Reflect on the assigned readings for Week 5 and then type a two page paper regarding what you thought was the most important concept(s), method(s), term(s), and/or any other thing that you felt was worthy of your understanding. Define and describe what you thought was worthy of your understanding in half a page, and then explain why you felt it was important, how you will use it, and/or how important it is in project management. After submitting your two page paper as an initial post in the “Reflection and Discussion Forum,” then type at least two peer replies in response to your classmates posts (200 word minimum each).
responses
response for ravali
In the chapter scope management, conceptual development is the most intriguing concept. Conceptual development is the process that addresses project objectives by finding the best ways to meet them (p.158). To create an accurate sense of conceptual development for a project, the project management team must collect data and develop several pieces of information (p.158). Problem statement, Requirements gathering, Information gathering, Constraints, Alternative analysis, Project objectives, Business case, Statement of Work, and Project charter are the steps in conceptual development. The Statement of Work is a detailed narrative description of the work required for a project (p.161). Project Charter is developed after the statement of work is realized. The project charter is defined as a document issued by the project initiator or sponsor that formally sanctions the existence of the project and authorizes the project manager to begin applying organizational resources to project activities (p.164).
Conceptual development is very significant in project management because it helps the project manager in finding the best ways to meet the project objectives that are set. It is like the first stepping-stone to attain project goals. As Pinto explains the steps in information development, it is critical to note that these steps hold true for any kind of project. If I were a project manager, these steps would help me in conceptual development. Firstly, one must identify what the problem or need statement is. If I were to work to work on a project and lead the project from scratch, it is crucial for me to identify the problem or need statement. After the statement is identified, one can start gathering the requirements that are specific to the project such as quality requirements, performance requirements, etc. It is critical that during requirements gathering, project teams do not overtly or unintentionally substitute their interpretations for those of the customer (p.160).
The next step is Information gathering which means collecting all the relevant data for the project. A project manager must know all the relevant information regarding the project to implement and execute the project successfully or it might result in chaos. After the information is gathered, he should assess the constraints that might affect the project negatively, any constraints related to time, budget, or client. The next step is alternative analysis wherein the project manager understands the nature of the problem and works on creating alternative solutions to the constraints. The best alternative can be chosen and since all the relevant information is in place, the project manager can finally set concrete project objectives.
Next is business case which is an organization’s justification for committing to the project (p.160). Generally, it’s a document that should include all the costs, finances, risks. After everything is in place, next comes the statement of work. It is important because it gives a detailed description of the nature of work required, expected work to be completed by the employees, and expected outcome of the project. It should include the reasons for the initiation of the project, problem statement, technical description of the project, and the timeline that is set.
SOW moves from being general to specific and it’s basically like a flashcard of the project plan. After SOW has been developed, many firms establish project charter that formally sanctions the project’s existence and authorizes the project team to begin operational activities. With this the phase of conceptual development ends. I felt that this concept is useful in project management because it is like the first step towards implementation of a project and in general, it can also be used by any employee to assess the constraints and resources available to make the optimal use of the resources available.
Reference: Pinto, J.K. (2019). Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage (5th ed). Boston: Pearson.
response for deepak:
This week’s chapter, Scope Management is consisting of developing project charter, planning scope management, collect requirements, defining scope, creating WBS, validating scope and controlling scope. Project scope is the documents consists of all the important information related to planning, activating and expected results. Topics covered in this chapter are conceptual development of scope, project charter, scope statement, work authorization, scope reporting, control system, project closeout.
Of all the important topics in this chapter, I feel that work breakdown structure (WBS) is the important one. It may not be as important as other topics such as scope development or defining scope, but when it comes to distributing work among the project team, work breakdown structure plays important role. Work breakdown structure gives clear picture of overall timeline of all the activities in the project. These activities are arranged systematically in table format having task splitted in sub tasks, arranged in a sequence.
In project scope, project manager looks at the major tasks, they may be consisting of several tasks and these tasks might be planned to complete by different people in the team. It is difficult to estimate how long it will take to finish the task or how many resources will that project be needing to finish. As a solution on this, work breakdown structure is introduced. In work breakdown structure, all the major tasks are divided into small doable groups or sub tasks also called as work packages. Each task is then assigned to project team member. One team member can be assigned with one or more tasks. It is easier to predict how long it is going to need to finish that individual task rather than predicting the finish date for whole project. Likewise, all the work packages are evaluated against the time required to complete and resources required. It is important that each task or work package should come with the descriptive set of instructions or documentation to state the goal of the project. Sub deliverable can be rolled up summary of multiple work packages or one sub deliverable can have multiple work packages (Kloppenborg, 2019). Sub deliverable do not have any time associated or resources required to complete as these are assigned to work packages. They also do not have any direct cost assigned to it (Kloppenborg, 2019).
The motive of the work breakdown structure is to plan the project, assigns the work evenly between the project team, calculate the timeline or period required to finish the tasks or work packages, and to predict the resources required for it. If more resources requirement is predicted in early stages of the project, it would be easier the procure or arrange the resources and finish the project on time.
Creating WBS is very important in any type of projects, specially the projects which lasts over long period and consists of several stages where starting of net step is depending upon output of previous stage. WBS can be created using MS project and can be as simple as tree diagram or could be more complex to have timeline required for the tasks. WBS gives ability to organize the work needed to be performed into cost control accounts (Kloppenborg, 2019). The Cost Control Accounts are assignable to various accounts in organization and outcome of this organizing this material is Organization Breakdown Structure (Kloppenborg, 2019).
As this tool is very efficient in managing the project, I would use it to manage the projects I am currently working on in my organization. In manufacturing, unpredictability is one of major factor in delaying projects but WBS will be helpful to reduce that upto some extent. If I create WBS for the capital project that I am working on, it will be helpful to plan and assignee the funds to each portion of the project more efficiently.
Pinto, J. (2019). Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage (5th ed). . Boston: Pearson.
