Project Management Report: Teamwork, User Stories, and Stakeholders

This report provides an in-depth analysis of project management principles applied to the development of the "Friends for Dogs" mobile application. It begins by examining the importance of teamwork, exploring its advantages such as fostering creativity and building trust, while also addressing challenges like conflict resolution and decision-making. The report then delves into the use of user stories within an agile methodology, discussing their benefits in promoting collaboration and enabling iterative development, as well as their drawbacks, such as the time-consuming nature of face-to-face interactions and the need for extensive user involvement. Finally, the report assesses the stakeholder list and communication plan, highlighting the strengths of categorizing stakeholders and the advantages of various communication methods, while also acknowledging potential weaknesses, such as stakeholders focusing on their own interests and potential communication issues. The report uses the brainstorming approach to identify stakeholders, categorizing them into primary, secondary, tertiary, and facilitating stakeholders, and examines the communication methods used by stakeholders, such as communication with dog owners and designers to gather app requirements. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of effective teamwork, user story development, and stakeholder management for successful project outcomes.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
1. Team work...................................................................................................................................2
2. User Stories..................................................................................................................................4
3. Stakeholders.................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8

2
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
1. Team work
The paper mainly reflects on the development of an app “Friends for dogs”. The app is
for those people who care about findings a new walking buddy for their dog and also helps in
providing the facility of registering on the app for the people who are finding a job as a walking
buddy of a dog. The development of the app is possible with the proper support from the project
team. It is identified that the project utilizes brainstorming approach in order to find out the key
stakeholders for the new app development. Teamwork is mainly defined as one of the
collaborative effort of the team for achieving a common goal or for completing a project task in
the most efficient as well as effective way [6]. Working within a team in order to carry out a
specific work will generally prove to be an incredible learning experience for the team members
who generally shares information with one another and generally trusts as well as support each
other with the willingness of supporting one another in the time of crisis.
It is found that that there are number of advantages that the project generally gets while
executing it with the help of the team. Team work helps in fostering creativity as well as proper
learning experience. Creativity generally thrives when people generally works within a team as
during team work, unique perspectives of the project team members are collected for using it as
an effective solution. Project collaboration generally helps in creating enthusiasm in order to
learn the solitary work [8]. On the other hand, it is found that relying on other another helps in
building trust and further it is identified that teamwork helps in creating strong relationship with
the co-workers. Trust the project team helps in providing proper feeling of safety that further
helps in allowing the idea to emerge [7]. In addition to this, it is found that, the approach of team
work that is used by the project team in order to develop the mobile app helps in teaching

3
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
conflict resolution skills. The team members have the capability of resolving the conflicts and
generally encourages the ream members to take risk during the execution of the project.
On the other hand, it found that there are number of challenges that occur while working
in a team. As the project team mainly aims to develop the mobile based app named “Friends for
dogs” therefore they need proper collaboration within other members of the project however
conflict or difference within the opinions of the project team members is generally creating a lot
of issues for the project team [10]. The members of the team are not committed to the mission of
the project and therefore the low engagement of the team members can create number of
challenges within the project. Furthermore, difficulty in making decisions may be rigidly
adhering to the positions during the decision making procedure for the repeated arguments rather
introducing to the new information.
It is found that the project team with the aim of developing the mobile based app named
“Friends for dogs” utilizes different approaches as well as techniques for making the team and
for executing the teamwork successfully. The project manager utilizes collaborative leadership
style within the project and as a result they are able to manage the relationship with the project
team skilfully by enabling the project team members to succeed individually in order to
accomplish the objectives of the project. However, is quite necessary to promote team meetings
for increasing the growth of the project team [9]. This approach must be followed by the project
team as with the help of this approach, the project team members can be able to share
information related with the project and can be able to focus on the risks that occurs during the
development of the mobile app. Furthermore, the team must focus on the approach of team
decisions so that they can be able to handle the internal issues that that occur within the project
[8]. Moreover, focussing on communication skills is also needed within the project team as

