Case 1

The case presents four main types of risks. These include scope, technological, resource, and schedule risks. Scope risks involve all the changes experienced throughout the project. For instance, it is stated under the business and technical support department that the project lacked a transition plan to help in the migration process from old to the new platform. This created integration problems. The second risk is a technological risk, which is the main problem in the case provided. After the development of the new system by the technical team, it is stated that the user group rejected the new system because it did not suit their preferences. This risk was caused by lack of consultation as the program developers and analysts never involved the users in the identification of user interface and the screen designs. The third risk was scheduling risk. Scheduling risk mainly arises from delays. In the case provided, it is stated that the schedule for the program was expected to last for six months. However, the project was never completed as scheduled due to delays that resulted from friction between various stakeholders involved in the project such as the technical team and the users’ group. The program was neither completed nor implemented. The fourth risk was resource risk. The division requested the corporate service professionals to acquire new PCs with higher performance. However, the PCs were never obtained even though they were able to improve MIS area productivity because procedures for inventory control did allow the purchase of the new models. This affected the whole program because it means that the program was to be installed on the older version, which was not adequately efficient.

Risk management requires proper planning in the case provided, each of the four risks that include scope, technology, schedule, and resource need different strategies to manage depending on their causes. For instance, scope risk in the case involved the lack of a proper transition plan to migrate the new to the new system. This risk could be managed by initially identifying all the requirements for the adequate performance of the new system. In this way, the project team would have realized that they need a properly laid out plan transition plan, which would have eliminated the risk. The technological risk was mainly caused by a lack of communication and involvement of the user group. This risk would also be managed by proper planning. The project team would have identified an essential process in successful project management, one of which involves stakeholder involvement. The technical team would have included the user group in choosing the best user design because they were the target group for the program improvement project.  The resource risk would have to be managed by looking for alternative software that would work well on the old model PCs by improving performance. Lastly, the scheduling risk would have been managed by ensuring that all the project requirements were in place before the commencement of the project. In this, there would be no delays caused by resenting of a section of stakeholders such as users.

I will use push communication, where I will describe the potential problems projected by the identified risks in a formal report addressed to the leadership team. I will begin by stating the purpose of the story, which is, “to discuss potential problems that may arise from the identified project risks.” I will then indicate the identified risks, which include scope, technology, resource, and scheduling. I will then ahead and discuss the effect of each risk on the project and the company. The discussion of the impact of each risk will be unique the specific area of project and company operation it is likely to affect. Lastly, I will provide recommendations by stating the strategies that can be used to eliminate the risks in the future.

Case 2

There are various mistakes that Jerry made as a manager in the project. This resulted from neglecting some of the core project principles. The first principle he ignored was the principle of official engagement, which involves setting up a project team and assigning responsibilities to each member. Besides, this principle consists of setting up ground rules that will govern the project including frequency and protocol of meetings. From the case, Jerry worked with hand-picked or suggested team members who had other engagements. Besides, he did not lay out the working rules of engagement. For example, in the initial stage, Jerry decided to pick a high school kid who had no experience whatsoever to help with the project. Besides, he had no proper guideline signed by the company to indicate the number of hours each of the company employees working with him on the project would take on the project. This led to the frequent recalling of his project team members by the company top management. The second principle jerry neglected was organizational alignment. This involves having project goals that align with that of the company. It ensures sustainability and support from other stakeholders. In Jerry’s case, he did not consider the relevance of the proposed equipment to the goals and objectives of the company. It is stated that jerry’s project failed because undermined by the company’s top leadership undermined it. The leadership realized that the equipment would require personnel with medical knowledge to sell.

Consequently, they decided to undermine it by frustrating Jerry to avoid wasting resources on a project that will require more resources to sell. The third principle was scheduling and estimation. This involves planning for activities by setting a timeline against each task. Scheduling works in complementary with the principle of responsibility allocation and engagement rules. Jerry did not schedule his work leading the exploitation of this weakness by managers. For instance, in one incident, the Engineering department manager told him that the engineer he was working within the project spent a lot of time on the project.

To prevent the termination of the project, Jerry would have incorporated the following practices at each phase. At the initiation phase, Jerry would have detailed his project case document by consulting with experts from various sectors and conducting a feasibility study before presenting the report to the leadership in his organization. In this way, Jerry would have identified the financial implications of his project to the company regarding the resources required for its successful completion. Besides, he would have outlined how the company would benefit from the project and time it would take bring a return on investment. The second phase is project planning. It involves creating a proper guideline for a project. Here, Jerry would have used project scheduling tools such as work breakdown structures and Gantt charts to give him a clear direction and timeframe for each task instead of calling project members anytime he feels. The third phase is execution, which involves engaging in actual project activities. In this phase, Jerry would have ensured that all the resources he required for the project were allocated correctly and that the company was ready to finance the project entirely. The fourth stage is monitoring and control. This involves continually monitoring project activities as they unfold. It ensures that a project is progressing as scheduled and that quality delivered is of the required level. Jerry would have ensured that he monitored his project activities even though most of them did not reach the required stage. His lack of monitoring was evident when the caller told him that he was not aware of the amount of progress the manufacturer had made on jerry’s project. The fifth and final phase is closure. Jerry’s plan was terminated before it reached this phase. However, if he executed the previous stages correctly, he would use this phase to identify the mistakes he made in the project, document, and avoid them in the future.