Project Reflection Report: Project Planning and Development

This project reflection report offers a comprehensive overview of a student's learning journey in project management, focusing on key concepts such as project planning, scope definition, risk assessment, and stakeholder management. The report highlights the importance of early planning, coordination, and project chartering for project success, emphasizing the need for clearly defined goals, effective communication, and defined roles and responsibilities. It explores the potential risks associated with projects and the importance of proactive mitigation strategies. The student reflects on the course materials, including literature and lectures, to analyze the significance of these aspects. The reflection also touches upon the project scope, timeline, and budget, and the role of the project manager in managing the project effectively. The student also references key academic sources to support the reflections. The report concludes with the student's insights and takeaways for future modules.

Project Reflection
11/22/2018

Project Reflection
Table of Contents
Project Reflection..................................................................................................................................2
References.............................................................................................................................................4
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Project Reflection
Project Reflection
The week’s literature and course details, I have acquired that initial project planning,
coordination, and chartering shall be adequate to achieve the project success. There are
various areas in a project that required advanced planning, such as project schedule, project
risks, stakeholders; project budget, resources, and scope are the primary areas that shall be
planned out. I have observed that there are certain risks that the projects are exposed to and
the risk preparation in advance makes sure that the project team has the ability to handle and
treat them during the project lifecycle (Rose and Indelicato, 2009). There are also
uncertainties involved with the projects that cannot be predicted in advance. However, the
recovery and mitigation measures may control the impacts of the uncertain situations. The
lecture notes and information also allowed me to look in to the initial activities that shall be
planned out and included in the project charter. The first and the foremost is the project goals
and objectives that shall be clearly defined and communicated to all the members assigned to
the project and all the stakeholders associated with the project. When the project goals are
defined then the management shall select the methodology and the scope of the project
(Zwikael, 2009). There are project that do not focus upon the definition and handling of the
project scope and such projects suffer from the issues of scope inflation. The issues with the
project scope bring up additional risks, such as overrun of schedule and budget, re-work for
the project team members, too many changes in the project, and drop in the resource
productivity. The charter shall also focus on the high-level details of the project requirements,
timeline, and budget. These are the three essential areas that must be defined and the effort
and resource roles shall be developed accordingly. The coordination among the members of
the project team and the project stakeholders can be achieved only when there is effective
communication maintained in the project team (Laslo, 2010). I have seen that the Project
Manager is held responsible for ineffective communication in the team. It is true that the
prime responsibility of planning and managing project communication is on the Project
Manager. However, the rest of the members and stakeholders must also showcase a pro-
active approach and must participate in the project meetings and discussions actively. The
sharing of ideas will lead to the implementation and use of the best approach in the project.
The roles and responsibilities of all the members assigned to the project team shall also be
defined and communicated in the initial phase of the project. The use of such a practice will
make sure that the resources are aware of the duties allotted to them and the request for
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Project Reflection
change is entertained and carried out in the initial phases only (Kastor and Sirakoulis, 2009).
The backing out of the resource at the advanced project stages or underperforming resources
in the project team become a major factor in the inability to achieve the project goals and
objectives. Therefore, project initiation must focus upon the execution of this activity.
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Project Reflection
References
Kastor, A. and Sirakoulis, K. (2009). The effectiveness of resource levelling tools for
Resource Constraint Project Scheduling Problem. International Journal of Project
Management, 27(5), pp.493-500.
Laslo, Z. (2010). Project portfolio management: An integrated method for resource planning
and scheduling to minimize planning/scheduling-dependent expenses. International Journal
of Project Management, 28(6), pp.609-618.
Rose, K. and Indelicato, G. (2009). Book Review: A Guide to the Project Management Body
of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), Fourth EditionA Guide to the Project Management Body
of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), Fourth Edition Project Management Institute. Project
Management Journal, 40(2), pp.104-104.
Zwikael, O. (2009). The Relative Importance of the PMBOK® Guide's Nine Knowledge
Areas during Project Planning. Project Management Journal, 40(4), pp.94-103.
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