Scope Creep

Every tenth grader in the state of Ohio must take the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT).  Passing this test is one of the requirements of graduation.  The test covers mathematics, english, reading, science, and social studies.  I was assigned the task of creating a review program for students who had failed to pass the mathematics portion of the test and were planning on re-taking it during the summer.  The course would last for 2 weeks and the students would attend for 2 hours a day.  

I was able to use any resources within the school building, but not able to order anything additional.  I was the only individual creating and teaching the program as was paid a set amount for the 2 week course.  As such, I did not need to keep track of a budget. 

I knew ahead of time that planning for the course would take a significant amount of time.  I started by reviewing the way other teachers had run the review program in the past.  What did they do that worked?  How did the students perform?  What materials did they use? How did they break up the time?  These, and many more, were questions that I examined during the analysis phase of the project.  

Looking back, there are many things I would do differently as I planned this review course.  I never stopped to look at the big picture before delving in and planning daily lessons.  There were several mistakes I made that, in the end, created much more work (i.e. scope creep) that initially anticipated:

1. The objective for the course was to quickly review important material, test-taking strategies, and leave plenty of time for practice in order to give students the best chance for success.  This objective, however, was vague and never clearly stated to the participants.  Portny warns that vague objectives can be a major pitfall (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Schafer, Sutton, Kramer, 2008). 
2. Not fully understanding the potential risks have to increase scope creep in a negative way, I used the ‘ostrich approach’ to managing risk (Portny et al., 2008).  In other words, I buried my head and pretended that potential such as disciplinary or attendance problems would not occur. 
3. Although I did look at what past facilitators did as far as creating their lesson plans, I did not fully investigate the risks that came to fruition in past years.  This would have better prepared me for the learning environment and what I could have done to combat the attitudes of the students. 

When I created the review course, I had never heard about scope creep, or risks, or many other terms that are commonplace in the PM world.  In essence, I only thought of the day to day tasks that I needed to complete to have the appropriate amount of material for the students.  I underestimated that value of clear objectives, of risk management, or time allocation.  The result was that I ended up scraping all of the work I did multiple times and ended up spending at least three times as much work on creating the course than needed.  

Resource

Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer (2008).  Project management: planning, scheduling, and controlling projects.  Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. 

Comparing forms of communication

There are many different forms of communication.  Each has its strengths and weaknesses depending on the circumstance.  In the circumstance introduced in the multi-media piece, “The art of effective communication,’ a message needed to be relayed from one coworker to the next.  The message relayed the need for information to be passed along so that deadlines could be met. 

First, the message was delivered by e-mail.  The e-mail was short and to the point.  As I read it, I remember thinking that it “sounded” rushed.  If I were the recipient, my initial thoughts might be that I am being ordered around, that the writer is trying to be polite but it not, and that the e-mail reads informally even though it discusses important deadline information.  

Second, the message was delivered by phone.  The message came across as less rushed and more personal.  One of the advantages of a phone conversation is that it allows the speaker to use voice inflection and tone.  Overall, for the delivery of this particular message, using the phone was an improvement over e-mail. 

Lastly, the message is delivered face-to-face.  This conversation, even though the content was the same, came across as less bossy.  This could possibly be due to the fact that the receiver of the message can see that they are being greeted with a smile and can see the concern on the face of the person delivering the message.  One of the biggest differences between the face-to-face conversation and the phone conversation were the intentional pauses placed in the face-to-face conversation.  These pauses allowed the recipient to take in everything that was being addressed without being rushed. 

Sharing information in writing, over the phone, and in a face-to-face setting may relay a different message even if the content is the same.  My initial thought after viewing “The art of effective communication” is that e-mail is by far the most convenient method of communication but it can also be interpreted in various ways depending on the recipient.  There are too many factors such as voice tone, inflection, body cues, pausing between phrases, etc. that are left out of an e-mail that can effect how a message is received.  E-mail, however, still plays an important role in communication for a project manager.  There are many messages that must be relayed that are informative in nature.  An example of this would be recapping information regarding a formal or informal meeting.  When information is being relayed in which the sender is requesting some form of work to be completed, it may be best to stay away from e-mail.

Communicating through a phone call can reduce the chance for miscommunication.  However, if the communication occurs through leaving a message it does not “allow the intended audience to ask questions to clarify the content, meaning, and implication of the message being sent” (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008, p. 358).  Instead of leaving a message, a full conversation allows for back-and-forth questioning to make sure the material was correctly relayed. 

When possible, face-to-face meetings allow for material to be correctly relayed.  However, face-to-face meetings must be carefully planned as many workers view them as a ‘time-waster’ (Portny et al., 2008).  It is important to remember that the best mode of communication is determined by the content and also the individual who is receiving the information.  

Resource

Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, Kramer (2008).  Project management: planning, scheduling, and controlling projects.  Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 

A recent project..

I help out with coordinating social events at my church.  If I remember correctly, I believe my husband volunteered my services.  We recently had an event called an Eat n’ Greet where we gathered people in groups of 8-10 in homes across our town.  The evening consisted of appetizers and mingling.  

At first glance, the event appears simply to plan.  From a financial standpoint it was, because guests and hosts alike provided the appetizers.  From a planning standpoint, however, there were several factors that made this event tricky to plan.  LIsted below are the main tasks that needed to be completed prior to the event:

1. Choose a date and name for the event
2. Decide how the event will be promoted
3. Gather enough hosts for the event (‘enough hosts’ was an unknown number until the deadline for signing up for the event)
4. Gather RSVPs through a website similar to evite (http://new.evite.com/#home)
5. Create groups of 8-10 people and assign to a host
6. Send out reminder emails for hosts and attendees
7. Gather feedback 

Now that you have a brief understanding of the project, I’d like to look back and see what modifications could be made if this event were to be held again in the future.

What contributed to the project’s success or failure? 

The main objective of the event was to give people the chance to get to know others and begin to build deeper relationships.  While the overall event was a success, I found that the experiences of individuals depended deeply on the host and the make-up of individuals that attended a particular home. When grouping together individuals that may not know each other it is almost impossible to know if people will mingle well together.  That aspect of the planning was out of my control.  However, choosing hosts who are willing to go out of their way to make others feel welcome is something that can be controlled.  I found that those who had hosts who were proactive in making everyone feel welcome and included rated their experience as extremely positive. 

Which parts of the PM process, if included, would have made the project more successful? Why?

The last day to RSVP for the event was a week an a half prior to the event.  The hope was that this would leave a few days to break people into groups and send out reminder emails 4 or 5 days prior to the event.  This would have worked out fine, but many more people RSVPed in the final 2 days which required me to find 4 more hosts.  In retrospect, it would have been much better to plan to have too many hosts than too few.  If a host was not used, they easily could have been assigned to attend someone else’s home.  Estimating how many people would attend the event was not smart planning on my part.  In essence, what occurred is something project managers refer to as ‘scope creep.’  The event ended up accommodating over 30 more people than expected.  A smart project manager is not surprised, but has planned ahead, when unexpected changes need to be made.