Case Scenario
LSS is engaged in flood relief support nationally and has been asked to do several international Camp Noah projects. Last year the French government asked for resources for children in Southeastern France who had been affected by floods; LSS responded within 15 weeks with a French Camp Noah curriculum that met many of the project objectives. The Board of Directors of LSS commended the effort; international expansion was added to this year’s strategic objectives for the LSS organization.
The French Camp Noah project was not completed on time, the scope had to be reduced to meet even the delayed time frame, the cost was 30% higher than expected, and quality control measurements indicated that there were many small disappointments within the project. During the French Camp Noah project, the project manager had been unable to keep the team focused on the planning process. Initiation took longer than expected, and executing work on the project was well under-way before detailed planning even began. Many team members skipped planning meetings in favor of just using the time to do the project work. The gap between the plans and the execution became so large that the project manager finally just started having ad hoc meetings and documenting the notes from the meetings, and stopped looking at the plans.
At a post-project review meeting, the team agreed that, although they felt they had done everything possible given the short time-frame, they would not want to repeat the experience without improving the project management process. Many of them had missed family and other commitments while responding heroically to this challenge; they were stressed-out, burned-out, and feeling overwhelmed from the French Camp Noah project.
LSS announced that it was funding a six-month-long project to proactively create a Latino Camp Noah that can be deployed in any Spanish-speaking country. To avoid tight deadlines and scrambling, the Latino product will not be available until the end of the project, whether or not a flood occurs in a Spanish speaking area. The project called "Campamento de Noé" was chartered, and by the end of the first month, detailed planning was completed. Two months ago, the team started executing the project plan and they expect to complete the project on time by completing the remaining tasks to be executed within two months.
In general, the great planning paid off. Many things are working smoothly and the work is getting done. There are, however, a few problems that Amina, the project manager, would like your help within the Execution, Monitoring and Control, and Closure stages of the project. Changes to the project scope, cost and schedule on the "Campamento de Noé" project have become troublesome and Amina is worried about the potential for scope creep. Amina is uneasy about the level of team performance and team communications - at some level, everyone just isn’t working together smoothly.
Questions:
1. There is no clearly defined process at LSS to deal with changes to the project baselines, and Amina is determined to prevent scope creep. When someone approaches her about an idea for a change, Amina listens carefully to the person. Then, Amina tells the person that, although it sounds like a great idea, it is not consistent with the project plan. Recently, Jenna, one of the functional leads, told Amina she wanted to purchase a new graphics software package. Amina told Jenna that she agreed that a new graphics software would be beneficial to the "Campamento de Noé" project; but, unfortunately, it was not in the project plan. Jenna purchased the graphics software and had it charged to the project. Jenna says this is an approved change because she talked to Amina about it but Amina says it is a variance. Who is correct? What caused this problem and how should Amina change the project management processes to prevent future problems?
2. About one-third of the team members on the "Campamento de Noé" project had participated in the French Camp Noah project. However, two-thirds of the team members are new to the project. Amina recently left a team meeting feeling surprised at the level of disagreement between team members: it feels like storming, not performing. For example, during a meeting, Ben, who manages ongoing Camp Noah operations, was surprised to hear that he needed to integrate the new Latino products into his operation – he thought the "Campamento de Noé" team would continue to support the product indefinitely. After that uncomfortable and unproductive meeting, Amina’s manager suggested that she come up with better approaches to dealing with conflict. a) How do you recommend that Amina deal with conflict as it arises during meetings? b) Describe the steps to implement an ongoing issue log and the rationale Amina could use to help her team understand the purpose and value of an issue log.
3. Formal project reporting is new to this organization, and unfortunately Amina made the early mistake of requiring lengthy, detailed status reports. No one on the project team turns them inconsistently, and no one in management reads her reports. What should Amina do? She is considering a) giving up on status reporting, or b) enforcing the detailed reporting or c) creating a new shorter, more focused status report template. Support your recommendation and describe the key elements of the report that you suggest she uses.
4. Quality planning went well, and the team also did a good job performing quality assurance. Recommend at least three (3) quality control techniques, or procedures that Amina could incorporate into this project to help it be successful. Explain how each one might be applied to a specific problem or metric.
5. As the project nears closure, Amina is considering her options for learning from the project. Recommend an approach for learning from the project and describe both what she should do and why she should do it.
6. Procurement is one area in which Amina has very little experience. She needs to Close Procurements for the contract for discounted airline flights that they had negotiated with a travel agency. Using the process flow diagram in the PMBOK Guide for Close Procurements, (PMI, 2013) explains how the close procurements process applies to the airline flight contract, and why each step is important to successful project closure.