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Yesenia Salazar

PMG 320: Foundations Project Management

Self-Reflection

December 1st, 2022

Arizona State University

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More and more throughout the growth of Project Management have we seen the

innovation behind the scenes, that are paving the way for a career path in this field. Project

Management of today’s society has far passed the title of being a technical role and is now the

key to effectively managing successful projects in many organizations. It has allowed teams of

organizations to happily come together, motivated to put in their best work together to meet the

projects projected outcome. The framework in these projects help guide teams to accomplish

goals that were established in the scope of the project, helping every part of organizations run

smoothly. While it may sound a bit complex on paper, we learn how much of an essential it is in

organizations throughout society.

I came into this class with an open mind, eager to learn the values of project

management, and with some knowledge of Project Management already. After spending the last

7.5 weeks learning about the fundamentals of Project Management, I am now able to identify the

core principles of effectively managing a project. These principles consist of developing and

outlining the project, planning the project, execution of the project, monitoring and control over

the project, and lastly, closing out the project. These principles are applied to the project which

are assisting in fundamentally establishing a set of rules and goals to abide by. Now that I have

learned what goes into project management, I am able to correlate my own thoughts and values

in accordance with these principles and fundamentals. It even goes to turn out, that my ideas and

values don’t fall far from the principles of effectively managing projects. Overall, the biggest

factor that relies around this is solely communication. When there is no communication, the
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teams and organizations aren’t as successful and honest in getting the organizations where they

need to be.

It is indeed true that it’s far wiser to be prepared with a plan to execute goals and tackle

anything that may come up amid the middle of a project. Usually, I am more of a procrastinator

than a planner, but have ultimately found it to lead me to an unsuccessful outcome than I had

intended. This was evident as I read through many different case studies where it was obvious

that alone was one of the first and biggest mistakes. Fortunately, we can learn from this and

spend a good portion in the beginning brainstorming and scoping out the goals and expectations

that the project needs to meet. This ensures that nothing is left out and will provide a clear and

concise outline to anyone working on the project. It is to be in writing to illustrate the starting

point and drawing the team to be on the same page. We learned that a great outline to help with

this is the Work Breakdown Structure, where we can keep track of the roles that are broken down

into different sublevels. It is more manageable to look at while at the same time providing a

sense of accountability once the work is broken down. This tool not only helps us be proactive in

being prepared, but it allows us to determine the overall scope, keep track of tasks and costs, and

find the necessary resources to support the project.

The last few principles of project management I identified earlier to me are all connected.

You really cannot do one without the other or even go out of order. Each principle has a specific

design to it in projects and we go on to see this come up when looking at best practices in project

management. The case study I had in mind for best practices by PM Solutions is, Mentoring

Brings an Enhanced Focus on Accountability to Merchants Insurance Group. This company

provides a variety of insurance products for commercial, and property needs. The challenges this

project has to overcome is that Merchants Insurance sought to invest in developing and applying
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consistent project and portfolio management practices across the organization. They hope their

efforts improve their business processes and better serve their customers. What made this a best

practice example, is the fact that the company was able to identify the areas that needed more

help and reaching out to another set of eyes to help come up with a practical solution. Observing

that they were able to obtain immaculate results from it, is what made the company an example

of best practice, knowing that it doesn't always work out this way for other practices. The

company was able to benefit over the advice of an external project management firm like PM

solutions, leaving little room for any sort of drawbacks from the organization.

So, as we can see, it is highly important for projects to have a structure and set of

guidelines to follow. They are simply in place for a reason and can be the deal breaker in

determining success or failure of project expectations. After fully understanding the

fundamentals of project management, I have to say I am looking forward to any future projects I

get to work on. I will be able to showcase what I have obtained from this class and the

enrichment I indulge in when it comes to using these everyday tools in my life. I personally feel

that I will excel the most in preparation of a project, as well as the execution portion. My biggest

growth in this class has been seen in the weekly discussions we have had around the topics of the

principles of project management.  Thanks to the “How Good Are Your Project Management

Skills,” I learned that I am someone who is continuously working towards being more organized

and developing a clear and defined scope on the projects that I am working on. I believe by

continuously working on all aspects and qualities of a project manager, I will be able to

incorporate these ideas into my leadership style as well. It was truly a pleasure to take this class

and read up on all the material. This is a class that I would highly recommend to anyone who

might need to learn of these fundamentals that can be applied in a general sense for life as well.