Reflect - Answer the following questions about planning and measuring performance on a project.
1. How can transparency help a project run more smoothly and efficiently?
2. What is productivity? Distinguish productivity from activity.
3. When would outsourcing be an effective resource strategy?
4. How do dependent tasks differ from primary tasks?
5. Why are under-allocated resources a negative thing for a project?
Analyze - Analyze the following project scenario:
Joseph works at a small playground equipment company. His supervisor recently put him in charge of fulfilling an order for 60 swing sets. The customer purchasing the swing sets selected the following options:
- Each set should have three swings.
- All seats should be yellow.
- All chains should be covered in green plastic.
The customer also paid extra for a rush delivery - the swing sets must be built and delivered in three weeks.
Joseph's supervisor says he has three other builders to help him fulfill the order: Susan, Lucian, and Ana. Based on previous projects, Joseph estimates that each builder can complete one swing set per day - or five swing sets per week, given a five-day workweek.
Joseph creates the following table in an Excel spreadsheet. To him, the project seems very doable. He then confirms with his supervisor that he'll have no trouble fulfilling the order.
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Week 1
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Week 2
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Week 3
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Joseph
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5
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5
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5
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Susan
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5
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5
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5
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Lucian
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5
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5
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5
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Ana
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5
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5
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5
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Swing Sets per week
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20
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20
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20
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Total Swing Sets
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60
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1. Joseph establishes the following goal for his project: "Build swing sets for customer." Is this a "SMART" goal? Explain your answer.
2. What criteria would you establish to assess the project's progress? Write a SMART goal that reflects these criteria.
3. Joseph has some key details he needs to share with the team in order for the project to get off to a smooth start.
a) What information should Joseph share with the rest of his team at the start of the project?
b) What might happen if Joseph does not share this information?
4. How could Joseph ensure that his team receives the information they need? Give two examples.
Synthesize - Consider how performance measurement tools can be used to identify and prevent problems on a project such as Joseph's swing set order.
1. At the end of the second week, Joseph checks on the team's progress. When he counts the swing sets that have been built, he finds only 33 - not 40.
a) What aspects of a project are often analyzed with metrics?
b) How might this fact affect the rest of the project?
c) What might Joseph have done to avoid this scenario?
2. Suppose Joseph's supervisor requests that he send a status report for the project at the end of Week 2. Fill in the following report with the information you think Joseph should send his supervisor.
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Project: 60 swing sets due in 3 weeks
Date: End of Week 2
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1. Project Manager
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2. Team Members
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2. Status Summary (Green = No risks, Yellow = Some risk, Red = High Risk)
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4. Percentage Completed (i.e., What percentage of the 60 swing sets have been built to date?)
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5. Issue(s) to Report? (If yes, please fill in rows 6 - 8. If no, leave rows 6 - 8 blank.)
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6. Brief Description of Issue(s)
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7. Proposed Solutions (Provide at least 3 ideas)
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3. Suppose that at the end of Week 2, the customer contacts Joseph about a change request. The customer says that they would like to order an additional 20 swing sets. They are willing to pay extra if Joseph's company can complete all 80 swing sets by the original deadline at the end of Week 3.
What should Joseph do next?
Just 1 or 2 words or sentences for each answer.