meet budget, ensure contributions and

benefits keep work on track and assure goals are delivered on time and on

budget (Luecke, 2004).

Project management has four phases, each involving their own set of activities that will

help ensure all areas of the project are analyzed and represented. The four phases of project

management are planning, build-up, implementation, and closeout. Planning includes

determining the problem, what problem is this project solving? The problem must be clear.
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OGL 320: Final Paper Managing Projects Effectively

Planning phase also includes identifying stakeholder, defining objectives, and determining cope,

resources and major tasks.

Part One

Phase two is Build-up, including the important aspect of developing a strong team. The

team must complement the tasks necessary to complete them and be diverse enough to ensure all

angles of thinking and working are represented. Diversity on the team can lead to more creativity

and problem solving, increased productivity, higher team morale with less turnover and higher

profitability for the company. Six characteristics of an effective team, competence, a clear

common goal, commitment to the goal, an environment where everyone contributes and benefits,

a supportive structure and alignment of project goals with organizational goals (Luecke, 2004).

A team is specifically chosen to be assigned to a specific task. The Build-up phase also includes

planning assignment which includes owning the role, creating a schedule, holding a kickoff

meeting and developing a budget. Phase three is Implementation, which consists of monitoring

budget, reporting progress, holding team meetings and managing problems. Lastly is closeout

phase. A project is not complete when the product or project is delivered. There are things like

returning equipment, final pay, lessons learned, team de-brief and post evaluation reports that

need to be finished before the project is complete. This can also include meeting with the

project’s sponsor. Post project, analysis, de briefs, and evaluations help identify lessons learned

for future projects.

Taking advantage of tools that can be used along the course of the project can be helpful

in identifying needs, help schedule and analyze for future projects. The tools include, a Work

Breakdown Structure, post-evaluation report, and scheduling tools such as PERT and Gantt
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OGL 320: Final Paper Managing Projects Effectively

charts and probability. A Work Breakdown Structure of WBS, will help break down each major

task to sub tasks and then again. Then these tasks can be assigned an owned by a team member,

this will help identify unowned tasks, which may reveal a need for a new team member to be

brought on if there is none who provides that service. In this instance it also helps avoid scope

creep by leaving a task undone, which a larger task relies on. This missed task could not only

cost time and money but could lead to scope creep as larger tasks rely on it.

After each phase has taken advantage of the specific tools specific to its tasks, the project

has been executed, and the product has been produced and delivered, the project must be closed

out. The close out is a formal step in the project which includes, being signed off by the customer

or sponsor, notifying stakeholders of projects completion, defining activities as complete,

perform contract closure procedures: involving product and administrative closure, return any

resources used for the project. This can also include investigations and documentation if the

project was terminated before completion (Corlett, 2020).

Part Two

All topics represented through this course, whether from the textbooks, supplemental

readings or videos has been a large addition to my project management knowledge. Reflecting

on my self- assessment quiz with a score of 59 and the attribute that come along with that, like

being able to manage small projects but losing control on larger projects, I would say that is

accurate. Reading through the texts and listening to the speakers showed me many AHA!

moments, where I was connecting the dots on what I knew with what I was learning. The four

phases of management showed me that I had some of the activities correct, but I was focused on

them in the wrong order, adding time and cost, and perhaps missing others completely. Knowing

an order to the project, what each phase entails, how to manage large tasks, and taking advantage
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OGL 320: Final Paper Managing Projects Effectively

of all the tools will be what I take away from this class. Already these have helped me in small

projects I have in other classes or in my personal life. Coming up on my senior year I have had a

few group projects and expect there will be more, this is one place I can practice my newfound

skills. I can use what I have learned in my role and/or take on the role of group leader for extra

practice. I think I excel in the areas of problem solving, developing strong teams and leadership

and have more to learn in the proper timeline for execution and use tools like WBS, scheduling

tools and pre and post evaluations. It is easy to see how even small projects can remain undone

or get out of control when not managed on budget or on time. Now armed with this information I

feel more confident to take on more small projects to practice for those large ones that I will take

on in my career.
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OGL 320: Final Paper Managing Projects Effectively

References

Corlett, D. (2020, November 23). Making adjustments managing risk and controlling quality.
YouTube. Retrieved June 22, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Zq0qOtXJeLk

Luecke, R. (2004). Harvard Business Essentials: Managing Projects Large and small: The
fundamentals skills for delivering on budget and on Time. Harvard Business School.