Self-Reflection 1

Self-Reflection

PMG 320: Foundations of Project Management

Andy Fehdrau

Part 1 of 2
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Ah! What a quick and fascinating course this has been. I have always thought of project

management to be a daunting and very stressful career to get into. So, I figured let’s take a class

and see if the fears live up to the assumptions. Well, not quite. I think the instructor laid out a

great course and gave the class all the tools needed to successfully complete the course and give

us tons of insight into project management. I could list numerous things off the top of my head

that I think are principles of project management. I would like to narrow it down to just a few. I

believe the principles and practices that illustrate effective management of projects are

communication, planning, and triple constraints.

Communication is the key to projects, communication is the key to building relationships,

and communication is the key to understanding and identifying a problem. The list could

continue to go on for 100 pages. The point of the matter is communication is very important

from the beginning of a project, during, and after. The team must communicate in the planning

stage (our next topic), about the pitfalls, risk mitigation, and so much more to ensure the project

can effectively be accomplished. During the process of the project, communication is even more

important for internal and external reasons. The team must give updates to stakeholders. As the

project manager and other key personnel discuss the project, how they communicate can play a

huge role. In one case study in the middle of the course we read about, the communication was

so poor the project and the company ran into numerous issues and ended up cutting ties with a

very close business partner because of poor communication. Externally, information needs to be

passed to the marketing team so they can release hidden features of the product to keep the
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public on their toes and ready to buy as soon as the product drops. Communication is essential

and one of the most important tools to be used in the project, you will even notice how it plays a

role in the planning.

When you begin to do any project large or small in any area of your life, do you just wing

it and go for it, or do you stop and write a detailed plan out and go by the plan? Having a plan is

very important regardless of the task ahead of us. Effectively communicating that plan to others

is just as important. For example, I work in the landscape industry, I am starting a plant and tree

installation for a community I oversee. The community wants shrubs here and over there, they

also want trees to be installed near the shrub design. I can go about this process two ways, I can

arrive on site and order random plants and trees and install them wherever my heart desires. Or I

can get with the customer and have them communicate with me about their wants and desires. I

would then draw a map of where the trees and plants are going with the types of species. I would

coordinate with the enhancement manager to discuss man hours, cost of equipment, possible

setbacks, project timeline, his current schedule, and so many things in a meeting with him on this

one project. We can see here how communication and planning are essential principles and

practices in project management. There is a lot of moving parts within this simple enhancement

job. Planning must be done properly with great communication internally within the team and

externally to customers. To tie everything together, as a successful project manager should, the

final important principle is the triple constraint.

As you may think there are only three items inside the triple constraint, it actually has

four altogether. The triple constraint is as follows, time, cost, scope, and quality. These are the

most important things for a project. One thing we must recognize here that tends to be forgotten

is we are a business, and it is our goal to satisfy the customer's needs and wants. However, we
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are a business, and our overall goal is to make profits. I go back in forth with my operations

manager in my current workplace. My branch manager wants better profit margins, and my

operations manager wants to keep the same relationship we currently have with long-term

customers. In a perfect world, this can be done, but in the landscape, world to maintain the

desired margins we must raise the price, once we raise the price the customer starts to shy away.

It is a constant conversation on keeping margins high, less time on site, also maintaining good

customer relations. The reason I brought that scenario up is that in triple constraint everything

must go according to plan or any adjustment to time or cost can alter the overall impact. If

anything starts to deviate from the project plan, then the project manager must inform the CCB

(change control board). The triple constraint must be monitored highly throughout the entire

project.

As we have seen, projects are not a one-person job. Large or small, projects take time,

communication, planning, and so much more to effectively have the sight of accomplishing the

goal. These are the tools I think are important principles and practices of project management.

What do you think?

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Self-Reflection

PMG 320: Foundations of Project Management

Part 2 of 2
 Self-Reflection 6

Looking back from module one and where I was to where I am, I believe is a huge

improvement. I went over the answers again to see my thought process on project management.

My findings were, I can accomplish small-medium-sized projects but struggle when it comes to

larger projects. Understand there must be a problem to fix in order for there to be a project.

Planning more in-depth and understanding that small things can add up quickly inside the

project.

I feel I have gotten a lot better in the planning process of any project. I attack the

planning process a lot differently because of what I have learned in this course. I take into

account things that could go wrong in the initial thought process to aid a better estimated time

and cost of the project. I discuss with team members about project premortem. I think that is

single-handedly one of my biggest improvements that not too many people know about. We can

always look back and critique where we went wrong but to think where we could go wrong

beforehand is what creates a better discussion and allows personnel to understand the project

more.

One area of improvement still needed is my effectively delegating personnel on a task.

Make sure each person knows exactly what they are doing and that they are the right person for

the job. Too many times we assign personnel that should not be doing that task for this project

because of what we “think” they know. Instead in the planning phase, we must discuss who is

the most knowledgeable and comfortable with completing each assignment. Doing this allows
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the project to proceed with a more efficient schedule and less worry. At least that is the hope

anyway.

Although this was an accelerated course, I learned a lot of information. I hope to continue

my deepening my knowledge on the topic of project management to make myself a more

effective leader. I have both textbooks in hard copies, so I will continue to refresh on certain

areas to maintain the sharpness needed in the ever-so-changing world we live in.