Project Management – Assignment 1

Team 7
Team Members

Name Enrollment number

Nikhar Bhanot 21810038
Nithin M 21810039
Nominzul Tumurbaatar 21810040
Onkar Vaidya 21810041
Malav Parasar 21810042

1. How effectively do you think Rachel spent her day? Rachel divided her time into four
different categories, Project time, non-project time and routine work time, and quasi
project time.

Project Time: Project is a complex, non-routine, one-time effort that is limited by

resources, time, budget, and is performance specified. It is done to meet customer
satisfaction.
Non-Project Time: Non-project is the daily routine work that requires to be done
repetitively.
Routine Time: Routine work can be the daily discussion or work that needs to be done
regarding to the project.
Quasi Project Time: In a quasi project, time is not defined for any specific task. It is
temporary with an undefined task.

Activity Project Routine Quasi Non

project project
Socializing and catching up 10
on personal news
Getting to her office and 10
settle in
Reviewing her schedule 15
Going over project reports 25
and preparing for the weekly
status meeting
Discussing project with boss 20
Project status meeting 15
delayed
Progress review meet 45
Reviewing project 30
assignments
Listening to the teammates 20
Gossiping with Edie 30
 Discussing the problem with 30
John
Exploring getting the the 30
necessary equipments to the
project
Everyone getting online and 15
checking mails
Exchanging information 60
about technical
requirements
Waiting in Mary’s office 10
Agreeing with Mary to talk 40
with the team
Reviewing the impact of 30
client’s request
Updating boss on key events 20
of the day
Reviewing mails, project 30
documents and login on to
MS Project
What if scenarios 30
Going home 30
Total = 545 mins 370 35 20 120
Efficiency 67.88% 6.42% 3.66% 22.01%

Efficiency = (Direct project related work/ Total spend time) * 100

= (370/545) * 100
= 67.88%

Rachel has made good use of her time and spent it quite effectively. This is due to her ability
to keep the right balance between being relaxed and working hard when necessary. She is
also able to handle her project on time and create a very healthy social interaction with others
by assisting them with their projects that are running behind schedule so that these projects
can be brought back on track as well.
She is a good planner, even in the morning and evening. However, if there had been no
communication breakdown and no weekly status meeting, she would have simply spent 20
minutes each day listening to the team members. She should devote more time to it.
As we all know, communication between the group manager and the line manager is essential
in order to keep the project on track and maintain a positive working relationship. Despite
that, she is able to stick to the project schedule even if she only has a 20-minute meeting with
a team member since she is an expert at dealing with and managing people and project
activities.
2. What does the case tell you about what it is like to be a project manager?
Defining precise objectives for teammates:
As a proper project manager, he or she must act as if he or she were the captain of a large
ship, knowing exactly which way we should proceed in the middle of the vast ocean. Project
Management must not only have a clear sense of direction, but also keep track of what is
going on in the company. People believe that a team's performance is not determined by its
best player. Rather, it is determined by the weakest of the teammates. That is to say, ensuring
that the slowest is chosen. One of the most important jobs of a project manager is to keep
the entire team on track.

Bringing together workers from several departments:

One of the most difficult and unique aspects of being a product manager is integrating
employees from other departments. Because project teams are often transient and short-
term, persons from diverse fields may not be familiar with one another, resulting in a high
number of disagreements during the collaborating period. Tasks failed in my personal
experience over the last few years not because workers had the ability to complete the task,
but because they spent too much energy and time dealing with each other since everyone
has an opinion. As a result, no matter how smart a project manager is, if he lacks excellent
social skills to lead each worker, the project will fail. he is not able to complete the mission as
he expects

Serving as an upbeat cheerleader and effective coordinator between departments

Working can be frustrating at times, especially if you're part of a new team. Workers are
sometimes required to do more than just work. They are accountable to the project manager,
but they must additionally complete unique tasks from their normal team. How can they
remain pleasant when the supervisor is under pressure from both sides? As a result, plan the
manager should be a cheerleader in some way, providing their players with incentives like as
extra bonuses or vacations, as requested by the big boss, to encourage them to complete the
jobs as quickly as possible. Furthermore, in order to handle conflicting issues, the product
manager required to be powerful. connecting the several departments Consider the following
scenario. The client company is upset because they didn’t get certain features which promised
by marketing representative and Rachel had no clues about it until We all know that the
project manager is in charge of the entire project, but if Rachel lacks the authority to obtain
the features promised by my marketing representative to her client, her client will not
become a loyal customer of the company in the future.

Assume full responsibility for the project's completion on schedule and within budget.
Unlike other functional managers, the project manager is fully responsible for the entire
project, which must be completed on time and within budget (the lecturer stated that in
practice, it is better to go over budget in order to save money for the next one). As a result,
in terms of immense strain, there is no other profession like project management. On the
other hand, some people believe that being a project manager provides a fantastic sense of
accomplishment as long as the task is completed. As a result, the project manager is a position
that necessitates a wide range of skills, such as organizing, assigning resources,
communicating, motivating others, coordinating, and so on.