Project Management: A Personal Approach and Relevance in Professional Environments

Ashley Miller

June 26, 2023 Summer A PMG 321

 Part I

Project management is a crucial discipline that plays a pivotal role in the success of

organizations across various industries. With the increasing complexity and dynamism of modern

business environments, effective project management has become essential for delivering

projects on time, within budget, and to the satisfaction of stakeholders. Project management is

versatile, spanning various industries and sectors, ranging from construction and engineering to

information technology, healthcare, and marketing. Its principles and methodologies provide a

structured approach to successfully initiate, plan, execute, monitor, and control projects, resulting

in improved efficiency, productivity, and the attainment of project objectives.

This essay explores my project management knowledge prior to and upon completion of

this course as well as the techniques and methods of project management. This paper will pay

particular attention to the approach of project management, emphasizing scope, scheduling,

communication, and leadership principles and practices. It discusses the areas of emphasis during

trade-offs and identifies the challenges faced. Furthermore, it explores the relevance of project

management skills in a multitude of backgrounds and presents key takeaways and directions for

the novice project manager on how to manage scope, resources, and schedule, highlights critical

trends in scenarios, and explores causal relationships within projects.

My personal Approach to Project Management has changed and evolved because of my

experience with the Harvard Business Simulations as well as applying principles learned in the

course to my professional life. I used to associate project management with executives, large

corporations, and fancy boardroom meetings. Project management is very broad and spans many

industries and professions. My approach to project management in the past has always been
planning and communicating. I have also been very focused on my role in the project and the

responsibility to the stakeholders to see it completed successfully. I now see that so much of

project management is reliant on uncertainty, risk management, agility, and leadership. “An agile

project is much better able to cope with unexpected outcomes. Agility means the project can

avoid surprises (that is, detour around uncertainty) by recognizing early symptoms- or once

encountered, can quash the undesirable consequences.” (cleder, 2016)

There was one project I worked on prior to this course, which was retraining a team of 20

for a licensed coffee shop at Pepperdine University. I spent weeks prior to the project planning,

writing training plans, scheduling meetings with the district manager, University stakeholders,

and communicating with the store manager. I was originally told I was going to have 3 weeks

and at the last minute, I was told that the store would need to be opened for business with all

baristas fully trained in one week's time. This presents a theme in project management of

uncertainty. There will always be uncertainty in a project, and no matter how well you plan and

prep, problems will arise, and it is up to the project manager to be nimble and finish the project

successfully. With one week to train a large team to be successful baristas, I got right to it. We

printed out and dispersed training plans and reading materials and set out in a large group. In a

classroom setting, we started to review recipes, customer service principles, coffee knowledge,

food safety standards, and rules and regulations such as dress codes. After the first day, the store

manager Jonathan told me that he thought it was boring, and that the team wanted to get on the

floor and start doing the actual work. I realized that what was going to be tricky with this project

was the mindset of my peer and trainees. I needed to find a way to teach them, but also inspire

and motivate them within the timeframe given. They weren’t bought in; they didn’t understand

my vision and as a result “they were bored.” Additionally, there was top-down tension as the
team felt scared and panicked about the tight deadline that we were on, they could not

understand how they would be able to learn all this information in five days and overhaul a store

for a grand reopening. On day two we split into smaller group sizes. I still needed to teach them

these valuable lessons, but I needed to find a way to get them excited. Instead of me reading or

speaking to them, I had them read independently on their own for bits at a time, and then have

dialogue as a group after. Many thoughtful ideas and rich discussions came from these small

groups, as the baristas were far more comfortable in smaller group sizes to digest new

information and collaborate. To make it more entertaining I turned some of the activities into

games, where they were able to act out customer interactions or learn food safety jeopardy style.

We tasted coffee and talked about how we might offer samples and pairings. After lunch,

everyone put on their aprons and got to practice on the floor for which they had been so eager.

The Smaller groups took turns practicing different routines on the floor such as making drinks or

ringing up transactions or making food. We took a tour through the store and the offsite storage,

and the team shared different ideas of how they wanted to set up the store to make it their own.

At the end of the day, I sat down with Jonathan, and he was thrilled with how things were going.

