Decisions making and Overall effect of the project.

Decisions making and Overall effect of the project.

Introduction

The economic stability of an organization, stakeholder’s satisfaction and optimum utilization of the available resources within the company are highly dependent on project management within that organization. As a result, in the current business environment where the profitability and continuity of an organization are paramount, the demand for project managers is on the rise. As the project management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), 2013 outlays, project management is a provisional project constrained by cost, scope, and time, and the project managers are equipped with organization, optimization, and communication skills, that they bring to the table.

Consequently, the acquiring process of these skills and knowledge to effectively orchestrate and manage projects is an essential process; however, prone to a diverse range of challenges. Some of the significant challenges of the field is learning the art of optimizing the allocation of necessary inputs and integrating them to meet the predefined objectives. Also, as the field encompasses a broad range of arising challenges, with each project exhibiting its own set of challenges and the effectiveness of the project manager in solving and handling those challenges both proactively and reactively, where necessary is vital for success of a given project.

In that light, the integration and use of Double Masters Stimulation in the learning process offering a real-world experience of a project manager on a large scale project where one is responsible for managing the budget, schedule, human resources, interactions with the stakeholders and decision making across board offered vital insights and experience on the ‘real world’ of the field. By that token, this paper will, therefore, delve into giving an analysis of the double master Stimulation, focusing on the decisions made and their effect on the overall state of the project and extensively look into the lessons learned addressing the success, issues, and actions to consider in future when encountered with similar situations.

Decisions making and Overall effect of the project.

The contract for localization Vendors

The deployment of localization vendors in a project requires several considerations and decisions to be made. Among them being location, quality process, technology options, cost and schedule, type of partner, and contract terms. In the simulation, one of the decisions made was in line with the kind of contract used for the vendors. At this moment, I decided to choose cost price and initiative fees after reviewing the fee schedule in the agreement. My choice was aligned to the 10% fee per task included in the spreadsheet. However, the most effective option, in this case, ought to have been time and material. Therefore, this decision attracted a fair assessment in the stimulation hence averagely contributing to the overall state of the project.

Communication with the stakeholders

Communication plays an integral role in the success or failure of a project. It’s through communication that one can express their feeling and opinions while also sharing their experiences. During the stimulation, the interaction with Mr. Prince was ineffective. This is based on the fact that during his inquiry on the way forward of Spanish localization, I focused on explaining to him the considerations that are looked into while declining a project, highlighting among them NPV, payback period, and resource constraints. However, my omission of optimism and positivity for future engagements created tension between us, instigating tension while also jeopardizing the overall state of the project; it is against that background that affair assessment was accorded to this decision.

Resource Deployment

One of the decisions made was in line with resource deployment. In this case, as schedule and cost were the guiding principles of this project, which then dictated that the composition of the team and their contributions were integral for the success or failure of the project, constant evaluation of the team and their input was therefore detrimental. It’s in that line of thought that evaluation of a team member focusing on their availability and contributions to the team during their vacation time a done. While the member was available to answer calls and emails during that time, his physical presence for prospect arising challenges was not guaranteed. It was in that case that I opted to replace them. However, it’s important to note that no verifying was done during this decision making, which then attributed to the escalation and subsequent conflict arousal. By and large, this decision affected the project negatively.

Work performance Reporting

An analysis of the progress of a project is essential in the determination of the state of the project. This analysis helps in designing corrective measures where necessary, monitoring and controlling the project, improving communication amongst all the stakeholders, and team evaluation. During stimulation, my decision to use EAC, VAC, CPI, Gantt chart task, and risks were out of context as the first two options are useful in forecasting the budget at completion of the project. The Gantt chart, on the other hand, provides a lot of unnecessary details or the senior management category. Therefore the practical tools that I ought to have deployed in this case were CPI, SPI, Milestones, and risks as they would have provided details of work completed in relation to cost as well as outline progress of the project in comparison to the schedule. Just as the former decision on resource deployment, this poor assessment and decision making can be said to have been attributed by the forecasting of the budget and curiosity to attend the launch party archive records.

Lessons Learnt and Recommendations

One of the critical lessons learned during the stimulation was in line with the importance of reviewing all communications as they provide vital information relating to the project. This can be attained through the reading of all emails, even the ones that seem unnecessary. Irrespective of scoring a 3 out of 5 in mail reading, which I considered being a success, grasping of all the uprising information is the essential project. Furthermore, one of the areas I thought to be successful during the simulation was on the scheduled completion date. However, contrary to my expectations, my score of 17.5 out of possible 25 was a little bit disappointing all the factors considered. At this moment, the arrangement and budgeting of the schedule for every task arising was a tall order, especially navigating around the many national holidays. My recommendation for the future I this line is for the involvement and participation of other team members in the creation of the schedule as the delegation of the roles will increase the efficiency of the project manager in other sectors.

Moreover, the stimulation enhanced my assessment of the budget entailing of the used, request, and the contingency funds allocated. In this context, the project manager should do a risk assessment outlining all the possible risks arising and taking proactive actions to contain them while setting aside some contingency funds for the unexpected risks necessitating reactive responses. Additionally, my recommendation is for all the participants to engage in relevant knowledge-seeking, primarily focusing on the course materials as they provide a guideline of most if not all the information required.

Conclusively, as it has been extensively discussed herein, Masters Double Simulation provided a virtual real-life experience of being a project manager. The experience of making decisions, adjusting schedules and budgets to meet the given deadline, selection of external vendors, and the interaction with project stakeholders provided unexplainable insight into the field. Through the Simulation, I was able to come into contact with the six processes of PMBOK about the development of the charter, plan, directing and managing project work, performing integrated change control, and closing the project, giving me an experience of what to expect in the field.