4
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
communication is considered as one of the important building block for developing collaboration
as well as trust among the project team. With the help of proper communication approach, the
project team can be able to openly share information by finishing each of the work of the project
quite effectively.
2. User Stories
User stories are considered as one of the primary development artefacts for Extreme
programming or Scrum project teams. It is found that it is mainly referred as high level definition
of the project requirement that generally contains enough information for the developers that
helps in producing proper reasonable estimation of the effort that is generally required in order to
implement it [2]. It is found that there are number of advantages as well as disadvantages of the
agile technique in order to write the user stories and for properly exploring them in proper depth
during the sprint in which they are generally developed.
With the help of the agile methodology, the needs of the project are generally broken
down into small features or tasks which can be further implemented as well as delivered in a
very short period of time. The user stories are generally prioritized in context to user value,
business value for significantly enhancing the value that is delivered to the project team within
the first few sprints [5]. In addition to this, it is found that good user stories due to the minimalist
characteristic generally assists in providing a proper way of collaboration with the project
development team. Minimal writing of the various users need generally helps in encouraging the
team members to successfully implementing the user story that further helps in allowing
discussions about the diverse business as well as technical perspectives for providing proper
creative as well as innovative ways in order to resolve the needs of the customers [3].

5
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
By properly focussing on the highest value of the customers with each of the user story,
the agile teams are generally compelled for regularly connecting with as well as collaborating
with the end users. It is identified that minimum details generally help in encouraging the project
team members to talk to the various users. In addition to this, it is found that the team members
generally connect with the various end users in order to properly understand about the
perspective of the users [1]. In addition to this, it is found that the team members generally get
early feedback from the users in order to demonstrate the implemented user stories. The agile
approach is used for the development team members so that the team members can be able to
properly collaborate as well as collectively helps in developing, refining as well as splitting the
user stories quite effectively. It is found that working collaboratively generally assists in
improving the shared understanding about the app that is mainly developed by the users [4].
Moreover, it is found that effective user stories help in creating transparency by improving
collaboration as well as by creating proper understanding and orientation of the team in order to
reflect on the needs of the customers and for eliminating the various types of potential risks
including communication risk, financial risk as well as various types of business risk.
On the other hand, it is found that there are number of disadvantages of agile technique
while developing user stories and while successfully exploring them in depth during the sprint
that is generally developed. It is found that during the development of the user stories by using
agile methodology, the testers, customers as well as developers need to interact properly with the
customers which mainly involves numerous face to face conversation which further helps in
making the entire procedure very much time consuming that is considered as one of the major
downside of using the agile technique [3]. As the agile method needs very much little tracking
and as the needs of the consumers generally changes then it will be quite difficult to keep track

6
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
while writing the user stories which further creates issues and challenges. Furthermore, it is
found that the utilization of the agile methodology requires proper collaboration as well as
extensive user involvement and thus it generally helps in demanding big commitment from the
entirety in order to achieve success which is considered as one of the major problem for the
project team [2].
3. Stakeholders
The stakeholders who are mainly involved with the development of the app are generally
selected based on the brainstorming approach. It is found that this approach generally improves
the critical thinking as well as helps in improving the problem solving skills within an individual
or team [11]. This approach is mainly needed within the project team so that they creatively
select the stakeholders and categorize them so that the work that is associated with the
development of the mobile app can be completed within a very short period of time. The
stakeholders who are associated in the project are categorized in different categories including
primary stakeholders, secondary stakeholders, tertiary stakeholders as well as facilitating
stakeholders [13].
The main strength of the stakeholder list is that the stakeholders are categorized as per
their level and their involvement within the project. Within the category of primary stakeholders,
the users are mainly divided into dog owners and dog-walkers that further helps in providing
proper idea as well as information about the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholder [12].
The secondary stakeholder category generally includes the administrators, the community of the
dog walkers as well as the institute of dog training that provides proper idea about the functions
that are performed by the secondary stakeholders in order to successfully execute the project.

7
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
On the other hand, it is found that the stakeholders are generally categorized as per their
roles and responsibilities in the project however sometimes, the stakeholders mainly focus on
their interest that can be considered as one of the significant weakness of the stakeholder list.
Furthermore, it is identified that the external stakeholders can generally engage in blocking
progress when they generally fear that the actions that is taken by the business will generally
harm their interest and in such cases they block progress that can be considered as one of the
major issue for the project [14].
It is found that the communication method that is used by the project stakeholders has
both advantages as well as disadvantages. It is found that the primary stakeholders generally
communicate with the dog owners before the commencement of developing the application for
determining the needs as well as requirements while appointing people. This helps in providing
proper overview to the team about the app that is generally required to be developed [15]. They
also discuss with the speakers and gather proper information about the app development that is
considered to be quite beneficial. In addition to this, the designers who are the secondary
stakeholders also uses proper method of communication in order to communicate with the person
who is behind the app for knowing about the design and content that is required. This is
generally done with the method of requirement gathering.
Moreover, it is found that in spite of the advantages of the communication method that is
used for communicating it is found that there are a number of factors that helps in reflecting the
downside of the communication method that is utilized by the project stakeholders [13]. One of
the major issue is that one does not communicate with lot of people any groups but the generally
need to find out representative in each of the group for discussing or communicating.
Furthermore, it is found that sometimes the project team faces challenges due to rising conflict

