Managing Project Setbacks: A Critical Evaluation

This study critically evaluates the steps and decisions taken to manage a serious project setback, focusing on the issues faced by project management and the solutions considered to avoid schedule overrun and costs.

Project Management

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Reflective.........................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The present study aims to critically evaluate the steps and decision taken to manage a serious
project setback. The study reflects the issues faced by project management and shows the
solution considered by management, in order to respond to them to avoid schedule overrun and
costs.
REFLECTIVE
In regards to the project grass, the serious issue faced was the shortage of resources, wherein one
of the programmers of the project would not be able to continue because of unexpected ill health.
Further, this calls for change in management to prevent schedule overruns, delay and undelivered
performance. It can be said that it is a significant dilemma for the project to make utilization of
available resources to conduct the project with effect on schedule or recruit a new programmer at
comparatively higher costs (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017).
The impact of the crucial loss of personnel was evaluated, it seems obvious that the project by
considering can face schedule slop and budget overrun, it is because, the programmer skills are
not readily available at the present time, and if they recruit a new programmer they have to
double the costs. In relation to the case and the issue of shortage of resources, in my opinion,
considerable decision making, change management, effective leadership and planning are
required at all level of management.
It can be stated that, if project opts for the first option that is using available resources, then they
compromise to the quality and company image as a whole, plus this option is not viable it is
because it can overlap activities and operations. It can also cause stress and pressure among

existing employees, while also the quality, performance and company position will be
compromised (Milosevic & Martinelli, 2016). On the other hand, if they go for the second
option, that is hiring new programmer they would not sacrifice their corporate image, as he/she
will come up with better skills, programming and quality, wherein smooth operations could be
facilitated, while budgets and costs could also be maintained effectively.
The project grass ultimately decided to go for the second option of hiring a new programmer, as
from their point of view, this could help in meeting the deadlines and securing and supporting
the corporate image. This would be an additional resource to the company which will provide
back end support to ensure timely project delivery in accordance with the specified quality and
schedule. From my point of view, the option of hiring new programmer is justifiable and
beneficial, it is because it can add efficiency in the quality of work, and merely 15 % of the cost
is demanded, and the company can afford to the same to save its image and deliver better quality.
This also helps in enhancing the product delivery and company image and will be a further
benefit on the tasks and activities of the organization.
However, in my opinion, it requires significant efforts to be placed from upper to lower
management, and there are several steps to be involved in the process to overcome the shortage
of project resources. Initially, it is essential to identify the current situation and its possible
impacts and causes on the project which was done by project grass, they determined the problem
of lack of resources and its possible impacts i.e. schedule slip and budget overrun, In
consideration with the analysis, the fact is known that it is vital to gain knowledge about the
situation, causes, problems, impacts and situation, as without this, it is not possible to undertake
mitigation (Noe and et al., 2017).

I experienced that, leveraging change board is a major problem, and considering that it can be
solved alone is a wrong perception, employing the assistance of the change control is mandatory.
In the process of project grass, they communicated the entire impact and situation on the project,
costs, quality and scope, and the change board offered various options to overcome it and paying
attention to their recommendations. The options were provided as above and, after the course of
decided action, this all facilitated in making a better decision, thorough resolving and making
adjustment as per the requirement (Larson & Gray, 2017).
Since, the project grass decided to reduce the advertising schedule to 3 days, and increase the
personnel working on the design of packaging to decrease the schedule from 10 days to 11 days.
This will lodge the two days effect on the designing of batter schedule. With their strategic
decision, they can give more time to the areas which require higher efforts and consideration. By
this, I learned to prioritize time and realized that more time should be given to mandatory
activities and less to the desired activities. They applied the 80/20 rule, wherein they give 80%
weight to the compulsory tasks and activities while 20% weight to the activities which are less
minor to the team will thereby foster productivity as a large,
In project management, the rule of 80/20 states that by concentrating on the 20% of the work that
matter most to the customer and clients will generate 80% of the results of projects (Carstens,
Richardson & Smith, 2016). Thus, most of the significant results in the projects will come on the
basis of the minority of work that is completed by the team.
From my perception, it is decisive for the project manager to account for the rule of 80/20 in
project management and the associated risk management plan. In addition, failing in properly
recognizing the same would lead to a project that is over budget or under schedule (Hornstein,

