Greg Strapach

OGL 320
Paper 1
August 26, 2020

Although it has been only a few days since I began learning more about project

management, I feel as though I’ve learned a lot about myself. To a degree, I’ve always

been a planner. On the surface most people would look at my process of achieving

goals as disorganized and unstructured but anyone who knows me will say that is not

the case. I pride myself on delivering objectives on time and within the given parameters

and rarely miss the mark. The first chapter that discussed the four phases of project

management really stuck out to me because it felt familiar.

I believe that my disorganized, seemingly chaotic approach to planning and

execution somewhat mirror the phases discussed in these books. It was refreshing to

continue reading about ideas and tools that I used without knowing. Now, I don’t want to

come across as if I gained nothing from these few readings, but I will say I was able to

connect to the material in a way that stuck. When you are already putting into practice

some of the tools you are learning about, it kind of makes it more exciting.

Other points in these works that stuck out to me include; the importance of the

stakeholders, risk minimizing, and closing out a project by analyzing how you did and

learning from your work. If I had to pick a tool that I was already aware of, it would be

the feedback loops built into the phases. Feedback loops are what I use to make sure I

stay on task and check and adjust along the way. This is a common practice where I

work, and we leverage these loops to continue to build upon our previous successes or

avoid failures.
 A couple of tools that were new to me that I found very interesting were the WBS

and the Gantt Chart. Again, I feel as though these were things that I did prior reading

about them but now I understand how to give my process structure. I believe that these

two tools are essential to being able to bring a team along with you as you communicate

your plan for achieving whatever project you’re starting. I honestly can’t wait to put them

into practice.

In regards to what I learned about myself from the quiz I took I will say this, it isn’t

wrong! It talked about needing to be more focused with my planning up front and to

spend time preparing, which shockingly are all things I’ve been working on and part of

the reason why I am taking this course. An area that I need to work on is cost

management. I previously would have argued this point but after reading about how

each decision can affect the costs from personal to materials, I began to see how my

current system doesn’t work. Typically, I overestimate in terms of materials and time but

not in cost of labor or people time. Another area of opportunity that I have is

communication. I tend to overcommunicate with people that only need short answers

and under communicate to those who need the details.

To improve my skills in both these sections I will continue to challenge myself to

think more critically about my work and to plan in greater detail beforehand. I believe

that if I set aside thought time each day to focus on specifics and to recalibrate myself

on the work at hand, then I can be a more effective project manager.

When reviewing the characteristics of successful project managers, I can say

that self-starter, flexible, strong work ethic are all traits that I possess to a degree.
Things I need to work on are my organizational skills, communication, and my ability to

think critically. If I were to choose one it would be my critical thinking. Sometimes I am

so quick to move past a subject or get something done that I don’t take the time needed

to think. This is part of the reason why having thought time each day would greatly

benefit me.

I alluded to it earlier but my typical approach to projects include me sitting down

and thinking about what I need to get done. I make a very rough outline of the biggest

components that need to happen and by when. Then I start to think about what each

component encompasses, and I make smaller timelines for myself to reach each goal. I

like to plan for outside factors to interrupt my work as well as internal, so I usually

tighten up on due dates to give space for the unknown. This usually takes the shape of

a sheet of paper with scribbles and arrows on it but no formal structure.

I believe learning about project management will help me to tighten up on what I

already do. It will allot me to create more space within my day by leveraging the

appropriate systems and tools. In addition, learning more about project management

will help me to understand people and what truly motivates them. For instance, take into

consideration the triple constraint. While I may be concerned with scope and time,

someone else may be focused on time and cost. This is a small example but learning

about it has helped me to realize that everyone has a different stake in the project and

it’s important to understand what that is at the beginning. Otherwise you may never truly

be on the same page.

All these things can help me in my professional life because managing people

and projects is what I do. The skills learned here can help me when I try to move the
needle with my portfolio of stores to go after company targets and goals. More

specifically the habits I will learn will help me to become more focused in my work.

Critical thinking and planning are two areas that I have struggled with in the past and

these readings have already helped me to figure out how to tackle these opportunities.

I also believe this course can help me when helping to develop new training and

processes within our area. I think that just the ability to understand the process alone

and how to use the tools given, will greatly improve my ability to be successful when

working cross functionally with other teams within our organization. Like I stated before,

I am organized chaos that doesn’t make sense to the outside world so given structure to

myself will help others to understand my way of thinking.

Overall, I believe this course will help me to work more fluidly with my peers and

to communicate my plans to those I lead. I look forward to learning more about this topic

and leveraging these new tools in my day to day life at work.