We planned for the next three days on how we would put it all together culminating with a

certification ceremony for the team members followed by a soft opening for the stakeholders to

come through and see everything in action. I gave them time every day to have an hour lunch

break together so that they could talk and get to know each other. By the end of the week the

store was prepared to open, the team got two full days off ahead of opening day to rest and the

stakeholders were all very happy. The reason I was able to stay on schedule and within the

budget for this project was because of my ability to communicate, take feedback in the moment,

and empower others. The success of this project equated to my being able to satisfy all
stakeholders, I needed to meet the deadline and to do so I needed to motivate and galvanize the

team around me. I had a plan going in, but when the timeline changed, and upon the feedback of

the team I needed to adjust my approach and problem-solve. This project was a success based off

the ability to be completed on time and within budget and to lead the team to the finish line.

But what happens when budget, schedule, and scope don’t align? During the Harvard

Business Simulations, I was able to get more practice as a project manager. During these

simulations, the human element was also a big focus. Similarly, to my experience at Pepperdine

University, the morale and stress level of the team played a tremendous part in the success and

timeliness of the project. What I appreciated about these simulations was how you can see other

crucial aspects of project management come to life and how uncertainty can hinder the project.

One of the things I found particularly challenging with these simulations is something I came to

know as the iron triangle. “The Iron Triangle refers to the three key constraints that can affect a

project. These are budget, scope, and schedule. They form what is known as the "iron triangle"

because you can rarely change one without impacting the others or damaging the quality of the

overall project. (Mind Tools, 2023) These simulations helped me to understand the complexity of

projects, and how concerns with uncertainty, risk, budget, scope, and schedule played a part in

tensions in the team ultimately slowing productivity. As a business owner, I understand the

immense cost of labor. As a project manager, you must look at the big picture and balance the

budget, scope, and schedule. These three priorities of project management are also big triggers of

morale and stress for the project team. When team members feel stressed and pressured it

impacts morale, which hinders productivity. Thus, one of the biggest challenges of the project

manager will be to keep the team on track, focused, and as supported as possible with the

resources available.
Part II

Harvard Business Review Simulations

The Harvard Business Management Simulation is excellent training and practice to help

people prepare for business management solutions. This simulation allows you to act as a senior

project manager for a printing company and you are tasked with assembling and directing a

product design team to create a new and innovative printer. Here are some best practices for

completing your first project simulation.

• Understand the rules and objectives: Familiarize yourself with the rules and objectives of

the simulation. Understand what you need to accomplish and the criteria by which your

performance will be evaluated. This will help you develop a clear strategy. There are

three main objectives to monitor when developing your strategy and when checking and

adjusting your plan during the simulation. You are given a target scope and the level

printer expected to be developed during that period. Part of your points will come from

delivering a printer within the schedule requested, as well as the target cost. You may also

receive points for monitoring the consistent morale of the team between 85-95%. In one

project scenario, I ran through the simulation several times to ensure a comprehensive

understanding of the challenges involved. Each attempt provided valuable insights and

learning opportunities. The biggest challenges I encountered were related to resource

allocation, timeline constraints, and stakeholder expectations. While I could meet

expectations in the timeline, the budget ran over, and the team still felt stressed.

• Analyze the scenario: Take time to carefully analyze the simulation scenario, including

the market conditions, competitors, and available resources. This will enable you to make

informed decisions and adapt your strategy accordingly. You will have to adapt your
 approach throughout the scenario based on problems or tensions that arise, this is no

different from real-life situations, there will always be risks and circumstances and the

job of the project manager is to keep your eye on the road and see the project through

completion.

• Develop a comprehensive strategy: Create a well-rounded strategy that considers various

aspects of project management in relation to scheduling, leadership, communication,

budget, and scope. When developing your strategy you can decide your team size, the

skill level, the schedule, and the number of meetings. You can also opt to produce

prototypes of the printer, outsource work as well as encourage or allow overtime. I

seemed to have the most success when I worked with a relatively small team and entry-

level to medium skill level. I scheduled meetings based on their needs and encouraged

them over time. I tried not to outsource work or create prototypes to streamline the work.

This worked well, but every scenario is different, so it really requires you to analyze the

situation.

