MNG00785 Project Management: Reflection on a Flat Renovation Project

This reflective essay discusses the experiences and learning gained from managing a flat renovation project in Vertex Apartment, NSW, Australia. It highlights challenges encountered in time estimation, budget development, and communication management. The essay links practical experiences to project management theory, emphasizing the importance of effective communication plans, budget allocation, and continuous monitoring. Contributions to the project included defining communication channels, allocating budgets based on actual requirements, and estimating timeframes with team input. Key learnings emphasize the need for efficient communication, regular project monitoring, and involving the project team in budget estimation. The essay concludes that effective planning in budget, time, and communication is crucial for delivering high-quality projects, and the experiences gained will improve future project management endeavors. Desklib offers more solved assignments and past papers for students.

Assignment 3

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion of Situations.........................................................................................................3
Experience linked to theory.......................................................................................................4
Engagement and contribution................................................................................................4
Experience and learning.........................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
Bibliography...............................................................................................................................6

Introduction
The reflective essay of the project undertaken “Flat Renovation in Vertex Apartment, NSW
Australia” is presented. Managing project is difficult as it includes planning, execution and
controlling of the different areas of project (Young, 2013). It is important to manage these
areas for the successful accomplishment of the project on time and within the approved
budget (Project Management Institute, 2017). This essay will help in demonstrating the
experience of undertaking the project and learning from managing the project. In the essay
the situations that are faced during the project managed are discussed. The experience,
contribution and the engagement during the project is also discussed in the essay.
Discussion of Situations
In the project, I experienced difficulty in the process of estimating the time for the each of the
activities of the project. The legal formalities for the project can take time in comparison to
the estimated time which can affect the overall time estimation of the project. The approval
from the senior management for the project on time is important. The estimation of the time
for project can be considered as one of the difficult task in managing the project.
The other situation that I faced while managing the project was developing the budget
estimate. The estimation of the right budget for the project all the activities of the project are
important as the lack of the financial resources for the each activity can create hindrance. It
can eventually result in delay in the other activities of the project. I experienced that the
hindrance in completion of activities due to the lack of the financial resources can increase
the cost of the overall budget.
The communication related to the activities of the project with the project team and the senior
management is important (Aubry & Lievre, 2016). I faced problem in managing the flow of

the information among the project team as the channel for the communication was not
decided as per the need of the stakeholders.
Experience linked to theory
The theory of planning in project management demonstrates that there is effector part and
managerial part in project. Translation of resultant plan into the action is the primary function
of effector part and the planning is the primary function of managerial part (Richardson,
2014). In the theory, it is assumed that the translation of the plan in the actions is an easy
process, if it is followed as per the directions. It is also assumed in this theory that the internal
planning of an activity is the responsibility of the person to whom the activity is assigned
(Koskela & Howell, 2002). I experience problem in managing the communication,
developing the budget and controlling the budget and estimating the time for each of the
activity of the project. In my perception, the effective planning of the communication is
possible when the channels of the communication are clearly described in the initial stage of
the plan. The ineffective plan of communication resulted in problem in flow of information
(Kliem, 2007). The problems related to the budget estimation and controlling of the budget is
faced during the project mainly due to the improper allocation of budget and internal
planning (Lehmann, 2016). The hindrance in time estimation resulted due to improper
planning although the planning is a simple process as per the theory but the problem emerged
because of the proper knowledge regarding the time consumption of the major activities.
Engagement and contribution
In order reduce the problems in the areas of managing communication budget and timeframe
of the activities of the project, I defined the suitable communication channels to initiate the
flow of the information, budget is allocated for the each of the activity after evaluating the
actual requirements of financial resources for completing the activities and identified the

team members engaged in completing the activities of the project to estimate the proper time
the activities will consume to accomplish. A continuous review and monitoring of the each of
the activities of the project also initiated in order to make sure the effective accomplishment
of the activities. The information is delivered to the project team members as per the
requirements which helped in enhancing the ability of the team members to execute in a
proper manner (Ramakrishna, 2010). The important information was also provided to the
senior management in order to assess the need of the modification and the updates in the plan
of managing.
Experience and learning
During the project, I learnt that - for the effective management of the project, it is important
to develop an efficient communication plan so that the stakeholders of the project can obtain
be provided with the required information at the right time and through the right channel of
communication. It is important to make sure that all the activities of the project are monitored
and reviewed regular so that the quality of the activities and the overall project can be
enhanced. This can help in delivering the quality project to the clients or the customers. The
overall experience during the project was good as it helped me to understand that the
effective planning is important to deliver high quality of the project. I also experienced that it
is important that all the plans and the modification in the plans should be communicated with
the project team members so that they can execute the updated plan in an effective manner. In
my opinion, the thing that I believe should have been performed differently in the project was
that the budget estimation for the activities of the project should have been developed by
involving the project team. It would have not resulted in the problem of the lack of the
financial resources for the project. Hence, considering this area is important to undertake the
project in future.

Conclusion
It can be concluded that it is important to develop effective plan for the different areas of the
project in order to accomplish it within the time limit and the approved budget. The
experiences and the learning during the project will help in improving the future project. In
my opinion, the budget, time and the communication are the major areas of the project that
should be maintained and managed in an effective manner so that the good quality of project
can be delivered. The experiences and learning provide the ability to improve the future
projects.
Bibliography
Aubry, M. & Lievre, P. (2016) Project Management in Extreme Situations: Lessons from
Polar Expeditions, Military and Rescue Operations, and Wilderness Exploration. CRC Press.
Kliem, R.L. (2007) Effective Communications for Project Management. CRC Press.
Koskela, L. & Howell, G. (2002) The Theory Of Project Management: Explanation To Novel
Methods. In Proceedings IGLC-10. Gramado, Brazil. IGLC.
Lehmann, O.F. (2016) Situational Project Management: The Dynamics of Success and
Failure. CRC Press.
Project Management Institute (2017) Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK® Guide)–Sixth Edition. Project Management Institute.
Ramakrishna, K. (2010) Essentials of Project Management. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.
Richardson, G.L. (2014) Project Management Theory and Practice, Second Edition. CRC
Press.
Young, T.L. (2013) Successful Project Management. Kogan Page Publishers.