8
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
within the project team. Thus, in order to resolve the problems, it is quite necessary to adopt
proper communication strategy within the project that deals with the development of a mobile
based app.

9
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
References
[1] G. Lucassen., F. Dalpiaz., J.M.E. van der Werf, and S. Brinkkemper. March. The use and
effectiveness of user stories in practice. In International Working Conference on
Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (pp. 205-222). Springer, Cham,
2016.
[2] F. Dalpiaz., F. van der Schalk., S. Brinkkemper., F.B. Aydemir, and G. Lucassen.
Detecting terminological ambiguity in user stories: tool and experimentation. Information
and Software Technology, 2018.
[3] Y. Wautelet., S. Heng., M. Kolp., and C. Scharff.. February. Towards an Agent-driven
Software Architecture Aligned with User Stories. In ICAART (2) (pp. 337-345) 2016.
[4] S. Heng., Y. Wautelet., M. Kolp., and C. Scharff.," Towards an Agent-Driven Software
Architecture Aligned with User Stories (No. UCL-Université Catholique de Louvain), 2016.
[5] P.L. Costa., A.M. Passos, and A.B. Bakker., Direct and contextual influence of team
conflict on team resources, team work engagement, and team performance. Negotiation and
Conflict Management Research, 8(4), pp.211-227, 2015.
[6] E. Salas, C. Prince, D.P. Baker, and L. Shrestha., Situation awareness in team performance:
Implications for measurement and training. In Situational Awareness (pp. 63-76). Routledge.,
2017.
[7] S. Abreu., A. Caldeira., A.R. Costa., T. Gomes., and L.A. Roque., October. Interdisciplinary
team work applying working methods to a math project. In 2016 2nd International
Conference of the Portuguese Society for Engineering Education (CISPEE) (pp. 1-6). IEEE,
2016.

10
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
[8] S. Polis., M. Higgs, V. Manning., G. Netto., and R. Fernandez., Factors contributing to
nursing team work in an acute care tertiary hospital. Collegian, 24(1), pp.19-25, 2017.
[9] B. Angell., and G.B. Bolden., Team work in action: Building grounds for psychiatric
medication decisions in assertive community treatment. In The Palgrave Handbook of Adult
Mental Health (pp. 371-393). Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2016
[10] C. Tantalo, and R.L Priem., Value creation through stakeholder synergy. Strategic
Management Journal, 37(2), pp.314-329, 2016.
[11] T.M. Jones., J.S. Harrison., and Felps, W., How applying instrumental stakeholder theory
can provide sustainable competitive advantage. Academy of Management Review, 43(3),
pp.371-391, 2018.
[12] S.L. Payne., and J.M. Calton., Towards a managerial practice of stakeholder engagement:
Developing multi-stakeholder learning dialogues. In Unfolding stakeholder thinking (pp.
121-135). Routledge., 2018.
[13] F.Gagnon., P. Poulin., J.M. Leclerc ., J.C. Dessau., A. Abab., P. Arsenault., F. El-
Turaby., G. Lachance-Paquette., and F.A. Vézina., Implementation of a radon measurement
protocol and its communication plan by child care centre managers in Québec. Canadian
Journal of Public Health, 107(3), pp.e319-e325, 2016.
[14] L. Gorman., Incorporating Situational Crisis Communication and Attribution Theories
Into a Crisis Communication Plan for Xyz Organization. Gonzaga University, 2015.
[15] Sedaghat., Factors. Affecting the Team Formation and Work in Project Based Learning
(PBL) for Multidisciplinary Engineering Subjects. Journal of Problem Based Learning in
Higher Education, 6(2), 2018.

11
PROJECT MANAGEMENT