Saturday, February 16, 2013

Handleing Project Change

From a team of 15 to a team of 4

Whoever said change is good never; never had to plan an event usually with a team 15 plus people with a single team of 4.  I am an Education Manager for a local program serving children 3 -5 years of age.  I am responsible for putting together our Annual Art Show.  The show use to have a committee of about 15 – 20 people from various areas.   Last year due to some other agency commitments it was left up to my team of 4 to plan and implement the event.  The event requires 17 site to implement various art activities on site bring them to the event as well as on art piece for the silent auction.   I was stressed the entire spring preparing for the April even In addition to the event my regular duties and those of my team must continue.  To my advantage I have dynamite plan that I had created for previous events.  All that was needed was to change the theme, update the material to match the new theme.  In our course reading this week I seem to have followed the steps to handle changes in scope form (Greer,2010):
1.       Stay calm. Remind yourself that the original project scope documents were created at a tem when you knew less than you know now.
2.       Pinpoint the exact change.
3.       Analyze the impact
4.       Discuss the impact with your project team
5.       Report the impact to the sponsor
6.       Update the project scope statement and overall plan
7.       Obtain written sponsor approval of the change and the corresponding revised plan. 

If I knew them what I know now about project management, I could have saved myself so much grief.  It appears I knew enough to get by. The event went well and on the surface seemed great.  It was at great cost and stress to my team.  Planning and preparation for other projects during that time and what was needed suffered during that summer as well.  Having great plan to start is the key I am learning with project success.  It was a hard time of year but you can take solace during a project in knowing this too shall pass.   All organisms have a life cycle.  They are born, grow, wane, and die.  This is true for all living things, as well as organizations, companies, and projects (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer,2008)..


Reference
·         Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.
·         Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

2 comments:

  1. Barbara,

    This seems to have been a truly stressful undertaking, especially with such a small project team to fulfill the tasks of a project with such a large scope. Nevertheless, you pulled it off, so kudos to you! In hindsight, wouldn't it have been nice to have the knowledge of project management that we now possess? I, for example, found Dr. Stolovich's project management tips very helpful:
    List all management tasks;
    Code tasks according to priority;
    Begin with the top priority;
    Delegate lower-priority tasks;
    Avoid the desire to be perfect;
    Focus on the three biggies: timeline, budget, and client satisfaction (Laureate Education, Inc, n.d.).

    Keeping these tips at the forefront of our minds when planning a stressful project can be very reassuring.

    References

    Laureate Education, Inc. [Producer] (n.d.). Practitioner voices: You can't win them all. [Video]. Baltimore, MD: Dr. Harold Stolovich.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Barbara,
    This sounds oh so much like planning a summer reading program for the public library. With your experience as an education manager, I am sure those skills provided you with the ability to implement the changes to the theme and update the material. Rosenau and Githens state, “successful project management is a process of balancing competing demands” (2005).With your ability to follow Greer’s steps to handle changes, you not only delivered the finished product; you managed to continue balancing your regular duties and support those who assisted in the project. When you mention cycles, you are correct, the ebb and flow of our jobs and the projects and events we encounter all move towards an end goal. Planning, creating, and implementing an idea all start from a single thought – and if nurtured, can transform the impossible into possible.

    Regards, Constance

    References

    Rosenau, M., & Githerns, G. (2005). Successful project management. (4 ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

    ReplyDelete