Project Management Business System Development - Essay Example

Project Management Business System Development As a semester project we were given a task of designing a project and presenting it to our teacher last week. The target of this activity was to let us work in the form of a group or team and both project management skills and tem working techniques. This project gave us a lot of insight not just about the processing of a project but also how to work in a team and how to cooperate and coordinate with team members. We were not such a big group therefore it was not much difficult to handle various issues. This team work project was not that easy as well as we had to cope with various emotional aspects of each others as well which will be discussed later on as one of the various disadvantages/ problems we faced while working together. This project did not help us to learn how to work efficiently as a team but also helped us to learn what a project is practically. It gave us an insight of how to plan a project, how to implement it and finally how to close it. When beginning the project we did not realize how long and difficult journey it was. It had to be started with planning, then implementing a then closing down but we realized that other factors were important as well. It was not a one man task but a group activity. And with the passage of time we realized the significance of team work. Towards the end of this project we could say that without good team work we had not even started out the work. Our team comprised of four students. It was not a big team but one enough with resources to handle out the given task. We started out by having a general meeting. The agenda of the meeting was to understand the project to be done, to absorb its various aspects and to plan how to work it out. The technique we used to work out together and do work efficiently and effectively, we planned to divide the activities amongst us. We did so by planning out the various tasks and steps in the first agenda setting meeting and then we allotted the tasks to one another according to each others capabilities. One of us was good at conducting surveys so he devised the questionnaires. The other was good at negotiation so he went along him to conduct the survey practically. One of us was good at analyzing so he ran the analysis of the surveys and I was good at mathematical portions. At the end we again gathered together and sorted out our work, finalized it in a form of presentable document and then prepared a Power Point presentation. Only two of us took the responsibility of presenting as they were good at talking to the audience. Our presentation was quite appreciated by the teacher. An important discovery was that every one of us was a leader and thinker within himself. It posed various communication hurdles as well but also let us have a deep trust upon one another’s findings. The main disadvantage of teamwork we found was that every one of us had a notion that he is correct and others are wrong that he knows everything and others should follow. This was quite a difficult issue to resolve. So we decided to have a meeting on it and try to resolve the issue. We remained quite successful and learned that communication can resolve any type of issue. To have a confidence upon oneself to convince others is necessary. One of our group members did it quite successfully. Otherwise to meet the deadlines and coordinate was really good amongst us. Its benefit was that at the time of presentation we all had a deep insight about whole of the project. It is important to relate that we did have divided our tasks but still we knew what we were up to as questionnaires were formed in a meeting, their results were also analyzed when all of us were present. In fact whenever data processing had to be done, we used to do in the presence of all. This helped us to keep on same track and to have an equal level of insight. This also told that communication information is very important for information flow. The better the information flow, the better the overall team performance. [1] Therefore in the question answering session all of us participated in an equal way and got the highest marks in our class. Our task was to design a project to meet the shortage of sugar production in the country. We decided to select one sugar producing mill and to chart out plan for it. We did so by dividing the activities among us. We divided the activities in a way that every one of us had enough work to do. Two of us had to collect the basic data upon the sugar mill and its various financial and production aspects. Other two decided to prepare questionnaire for them to go to the mill and ask the mangers. After the collection of data we sat down and did the necessary calculations. We used the various project management tools to chart out a plan to show how that particular mill can contribute towards controlling the overall shortage of the sugar in country. The division of tasks amongst ourselves saved us enough time and let each one of the team to feel the responsibility of doing the work. We devised a plan for it to cope with its own level of sugar production to meet the difference between demand and production level. Being students of project management, we learnt that in order in order to initiate the project the first step always involves identifying the need of project. The projects are always required when there is a shortage of something on national or world level. Normally such need arises because of market demand, business need, customer requests, technological advances, political initiative or a legal requirement. Therefore it is essential to conduct a through research before actual planning and implementation of any project. Also 5W and 1H questions are important to consider. These are; what are we going to do? Why are we doing it? Where will this take place? When will tasks be completed? Who will be responsible for this? We need consider so many things and how will we achieve it? After need analysis it is important to check the feasibility of the project. To do so a feasibility study is conducted. This study shows how much the benefit will be brought by opening the project. If no benefit is found then the project is not opened in the very first step as it will then bring only heavy losses. Risk analysis is also done to ensure that the project will be safe and secure and will be successful. Goals are then identified and a work plan is formulated. Then the project manager cuts out the whole plan into various workable activities so that the project can be completed on time by focusing on every step separately and achieving every objective step by step. All the activities are distributed among various people in order to lower down the burden and increase efficiency. We learnt that resource management is the main aspect of project management. Normally projects are run when there is a shortage of something e.g. when electricity shortage occurs the government plans to run various damn projects. Such projects are meant to be based on low cost and with minimum resources but with good quality. The sources available for projects are normally less because in order to cut short the costs, minimum labor and other input are essential. Other important aspects of project management are people and environment. People are related to environmental issues as well. The project plant or land or production area should be chosen so that the environment around cannot be adversely affected. This environment includes trees, greenery, pollution rate, health of people living around etc. for instance if the project plant involves the emission of dangerous chemical gases then the site chosen for it should be far located from population so that the public and green elements cannot be affected adversely. Also we learnt organizing and time management skills. A project is long and tedious process. It usually involves following steps: Defining the project, Planning the Project, Implementing the Project and Closing the Project. All these four steps further have many sub heads. Time management is therefore an essential element of a project as it is always done for some cause. By doing this project we learned how to manage our time to complete the project in time. And by teamwork we learnt various management skills as well. [2] Conclusion: By doing this project we not only learnt what is project management and how to execute it practically but we also learned many other relevant factors. We learnt the importance of time management, team working, collaboration, communication and organizing. In fact through this semester project we went through a great learning experience. References 1. Gary R. Heerkens (2001). Project Management. McGraw Hill. 2. James P. Lewis (2006). Fundamentals of Project Management. AMACOM. Read More