2015). Further, by accounting for this rule in each and every area of project management, there
would be proper organization, planning, streamlining and efficiency of projects under budget and
time.
From the overall case scenario, I learned significant aspects of time management and change
management; I realized that delivering projects on time and meeting deadlines is a very difficult
task, it requires utmost hard from the side of project managers, they face several resource-based
issues and other complexities. In regards to the project grass, I derived better learning and
knowledge regarding completion of the project on time and assessing the impacts of available
options. While identifying the success of a project, the significant factors are, indeed, time, cost
quality and budget, and I learned from project grass that at no cost these should be overlooked.
In my opinion, time management is the most difficult thing that is faced by any project
management, particularly at the time when things go wrong at the time of project lifecycle. This
requires several strategies to be set up and stay on the top of working activities to satisfy time
limits of projects. Time is a key constraint from the schedule can have an impact on the project’s
scope and costs (Papke-Shields & Boyer-Wright, 2017).
I learned things regarding time planning and effective management of resources with strategic
planning, things and time managing. I recognized that the lack of optimal time management
could create an adverse impact on the inclusive project in the long term. For a project schedule to
be created, planning and estimating of all tasks and their duration is necessary (Young, 2016).
While managing the project, I got to learn that one is required to make several key decisions.
With the management of project grass, I also got useful insights and learning of cost-benefit
analysis; it can be asserted that costs do not matter in front of quality. Impacts of costs can be
balanced but the impacts created by the quality on the corporate image cannot be balanced

(Chen, Jin, Xia, Wu, & Skitmore, 2015). If the quality demands cost to be incurred, then projects
managers can consider the same to enhance their quality of work.
From my knowledge and experience, I can assert that there are many obstacles in project
management, and one of the greatest challenges faced by project managers is how to offer
solutions on low personnel to keep up with the rising deadlines, tight schedules and increasing
workloads. Hiring new personnel is clearly the best possible solution, but prior to conducting the
same, it is significant to evaluate the costs (Serrador & Turner, 2015).
Cost-benefit analysis is a technique used for the comparison of the business value produced by a
project with the cost of producing it (Heagney, 2016). I got a real-time opportunity to experience
the challenges faced by project managers in a real-life scenario, and by considering the problem
and their mitigation process, I learned significant things which are crucial for the success of
project manager. In the option of employing the available resources, the company would have
saved costs, but they would have compromised their long term company image and quality just
for short term satisfaction. In this option, definitely this would be effective to costs, but
organizational and project performance could have negatively impacted. On the other hand, in
the option of hiring a new programmer and facing doubled costs is comparatively more
beneficial, in this case, company would at a time face a sudden rise in costs, but for the long
term, they will enjoy enduring quality work, performance and productivity.
Of course, prioritizing quality over costs is a strategic decision for long-term success and growth,
which is selected by project grass, and they set an example for all project managers to think and
prioritize strategically and not compromise quality over costs. It is because costs incurred can
impact an organization for a short term, but they recover it over the time, but quality and

company image cannot be recovered and will thus deteriorate the long term growth and success
of the business or project.
Thus, I can state my overall experience of this project management is worthwhile, and I learned
about time management, prioritizing tasks, change management, leadership, strategic
management, decision making and setting costs effectively. This will help me in my professional
and career life, as a project manager, I would now be more able to manage projects successfully.
I can handle project requirements and challenges in a better manner with the help of these
findings and learning.
CONCLUSION
As a concluding statement, it can be stated that for a project to be successful, there are several
issues to be faced and mitigated by project managers, and in the present situation, project grass-
faced a considerable issue of lack of resources and schedule overrun. Thus they mitigated this
challenge by hiring a new programmer and setting an ideal and sound schedule that is beneficial
for all. Hence, this provided learning facts and outcomes regarding taking key project decisions,
project, cost and time management and cost-benefit analysis.
Time management is the capability to plan and organize the time given on activities in a day. The
outcomes of effective time management are higher productivity and success (Parker, Parsons &
Isharyanto, 2015). It is the core aspect of project management is engaged with skill like planning,
prioritizing and setting goals for effective performance, as in the case of project grass. Similarly,
I learnt that the project manager should prepare with a powerful skill as well as a sense for time
management.

In the course of Project grass, they also identified the urgency, wherein two types of tasks are
determined: the urgent ones and the important ones. The tasks which are urgent are generally not
important, and the important tasks are generally not urgent (Crowder & Friess, 2015). I feel that
most people tend to focus on the urgent tasks , as they are more time-sensitive, and for working
in an effective and efficient manner, a project managers need to plan and schedule their work and
day to have adequate time to put efforts on significant tasks, this is all I learned.

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