Project Management Review the \"Lessons Learned\" Section

Project Management

Review the "Lessons Learned" section of the project risk diagram. Describe how the Lessons Learned activity helps you become a stronger project manager, who else it helps in the project team and also describe how it helps PMO. 200 words

Documenting the lessons learned is one of the most important aspects of the closure phase of the project. It is important to an individual project manager because they can reflect on their performance and find areas for improvement. A project manager, with the assistance of their team and supervisors, can find areas in their management capacity in which they can work on for future improvements. They can also make note of things that went right so that they can recreate those items in the future. For instance, if a change management procedure or a communication medium worked well then the project manager will know to use these in the future.

There have been many advancements in how organizations are using individual lessons learned to share with the other project teams. Many organizations are experimenting with different platforms to capture knowledge. One interesting development is the use of the two major forms of social software are Web logs (blog) or Wiki; which is short for the Hawaiian term meaning quick. One advantage over email for both forms of social software is that it can allow a new project member to quickly get up to speed with the group as they can track a range of content that has occurred over time. Each of these platforms have specific advantages and both can be effective and allow team members to get up to speed quickly on a project. Using a standard wiki-like page, the project team can document the processes and procedures that the team is using so that the entire team can read, edit, and collaborate on a shared space (Rettich, 2011).

2. A contingency is described in Chapter six as "alternate plans" on page 102. How does risk identification help with project contingency planning? Provide an example of a specific contingency plan you have ever used, and why it was necessary.

Risk management is also one of the most important components of the entire project. It is critical that the project manager prepare a risk management plan that is comprehensive enough to identify and plan for all of the potential risks. Once the risks are successfully identified, then the project team can create contingency plans based on all of the possible circumstances. There is also always the potential that the project could require significant increases in budgeting to cover additional expenses that were not planned for in the contingency plan. Thus an accurate estimate, including all the potential risks, is needed to compile an effective cost-benefit analysis of the project. If a substantial amount of risks are identified then management may want to take a different course of action. The top rated risks identified in the literature are as follows (Tesch, Kloppenborg, Frolick, & Mark, 2007):

Table 1 - Risks Overview (Tesch, Kloppenborg, Frolick, & Mark, 2007)

One of the greatest potential risks in a project often result from cost overruns that would require access to additional funding; however there is also the potential for the withdrawal of funding which can be caused by misappropriation of funds or if the project overshoots its budget (Shtub, 2004).

3. Create a work breakdown structure (WBS) for a project you have involved in professionally, or a common activity around the house that would span more than one month. This particular WBS can be in outline form, with more than two but no more than five high level work packages with no more than 3 tasks in each work package. Assign resources to each task, and provide an appendix for the high level skills required for the task. Identify one work package that could use a contingency plan, and write describe that plan in one hundred words or less. The paper should include a minimum of two scholarly sources, in addition to the text.

The modern work environment barely resembles that of any of its predecessors as the level of technology steadily increases. In fact, Peter Drucker coined the phrase "the age of discontinuity" in the early nineties and this trend has only intensified since then (Anderson & Tushman, 1991). The life cycles in which technologies are replaced are becoming vastly shorter year by year and software upgrades are a constant occurrence. Software upgrades also often requires new user training. Training and employee development generally refers to the imparting of specific skills or abilities that are meant to improve the employees performance on the job (Sarin, 2010). When the technology platforms change, users must develop new skills to gain the required competencies for these skills.