• Balance risk and reward: Evaluate the risks and rewards associated with different

decisions. Sometimes taking calculated risks can lead to significant gains but be mindful

of the potential consequences and ensure that your decisions align with your overall

strategy. For example, in some of the simulations where there is an aggressive deadline

you may want to consider outsourcing some of the work to help your project team. From

my experience, the outsourced work creates a lot more miscommunication and creates a

need for the project manager to provide additional status updates. “Many writers define

uncertainty as the source of risk. Extending this idea, a little further, we can derive the
 following relationship: uncertainty is the intangible measure of what we don’t know the

risk is the statement of what may arise from that lack of knowledge.” (Cleden, 2016)

• Monitor and analyze performance: Continuously monitor the performance of your

decisions and assess their impact on the simulation outcomes. Use the feedback provided

by the simulation to make data-driven adjustments and improvements to your strategy.

You will get alerts throughout the project that notifies you of the stress level of the team,

and problems that arise. While completing these scenarios I would keep an eye on the

morale of the team and simultaneously receive alerts on their morale. If performance was

sluggish, I would schedule more one on one coaching to help get the team up to speed. If

this didn’t work, then reconsidering the size and skill of the team may be necessary.

• Collaborate effectively: This simulation involves teamwork, and success is reliant on

communicating and collaborating with your teammates effectively. Collaboration is a

huge part of the success of the simulation. The team size dictates the number of meetings

that will need to be scheduled. When I saw that there is a positive correlation between

meetings and the morale of the team it was first my instinct to schedule more meetings.

You can schedule coaching meetings, stand-up meetings which are 15 minutes as well as

status meetings which bring everyone up to speed. Too many meetings can be a bad

thing- the team starts to feel like all they do is have meetings and it gets them behind on

their work.

• Learn from mistakes: Don't be discouraged by setbacks or poor results. Instead, view

them as learning opportunities. Analyze your mistakes, understand what went wrong, and

use that knowledge to refine your strategy and decision-making process. In the final

simulation, I had the team build a prototype which helped them catch problems with the
 printer early on. However, in prior simulations with different printer models, the

prototype printer was extra work for the team, which made the schedule difficult to

follow.

• Time management: Manage your time effectively during the simulation to ensure you can

address all aspects of the business and make informed decisions within the given

timeframe. Prioritize tasks based on their importance and allocate resources accordingly.

The size of your team dictates the amount of time that the project can be completed, but

there are also factors that play a part such as the number of meetings, the skill level,

whether overtime is approved or encouraged as well as building prototypes.

In conclusion, whether working on a simulation or in real life I learned a lot about what

makes and breaks a project. It takes leadership and depends on risk management. There are many

aspects of the Harvard Business Simulation that are realistic to how a project can succeed or fail.

Budget and schedule are challenging components, and knowing as the project manager when one

is unrealistic and communicating potential trade-offs to the stakeholders. In business, budget is

always going to be a challenge as well as problems arising, schedule and people problems. It is

up to the project manager to be able to work with all the stakeholders and communicate if

something is not realistic or feasible. Oftentimes, the schedule and budget seemed to be what

caused the most bottom-up tensions. When the team feels it is unreasonable to have so little help

on a project or that the timeline is not possible this is when stress will take hold. This was a

theme in essentially every simulation as I imagine it would be in real-time. There are trade-offs

that sometimes must happen. In the last scenario, we were given a very aggressive deadline to

release a new printer. We were unable to meet the budget, but the trade-off was delivering a

printer in the designated time, and it could go the other way depending. One of my biggest
takeaways is the people aspect of project management. While planning a project is a big piece of

its success, the most crucial element will be how you lead a team to work together, to get through

differences, to help alleviate tensions and stress and to adjust your approach to coach, update and

inform the team. Finally, making a plan that identifies all possible risks would entail identifying

every possible uncertainty. It's not possible to forecast everything that can and will go wrong so

having a good plan, being a leader, and being nimble in the face of adversity will help to manage.
 Works Cited

Cleden, D. (2016). Managing project uncertainty. Gower.

Mind Tools Content team. (n.d.). The Iron Triangle of Project Management. MindTools.

https://www.mindtools.com/aa9j1zc/the-iron-triangle-of-project-management