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Mid-Term Assignment

Varun Khajuria - 200512064

Project Management (ILAC), Georgian College

Project Management Capstone

Prof. Ali Hirji

23rd June 2022

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1. How important is accountability to the successful launch of your project? Why is it

necessary to ensure that staff members take accountability for their deliverables and
what challenges do you foresee with this?

Accountability is essential for any project's success.

When the project manager accepts responsibility for their decisions and actions, the project is
more likely to be completed effectively, on time, and within budget. However, if there is no
accountability, the project is likely to fail to achieve all of its objectives.

What exactly is project management accountability?

Accountability is about taking responsibility for one's actions. An individual or organization

must account for its actions, accept responsibility for them, and be open about the outcomes.
As a result, the person responsible for project management must accept responsibility for,
and accept the consequences of, any related decisions, actions, and results. They must also
be able to explain what occurred during the project.

What is the significance of accountability in project management?

A lack of accountability can lead to the demise of a project. If the internal and external teams
are not clear on who is accountable for the overall outcomes and who is responsible for
specific tasks, the project's progress and results will suffer.

Of course, it's not about assigning blame. In fact, the opposite is true. Ensuring accountability
can help to avoid assigning blame, which can occur when there is confusion about who is
responsible and accountable for a task.

How to Maintain Accountability?

Outline roles and goals. : To establish accountability for a project, it is critical to understand
who has been assigned tasks and how those tasks fit into the overall project.

Set your expectations : Managing expectations also helps to reduce the risk of
misunderstandings about who is responsible for what aspects of the project.

Keep track of milestones : This is especially important when implementing a new process
or type of software, as the implementation lifecycle may need to be adjusted accordingly.

Keep track of performance : This will aid in holding the team accountable and cultivating a
culture of continuous improvement.
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2. Discuss the role of budget and how it impacts your choice of product and overall
approach?

Budgeting is a component of the management control process, in which "managers ensure that
resources are obtained and used efficiently and effectively in the achievement of the
organization's objectives." 1 Budgets are classified into three types, and while specific
terminology varies by company, budgets generally fall into one of three categories.

Budgets for capital expenditures: These budgets depict the corporation's planned and
authorized capital expenditures for one to ten years.

Budgets for money: These budgets typically include cash flow statements, balance sheets, and
statements of funds' sources and uses.

Budgets for operations: These typically include projected income statements as well as a
number of supporting statements, such as budgeted sales, budgeted production (in detail),
budgeted cost of goods sold, budgeted selling expenses, and budgeted general and
administrative expenses.

We will only deal with operational budgeting. We define it as the process of formalizing,
quantifying, and expressing a company's management's near-term performance expectations
and objectives in a set of detailed operating plans.

How does it influence your product selection and overall strategy?

A budget is a strategy for:

1. Control the business's finances;

2. ensure that the company can fund its current commitments;
3. enable the company to meet its objectives and make confident financial decisions;
4. and ensure that the company has money for future projects.

When running a business, the benefits of budgeting should never be underestimated:

1. Budgeting estimates revenue, plans expenditure, and limits any spending that is
not planned.

2. Budgeting ensures that funds are allocated to activities that support the company's
strategic goals.

3. A well-communicated budget helps everyone understand the company's priorities.

4. The budget-making process allows for opportunities to involve employees,

resulting in them sharing the organization's vision; and

5. Involving the team in reviewing and comparing the budget to actual can provide
information that highlights the business's strengths and weaknesses.

If you run your business without a proper budget, you may find yourself going in circles and
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failing to meet your long-term objectives. By taking the time now to create a budget, you will
save time in the future and give yourself the best chance of reaping the benefits of your efforts.
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3. What KPIs should be in place when launching your project? How will you determine
success?

In project management, key performance indicators (KPIs) are various specific measurement
tools that indicate how well teams are achieving specific goals. KPIs for project management
are typically agreed upon early in the project. They reflect the organization's central project
concept and establish project ownership across administrative divisions.

While each team has different tasks to complete and roles to play, they all contribute to the
KPIs in their own unique way. Understanding the role of KPIs in project management can aid
in team building and provide a framework for data collection required to track organizational
project success.

Return on investment (ROI), productivity, cost performance, cycle time, customer satisfaction,
schedule performance, employee satisfaction, and alignment with strategic business goals are
among the top project management benchmarking measures.

1. Estimated time to completion of the project

2. Backlog of current development
3. Monthly labour expenses
4. Current resource distribution

The most important performance goals across all aspects of team involvement in a project are
represented by key performance indicators. Effective KPIs should include the following:

1. Before the project begins, all parties must agree on a plan.

2. Relevant to the intended audience
3. Metrics that can be shared and analyzed across organizational divisions at any time
4. routinely measured
5. aimed at the benefits that the project hopes to provide
6. A foundation for making critical decisions throughout the project
7. in line with objectives
8. Realistic, cost-effective, and tailored to the culture,
9. constraints, and time frame of the organization
10. Coordinated with organizational efforts
11. Reflective of a company's success factors
12. Specific to the organization and the project at hand
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4. How do you ensure company buy-in with your approach? What are some challenges
you anticipate here?

Obtaining buy-in is a multifaceted problem that is affected by one's position in the

organization as well as the quality of the idea/project.

However, here are a couple of viable options:

Communication Strategies

1. Create & share

This can be accomplished through the use of a "Wow" statistic ("Did you know that XYZ
activity accounts for more than two-thirds of our profit?"). or an amazing chart or graphic
that reveals an audience's never-before-seen connection This shakes the
audience/listeners/stakeholders, causing them to reconsider your idea.

2. Explain your thought process and how you came up with this idea.

Rather than just sharing an idea, you can also discuss how you came to that idea. This aids in
gaining buy-in because people can follow the reasoning and thus go through a process of
internally saying "yes" a couple of times: a great way to gain buy-in.

3. Provide examples of existing implementations, uses, and so on of your ideas.

Sharing examples from other parts of an organisation or business where your idea or
something similar to your idea has already been implemented is always a good idea.

4. Invite somebody else to share the idea

If you see other people doing what you want to get buy-in for, invite the team/individual so
that your stakeholders can see and hear what it's like when your idea is put into action.

Challenges that may arise include entering a new sector and the risk of failure if anything is
overlooked, such as a lack of communication or improper budget updates and reporting to
superiors. In addition, any team member's lack of accountability will cause severe problems
for the project, potentially leading to failure or financial loss.