Critical Reflection Report: Project Management, Data Communication

This report presents a critical reflection on the experience of working in a group to implement data communication and hardware infrastructure. It emphasizes the importance of Gantt charts, risk management plans, and communication strategies. The report discusses project timescales, work breakdown structures, task dependencies, and resource allocation. It analyzes the benefits of Gantt charts in tracking project activities and the role of risk management plans in mitigating potential risks. The reflection also covers reporting and communication strategies in monitoring project progress, identifying possible risks, and the importance of resource allocation. The report concludes by highlighting the role of the risk management plan in enhancing project success by mitigating risks and improving the chances of project success.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Individual critical reflection report
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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1. Overview
The experience of working in a group for the implementation of data communication as
well as hardware infrastructure is generally reflected for showing the significance of using Gantt
charts, risk management plan as well as communication strategy and risk management strategies
that are related with the project. In addition to this, the paper also reflects on the importance of
project timescales, work breakdown structure, task dependencies, resources as well as resource
allocation. Moreover, the paper also elaborates the importance of risk management plan.
2. Critical reflection
2.1 Critical reflection on experience
Gantt chart
The utilization of Gantt chart for the implementation of data communication as well as
hardware infrastructure assists in reflecting that the work of the project will be completed in 60
days. It is understood from the project that the use of Gantt chart is quite beneficial while
progressing with the project as it helps in keeping track on the execution of project activities and
helps in completing the project work on time (Archibald and Archibald 2016). Additionally, it is
considered as one of the planning tool that helps in reflecting the beginning as well as finish date
of the individual tasks with the help of horizontal bar graphs.
Risk management plan
The risk management plan is used in order to determine the risks as well as for
implementing proper plan that helps in reducing the project risks quite effectively. With the
utilization of risk management plan, it is understood that risks which are mainly associated with

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the implementation of data communication as well as hardware infrastructure can be effectively
managed with the help of proper risk management strategies. The risk management plan is
utilized in foreseeing risks, determining risk ranking, as well as taking proper preventive actions
along with an effective step for tracking the risks that are mainly associated with the project.
Reporting and communication strategy
It is found that the strategy of reporting as well as communication is mainly utilized for
developing the data communication as well as hardware infrastructure. It is understood that both
reporting and communication strategy allows to track the present status of the project against the
original plan of the project (Joslin and Muller 2015). The items that are mainly tracked includes
budget, schedule, risks as well as tasks of the project. In addition to this, reporting helps in
determining the project risks and helps in managing the cost of the project. Moreover, it is
analyzed that the reports are helpful in putting the project under control as it generally helps in
reflecting on the progress of the project in order to determine the performance of the project team
members.
Possible risks
By undertaking the project “data communication as well as hardware infrastructure
development”, it is analyzed that there are different types of risks that can occur at different
stages of the project. It is understood that by determining the risks that are related with the
development of data communication and hardware infrastructure, proper idea about the different
challenges and the ways in which the challenges can be handled can be achieved quite easily
(Badewi 2016). Moreover, the risks that are identified are considered to be important and have

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analyzed that the project risks must be prioritized in order to avoid problems from the project and
for executing the project plan quite successfully.
2.2 Critical reflection on the importance of Gantt chart
While involving with the development of data communication as well as hardware
infrastructure, it is identified that Gantt chart generally helps in playing an important role. Gantt
charts helps in providing a clear picture of the entire schedule by reflecting the activities,
required time duration including start and finish date (Kaiser, El Arbi and Ahlemann 2015). It is
understood that timescale of the project is considered to be important as it helps in keeping track
on the project and provides proper idea about the status of the project and reflects whether the
project is on track or behind the project track. On the other hand, the tasks that are present on the
Gantt chart helps in reflecting that the activities that are required needed to be executed within
the project for achieving the goals of the project. In addition to this, it is understood that the work
breakdown structure lets the project manager to efficiently work on the project by reducing the
complicated activities to a collection of tasks (Kerzner and Kerzner 2017). This is also
considered to be important for assigning costs to each of the project tasks. Moreover, the
workbreakdown structure is also helpful in defining project scope, fulfilling the intended
purposes assigning responsibilities to the tasks as well as for tracking the schedule of the project
quite effectively.
Task dependencies within the Gantt chart that is mainly created for developing the data
communication as well as hardware infrastructure helps in reflecting the dependencies of project

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tasks and it is found to be very much helpful as the project stakeholders can be able to get proper
idea about the execution of the project. It id further understood that resource plays an important
role in the project as it generally helps in planning all the resources that is mainly required for the
project. It is found that proper resource allocation provides proper idea about the need of the
resources and it will generally let the project stakeholders to utilize resources that are needed and
the problem that is related with improper utilization can be avoided.
2.3 Critical reflection on the importance of risk management plan
A risk management plan generally carries a number of tools as well as strategies that are
helpful in mitigating the risks of the project. Proper risk management plan is needed in the
project as it helps in determining risks and implementing plans or strategies that are helpful in
reducing the risks. It is analyzed that the risk management plan that is created for the project
helps in monitoring and controlling the entire project quite effectively by enhancing the chances
of project success (Papke-Shields and Boyer-Wright 2017). The risk management plan lists all
the foreseeable risks by reflecting their ranking as well as priority such that the risks can be
mitigated by considering most prioritized project risks. The risk management plan also designs
the impact of the risks and helps in checking the reason behind the project occurrence so that the
chances of risk occurrence can be avoided.

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Bibliography
Archibald, R.D. and Archibald, S., 2016. Leading and Managing Innovation: What Every
Executive Team Must Know about Project, Program, and Portfolio Management. Auerbach
Publications
Badewi, A., 2016. The impact of project management (PM) and benefits management (BM)
practices on project success: Towards developing a project benefits governance
framework. International Journal of Project Management, 34(4), pp.761-778.
Joslin, R. and Müller, R., 2015. Relationships between a project management methodology and
project success in different project governance contexts. International Journal of Project
Management, 33(6), pp.1377-1392.
Kaiser, M.G., El Arbi, F. and Ahlemann, F., 2015. Successful project portfolio management
beyond project selection techniques: Understanding the role of structural
alignment. International Journal of Project Management, 33(1), pp.126-139.
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Kerzner, H., 2017. Project management metrics, KPIs, and dashboards: a guide to measuring
and monitoring project performance. John Wiley & Sons.
Papke-Shields, K.E. and Boyer-Wright, K.M., 2017. Strategic planning characteristics applied to
project management. International Journal of Project Management, 35(2), pp.169-179.