Lessons Learnt: Reflections on the Course - Personal Statement Example

 Lessons Learnt and Team Assessment Lessons Learnt: Personal reflections on the course: Attending the project management course 450 has introduced me to a wide spectrum of information related to understanding and executing projects. Prior to this course, activities and projects in real life appeared simply as a bunch of activities, certainly an uninformed perspective. This course, however, has increased my appreciation of how small to large projects are managed with an integrated plan using tools and techniques specifically designed to make the project successful. This course has given me a new perspective which triggers important questions in my mind regarding the importance of planning, team selection, breaking down of activities, risks, constraints, and a structured way in which to carry out projects. I know I have probably just scratched the surface in learning project management but this course has given me a clear path on which to expand and use my knowledge. The foremost thing I learnt in this course was to divide a project into manageable activities. I found the work breakdown structure an easy concept to learn, yet very important and relevant to project management. Creating dependencies in activities was a useful new concept. Through these relationships I could also view the critical path that gave me a perspective of where the project needed more attention and focus. Microsoft Project turned out to be a blessing as I could easily represent my project activities, costs, dependencies, and resources. I’ve found the software to be an indispensable part of any future project management work I undertake. I haven’t had the chance to evaluate other project management softwares but I believe that this course has given me a foundation that would make me comfortable with any tool. I found that setting baselines and subsequently tracking projects gives a project manager a firm grip on the project which I expect to practice and use more later on. This course also gave me a good experience of working in teams. All of us might have worked in teams before in one way or the other, but this course taught me how to extend on the strengths of each team member while proposing, planning, and executing the project. The team project gave me this chance. The MBTI test came in handy for this purpose and each team member, particularly the project manager, could use its result to their advantage. The project management course 450 has given me the confidence that I can be a successful project manager. I also intend to get a certification from PMI to increase my credentials in future. This course has given me a foundation on which to build on in the future as I pursue my education and career. Most importantly, I have also found that these lessons in planning and structured thinking developed as part of this course can be applied to all areas of one’s career. Team Project: Self and Team Assessment If I were to rate our team project, I would give the entire team a 98%. The reason I would do that is that we completed our project successfully and met our goals in scoping, time, and costs. As a result of the project, the team also identified a cost saving of approximately 25,000 dollars for our sponsor which was appreciated. Initially we had followed the weighted scoring model to select the project and during the project we used several tools such as Microsoft Project and Fishbone Diagram effectively. The team gelled as a unit and regardless of our prior experiences, we all came out with more knowledge about project management as well as good interaction with a real life situation. Our team comprised of Minh Lu, Caroline Maringa, Keziah Ouko, Nader Fikri, and myself, Ahmed Al-Shaye (see figure 1). Even though we all performed cross functional activities, my core responsibility was that of a Designer. Team Member Designation MBTI score MINH LU Project Manager ENTJ AHMED AL-SHAYE Designer ESFP CAROLINE MARINGA Scheduler ENFP KEZIAH OUKO Data Entry INTJ NADER FIKRI Researcher ISTJ Figure 1: Team members, assignments, and MBTI information As a designer, I was closely associated with all members of the team and was involved in building the project structure in Microsoft Project, and working on the Fishborne Diagram to investigate the cause and effect relationships. I would like to record my gratitude to the project manager, Minh Lu for providing guidance in working on the Fishborn Diagram. I also worked on Powerpoint and was a key contributor to the final report. In addition, I worked with the team in tracking the progress and, along with others, suggested ways to keep the work on schedule. Overall I was very satisfied with my progress, not only because of my contribution but also because of the amount of learning that came as a result. I believe it was not just I who came out with a fulfilling learning experience. All members of the team built on their past knowledge and gained new insights into managing projects and working in teams. As mentioned earlier, we all gelled as a unit and supported each other. I would rate our Project Manager the highest, a 100%. Minh had more experience than all of us, particularly in the area of domain of wastewater treatment in which we selected our project. However, I have rated our project manager not just for experience but also for the constant interaction, guidance, and coordination that was led by Minh. For each of the rest of team members, I would give a rating of 98%. There are two reasons for doing this. The first reason is that each of us without exception worked in cross functional areas jumping in to help their team mates whenever required and whenever time allowed. The other reason was that the team was in high spirits and we all treated this project as an interesting and rewarding exercise. While extracting our respective benefits from the project, I believe each member was motivated to give their best to the project itself too. The successful completion of the project and the amount of appreciation and recognition given by our sponsor is a testament to our team’s collaborative and enthusiastic work. Read More