Project Management and Managing Risks - Lessons Learned and Techniques Implemented

This report provides an overview of the major issues faced by project management and managing risks, lessons learned from the course, and techniques implemented. It also discusses the gaps in project management and the importance of risk management. The report covers the key issues in modern project management, lessons learned from the course, and the major phases of project management. It also covers the key issues in managing risks, lessons learned about risk management, and the basic ideas gained about risk management. Subject: Project Management, Course Code: N/A, Course Name: N/A, College/University: N/A

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project Management
[Name of the Student]
[Name of the University]
[Author note]

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Topic 1: Modern Project Management
Project management or PM generally refers to the application of the various processes,
methods and skills along with the application of experiences so as to achieve success in the
objectives of the project. One of the key factor which is responsible for distinguishing the project
management from just management is that project management is having a final deliverable
along with a finite lifespan which is not like the management which is an ongoing process. From
the chapters I have leant the basic of project management along with the risks faced by it.
Besides this I have also learnt about the process of managing the risks associated with project
management. This report is going to provide a broad overview of the major issues faced by PM
and the lessons which I have learned from the course which are going to help me obtain a better
understanding of the different concepts provided to us in the course.
1. Key Issues faced by Project Management:
The key issues in modern project management can be categorized into various kind and this
mainly includes the following:
A. Undefined or poorly defined goals: One of the major challenge that is faced by the project
members as well as by the team members is when they are not aware of the actual goal of the
project. In cases when the projects are not defined in a proper way then there exists high
possibility of project failure. A lot of chaos and confusion is created whenever the people
involved in the project are not aware of what’s, why and when of the project. Whenever a project
starts without any clear objective or specified direction or without any kind of plan might lead to
project failure.

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B. Unrealistic deadlines: This is generally considered to be the second challenge faced by the
project management. This includes the unrealistic expectation that the clients and the
stakeholders are having from the project managers and the members of the project. It has been
seen that there is a slip in the project timelines because of the unrealistic deadlines at the initial
stage of the project.
C. Insufficiency in the skills of the Team: Success of any kind of project in greatly dependent
upon the skills of the team responsible for the completion of the project. The tasks in a project
are assigned to the team members according to their skills and in case when the members are not
skilled or trained in a proper way they won’t be capable of meeting all the challenges and the
tasks which are assigned to them.
D. Improper communication: one of the biggest challenge faced by project management is the
poor communication amongst the team members and all others who are associated with the
project. Poor communication might lead to unsuccessful delivery of the project. One of the
greatest asset that each and every project manager should have is proper communication.
2. Lessons learnt from the Course:
From the course I have learnt what is meant by a project. Project is nothing but a temporary
endeavor which is undertake in order to create a product, result or a service which is totally
unique. Besides this I also learnt about the various characteristics of a project which mainly
includes an established objective, a well-defined life span with proper beginning and ending
time, involves doing of certain things that has never been implemented before which means a
non-routine activity having a unique element and lastly has a specific requirement of cost, time
and performance. In order to complete a project there is need f proper project management.
Project management is considered to be the process which is associated with managing the

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interdependent and ongoing projects which are conducted by a group. This includes proper
coordination which would be helping in the achievement of the objectives of the project. The
course also helped in understanding the project life cycle which is generally divided into four
steps and this includes the defining phase, planning phase, executing phase and lastly the closure
phase. The course also helped in understanding the major challenges faced by the project
management along with the importance and the benefits of project management.
3. Understanding and implementing the major phases of project management:
From the course I learnt that project management helps a lot in managing the daily life activities.
By application of the project management which is not but the application of knowledge skills
and the techniques which are needed in order to complete the task in an effective and efficient
way would be very much helpful. So, I would be using this technique in future. While doing any
kind of task I would be dividing the task into four steps as stated in the project life cycle. Firstly I
would be initiating the work then I would be making plans in order to have a successful project.
After the planning is completed I would be proceeding to the execution of the project and once
the execution is competed I would be monitoring my task and do the necessary things in order to
complete the project and lastly I would be moving into the closure of the project.
4. Ideas gained about project management:
From the course conducted in the class the ideas that I was having about project management has
totally changes. I have understood the fact that before proceeding with any kind of task a proper
planning is needed and this would be very much helpful in achieving success in the task. Project
management helps in making life become much easier. Each and every task planned in a proper
way would be very much helpful. There exists five major phases in the project management and

