Project Execution and Control - Project Management Assessment Answer

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Assignment Task

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF TEMPLATES SOURCED

The two templates sourced have been attached as appendices in the assignment. The templates have been sourced from the book “A Project Manager’s Book of Forms: A companion to the PMBOK guide” written by Cynthia Stackpole Snyder. (Snyder, 2013) The Template A here is a Current Period Report and the Template B is a Variance Report. (Wysocki, 2014)

TEMPLATE A

STRENGTHS

1. Space has been provided for comparing what has been reported in the previous week with findings of the current report. (Ward, 1994)
2. Space has been provided for recording recommendations. (Ward, 1994)

WEAKNESSES

1. A column hasn't been provided to record sensitive information regarding the project status which needs to be sent only to some of the stakeholders. (Page-Jones, 1985)
2. The template doesn’t have space for recording internal-external integration status. (Ward, 1994)

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Provide column to record sensitive information regarding the project status which needs to be sent only to some of the stakeholders. (Page-Jones, 1985)
2. Provide space for recording internal-external integration status. (Ward, 1994)

TEMPLATE B

STRENGTHS

1. Columns for determination of root causes of variances have been provided. (Snyder, 2013)
2. Columns for determination of quality variances have been provided. Usually, only cost and schedule variances are considered in a variance report. (Wysocki, 2014)

WEAKNESSES

1. No space has been provided for using graphs to display the progress of the project. (CDC, 2006)
2. No space has been provided for recommendations apart from the planned response. (Ward, 1994)

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Provide space to use graphs to display the progress of the project. (CDC, 2006)
2. Provide space to record recommendations apart from the planned response. (Ward, 1994)

CONCERNS WITH REGARD TO USAGE OF TRAFFIC LIGHT REPORTING

Different colours are assigned different meanings in traffic light reports and hence it is important that a stakeholder is able to differentiate between the colours used. This is impossible when the said stakeholder is colour blind. (Few, 2007) Colour blindness is a widely prevalent problem – 10% of all males and 1% of all females in the world suffer from this condition. Colours need to be used sparingly in reports. Too much usage of colours makes it difficult to decipher what has been reported. (Few, 2007) There is no uniformity among organizations as to the allocation of traffic light colours. (Barr, 2014) Different organizations use different parameters for allocation of colours and this causes confusion when a project status report prepared by one organization is read by an official of another organization.

DIFFERENT STATUS REPORTS

The status reports submitted to different stakeholders contain different information. These differences are enshrined below:

TEAMS

A status report submitted to the team contains the following components (Hart, 2011):

1. Targets of the project that have already been achieved.
2. Targets that are left to be achieved.
3. Problems that need to be addressed in the project.

SPONSORS

A status report submitted to a sponsor contains the following components (Hart, 2011):

1. Description of project risks.
2. Description of measures taken to deal with the risks.
3. Description of the efficiency of the team at achieving targets.

STEERING COMMITTEE

A status report submitted to the steering committee contains the following components (Hart, 2011):

1. Description of the importance of the project for the organization.
2. Description of the impact of the project’s current status on the organization.
3. Description of the impact of the project on the organization upon completion.

HOW DOES DIFFERENCE IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT APPROACH AFFECT PROJECT STATUS REPORTING?

Project Status reporting is different between traditional project management approach and the agile project management approach in one main respect – traditional project management approach focuses on reporting the completion of tasks, while agile project management approach focuses on reporting value that has been provided to the customer. (Thomas, 2008)