Project Management Reflective Journal: Scope and Stakeholder Analysis

This reflective journal delves into the lessons learned from a project focused on developing an airport on St. Helena Island, aiming to boost the island's economy. The author reflects on both successful and unsuccessful strategies employed during the project, including the development of a project charter and the use of project management software for scheduling. Key areas of improvement are identified, particularly in budget estimation, where the initial bottom-up approach proved inadequate due to the project's complexity and market volatility. The author highlights the significant enhancement of their project management skills, especially in scheduling, budgeting, risk identification, and stakeholder management. Effective communication with team members, both face-to-face and via email, was crucial for the project's progress, and challenges were met with a positive attitude, fostering both personal and team growth. The journal also touches upon the importance of stakeholder management, communication, and addressing potential risks.

Running Head: MANAGING PROJECT SCOPE AND STAKEHOLDERS
Managing Project Scope and Stakeholders: Reflective Journal
Name of the Student
Name of the University

1MANAGING PROJECT SCOPE AND STAKEHOLDERS
Reflection
From the case study of the project, I have learnt several things related to project
management. Firstly, I learnt about a new type of project management that has some scopes that
are generally considered as out of scope for such projects. The project that I studied on was
based on the development of a new airport in St. Helena Island that also had the objective of
promoting the economic growth of the island. In other words, this project was both a
construction project and a commercial project. From this project I learnt the inclusion of
different types of objectives into one common project. The main objectives of the project were-
To build a new airport in the island
To promote the growth of tourism and the financial condition of the island
through the use of the airport
During working on this project, there are a lot of things that have worked while some did
not work at all. The project had several aspects that needed to be addressed. Some of these
aspects included scope, objectives, schedule, budget, risk plan, stakeholder management plan and
others. While I was working on this project, I decided to develop a project charter that will
include all of these aspects. This plan worked as I was able to incorporate all these aspects and
managed to develop a suitable plan for the project. For the estimation of schedule, I opted for
using project management software instead of manually estimating the time duration needed for
the project. As a result, I was able to come up with a much more feasible schedule than I could
have achieved if it was done manually.

2MANAGING PROJECT SCOPE AND STAKEHOLDERS
The points discussed above were the main points of success whereas there also several
things that did not work in the project. For instance, during the preparation of the budget for the
project, I used standard bottom up estimation process and determined the overall budget
considering the costs of all resources and wages required in the project. However, this turned out
to be a bad move for this particular type of project. This is mainly because this was a very
complex project with complex work packages and varying costs depending on the market prices
as well as other major changes in the costs. Due to lack of sufficient market insight, I ignored
these points and created a rough budget estimation.
Learning from the mistakes of the previous point, I will certain find new ways to perform
these activities next time. During the cost estimation, I will consider possible changes in the
prices as well as market rises or drops that affected certain aspects of the project. I will also take
the mistakes as lessons for future improvement and better output in my work.
My project management skills were significantly tested in the project owing to the
complex nature of it. Before working on this project, I worked on much simpler projects and
hence, knowledge of project management was limited. After working on this project, I was able
to enhance my project management skills significantly and also learnt various new techniques
like scheduling, budgeting, risk identification, stakeholder role identification and others.
Communicating with team members was necessary for the project. During working on
the project, I mainly communicated with my team members face to face. However, I also
communicated with them through emails where I exchanged data files with them that were
related to the project.

3MANAGING PROJECT SCOPE AND STAKEHOLDERS
I responded to changes and difficulties positively and I took them as opportunities to
enhance the quality of my work in the project. When other members of the team contributed less,
I ensured that the deficit was not visible by enhancing our performances and also talked with the
particular team member for motivating him to contribute to the project.

4MANAGING PROJECT SCOPE AND STAKEHOLDERS
Bibliography
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.