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this phases helps a lot in the management and controlling of the project in every way possible.
The phases which are included in the project mainly involves the following:
1. Project initiation: This is the first phase of a project lifecycle. In this phase the
measurements regarding the value and feasibility of the project are done.
2. Project Planning: After receiving of the green light there is a need of solid plan so as to
guide the entire team associated with the project to proceed with the project and make
plans regarding the budget and time. Project plan acts as a guide in the process of
obtaining the resources along with the acquiring of the financing and the materials which
are required. Planning also helps in making a project team get prepared for the obstacles
that are going to come.
3. Execution of the project: In this phase the deliverables of the project are built in order to
satisfy the customers. This is generally done by the leaders of the team by allocation of
the resources and making the team focus on the tasks assigned to them. The execution
phase is highly dependent upon the planning phase and besides this the work and the
effort that is provided by the team in the execution phase is obtained from the planning of
the project.
4. Monitoring and controlling of the project: In this phase of the project lifecycle the
execution of the project is monitored so as to eliminate any kind of possible errors along
with controlling the entire process of execution. Which means that this phase is often
combined with the execution phase as they occur at the same time. Constant monitoring
is needed throughout the entire phase. Constant monitoring would help the project to
move ahead smoothly.

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5. Closure of the project: This the last phase of the project lifecycle and includes the
delivery of the final project. This is considered to be one of the vital phase as this helps
the teams a lot in evaluating and documenting their project so as to move on to the next
one by making use of the mistakes that has been done in the previous project and the
successes so as to have a strong process and more successful delivery of future projects.
5. Understanding the Gaps in Project Management:
There exists certain gaps in project management and I would like to explore this gaps in the
future in order to bridge the gaps. The major gaps which I have identified mainly includes the
gap that exists between the strategic plans and the daily agenda of the team members, use of the
efficient and appropriate project management software and many more.

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Topic 2: Managing of risks
1. Key issues in managing the risks:
Two major issues have been identified while managing the risks in a project and this mainly
includes the following:
A. Lack of risk decision making structure and the lack of Accountability for the decisions related
to risk in a project. In each and every project the managers are very comfortable with the process
of risk decision making but in many cases it has been seen that the right people are not associated
with the making of those decisions, however it has also been seen that the big risk decisions are
made at a very low rate in the projects. A project manager might not be associated with accepting
a large information security risk and this might be leading to the compliance and reputational
issues. This simply happens due to the fact that they are only getting incentivized on is the
delivering of the product in successful way. So there is a need of developing certain structures in
order to have an important risk based decision which are generally made by the appropriate
persons who are responsible for the impact whether it is good or bad.
B. Lack in the meaningful risk assessment process: There exists many project managers who are
associated with considering the risk management as something which they have to do from the
compliance standpoint who would be associated with conducting certain superficial risk
assessments. While others are only having the right skills in order to develop a meaning risk
assessment process. Developing a meaningful risk assessment process would be associated with
enabling the better identification of the risks which are generally based upon the goals that the
project is having and is associated with defining the risks.

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2. Lessons learnt about risk management:
From the class I have learnt about what a risk is and this generally refers to the occurrence of any
kind of uncertain or chances of events which cannot be overcome by any kind of planning or
control. Besides this I also understand the meaning of risk as stated by the PMI which states that
is the “Uncertain events or conditions which are generally occurring due to the positive and the
negative effect over the objectives of a project. From the course I also learnt about the risk
project life cycle which be understood by the graph provided to us. The risk anatomy has also
been taught to us in a proper way which includes the actual cause of the risk, what are the events
occurring due to the risk and lastly the effects of the risk. I also understood the key attributes of
the project risk management which includes the structure and formality, continuity, focus of the
project and the process of making decisions. There also exists certain benefits of risk
management as well. the process of risk management includes the risk identification, planning,
analysis and evaluation of the risks, treatment of the risks and lastly the implementation and
controlling of the risks.
3. Understanding and Implementing the risk management technique:
I would be surely applying the risk management process in the future. Risk management helps a
lot in avoiding the various kind of risks that might be arising due to different kind of
circumstances. Firstly we have to ask ourselves what is going wrong and what would happen if
something wrong happens and what are the things that needs to be done in order to prevent it.
This is a proactive process and in this process the risks are to be identified before the occurrence
of the risks and certain measures are to be taken in order to eliminate them. By this process the
risks would be eliminated easily the success would be achieved very easily besides this it also
saves cost resources and time and also increase the reputation.

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4. Basic Ideas gained about risk management:
From the course conducted in the class I have understood that is a very important aspect of a
project management which is generally ignored in most of the cases. I have understood that if ris
management is not applied then it might to the obtaining of the results which are totally
undesired so it is very necessary to apply the risk management technique.

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