Module 4 Paper

By: Hadley Schmidt

OGL 320 Foundations of Project Management

Dana Barnett
In this paper, I will go over three different case files and breakdown the problems that were

presented and my own personal view on how they can improve. The three different case studies

are “A Rush to Failure”, “The Estimating Problem,” and “Fargo Foods.” Using what I’ve learned

about project management hopefully I can apply useful suggestions to these case studies and see

potential solutions on how these companies can improve their project management.

Fargo Foods

The first Case Study I’ll go over is Fargo Foods. Fargo Foods is an international food

manufacturer that has had recently started building new factories with some major modifications.

These modifications are aimed at reducing needed labor for all their canning factories.

Unfortunately after implementing a project management matrix to aid the new projects, it has

become obvious that the matrix was not operating efficiently or effectively. The main problem

that became apparent to me was the executives at Fargo Foods don’t understand project

management and how much work is needed for it to be effective. It said in the case study that the

executive’s assumed that rough estimates were detailed estimates and rough schedules were

detailed schedules. This can cause a huge problem because If employees and project managers

alike don’t understand what the exact expectations are no one can do anything right. It seems like

these executives need help understanding the difference between knowing what they want in

their head and getting down exactly what they want on paper. Another problem that comes with

this lack of in-depth planning is that the project managers aren’t let in on the planning of the

project. This leads to unmotivated project managers who aren’t dedicated to their projects

because they don’t have a stake in them. The best solution I have for this case study is for the

executives to either get educated about project management or let someone else do their planning

for them. So many issues arise whenever clear and concise plans aren’t thought up and these
leave project managers uninspired, line workers confused and projects unfinished. Obviously,

project planning isn’t something that you can do halfway.

The Estimating Problem

It’s interesting to note the similarities in the issues between this case study and the last one. The

Fargo Foods case study was about the executives hurting project management because they did

not understand project planning. The Estimating Problem case study showed a similar problem,

although this time it wasn’t the executives that made a planning issue, it was the estimating

group that ended up hurting the project. In the Estimating Problem, Barbra is a project manager

that was just assigned a project but discovers that its schedule is unrealistic in the time it would

be able to be finished. The group used the three-point estimate when it came to the project and

decided that it would take 12 weeks to finish a critical part of the project whereas Barbra knew

from experience it would take 14 weeks. Because the estimating group hadn’t understood the

project's complexity and hadn’t triangulated the data they hadn’t estimated enough tough for the

project. One word of advice I would add to this case study is always asking for experts advice. In

this case, study the group that estimated the time said in an optimistic scenario that the project

would only take 4 weeks. Barabra’s experience on past projects told her that the 4-week estimate

could not apply to the project she had at hand, and only applied to projects much simpler than the

one at hand. A quick conversation with a professional would have helped the estimating team

realize the complexity of the project and would’ve come to a better estimate. Also, the range of

the estimation seemed way off as well, a project that can be done between a range of 4 to 16

weeks doesn't seem to be a well-understood project in the first place. This case study has taught

me that you need to fully understand a project before you can estimate how long it will take to be

done.
 Rush to Failure

The next case study is Rush to Failure. In this case study, the Canadian Aeronautics

Administration was asked to make two complex robotic arms to do repairs on the international

space station. Because of a focus on finishing the project as soon as possible the project was

finished in 6 years instead of the usual 10. This shortened schedule didn’t give the appropriate

time and resources to test and fix potential problems despite the many problems that came up

during the project. Unfortunately during its first use, the robotic arms failed in exactly the same

way that they had problems during development. The advice I’d give to this case study is that a

working project is better than any nonworking project that is done early. Using something that

isn’t up to the task only wastes resources as problems arise with either the project or what the

project is supposed to help. In this case, it’s better to take years and give a working product

instead of just a failure that’s years early.

Conclusion

It’s always easier as an outsider to spot problems and prescribe solutions, knowing that I want to

be self-aware enough to find these kinds of issues and their solutions during any project I run

into. One of the key takeaways I learned from these case studies was you have to communicate

with professionals. In the Fargo Foods case study, the executives didn’t know how to effectively

plan a project and their company suffered for it. And in the Estimating Problem case study, the

team that estimated the schedule of the project could’ve given a more accurate estimation had

they communicated with a professional. Both of these issues could have been solved by talking

to professionals who knew what they were doing. The other takeaway I got from this is there’s

no point in rushing a project if that means it’s going to fail. Hopefully, I’ll be able to remember
these takeaways and be able to spot and fix these issues if they ever come up while I’m

managing a project.