Assignment: Tree Trimming Project Analysis Paper

Thomas Johnson is a timber and Christmas tree farmer who attended a Project Management class last year, during his off-season. When the subject of Earned Value came up in class he wondered if he was using EV.

In the summer Johnson hires and trains crews who work to shear fields of Christmas trees for the upcoming Holiday season. When shearing, each worker uses a large machete to shear the branches from the tree into a cone shape tree which is what most customers desire.

Thomas operates his business per the following:

• He counts the number of Christmas trees in the field, which is approximately 24,000.

• He agrees with Tom Jones, a customer, to a $30,000 lump sum contract for shearing all trees in the field.

• He receives a partial payment about 5 days after starting the project. He then estimates the actual number sheared trees to be approximately 6,000 trees. The actual is taken as a percent of the total to be sheared, multiply the percent complete by total contract amount for the partial payment [(6,000/24,000 total trees = 25% of trees trimmed), (.25 * $30,000 total payment = 5 days payment of $7500)].

Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper that thoroughly answers the following questions based on the case study:

• Is Johnson over, on, or below schedule? Explain.

• Is Johnson using earned value as he was taught in his Project Management course? Explain.

• What can Johnson do to set up a schedule and cost variance?

• What method do you suggest for Johnson to use for any changes in project scope, such as the shape of the tree that Mr. Jones wants?

• It seems that Johnson is using the Traditional method of Project Management. How can he accelerate the completion of this project he has contracted for using the Agile Methodology?

• Analyze Johnson's project performance on this project assuming the original quote given to the customer was an estimate.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.