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Describe the summary of the project case study in your own words. ( What is this project all about? Include the time line, cost and location in your description. ) The project is about building a coal-fired power plant which accomplish on 16 April, 2008 which 10 weeks is ahead of schedule. At the first of beginning they face rigorous tribulation, for example costs skyrocketed, skilled labor shortage and the location in middle of nowhere would make the project completion on time in jeopardy. Million of dollars in capital investment start to be spent, any delay would have considerable financial impact.
During the past two years struggle, the company focused on three area priority: safety, costs and reliability. In Safety aspect, 3 millions work hours without a single lost-time incident. Approved budget is US$533 million, US$20 million below the budget. In reliability aspect, surpass the contractual requirement of 94% They work towards building trust and constant communication, finally the outcome is significant that one of the first large boiler structures designed under requirements being introduced under the International Building Code.
It reaches the triple constraint requirements of the scope, cost and time during the project. No surprisingly, they meet stakeholder’s expectation. In conclusion, as long as people have specific goals with open mind, honest attitudes, solidifying spirits, and team work that problem would not be a problem any more. 2. What do you consider the top challenges in the project? ( What were the challenges in this project? How did project team over come these challenges? ) To accomplish a high-quality product on schedule and under budget is challenge.
As a matter of fact, they take several measures and concentrate on various stages of the project and focus on the issues that are both important. 1. Tapping additional suppliers who might offer better prices 2. Improve recruiting that advertised on billboards and in newspapers, developed a bilingual site for Spanish-speaking workers and training programs for locals who didn’t come in with the necessary skills. 3. Study salary surveys and offered bonus which you cannot get it until the project completion. . Manage the housing shortage and provide bus services 5. Flying a team of 12 welders from Puerto Rico to work on a hydro test of the boiler. 6. Use a digital bus technology framework that dramatically cutting material costs and labor hours. 7. Combine a powdered activated carbon injection system with a new technology that adds halogens to the coal feed stream. 8. The team brought together boiler specialists and structural engineers that would meet the seismic code requirements. 9.
Gain accountability from each team members In the end, the project met scope, time and cost goals and satisfied the customers, and team members get the job done. 3. What are your take away from this project case? ( What are the learnings from this project? ) Project is a unique piece of work that has a clearly defined outcome and timeline, I feel that different knowledge people work together ask for a final product successful is not easy thing. If I am a project manager, I would like to focus on the following points: 1.
Resource integration: (like people, time, money) that against project initiative that putting the project manager in the position of being in competition. We need to set those issues priority across the whole project in order to align with the organization’s goals and objectives. 2. Communication: At the beginning of project, people don’t want to listen each other, they don’t want to talk about the problem they see. Whereas, each information dissemination should occur clearly and with detail.
Discuss and provide status updates to all project participants, keep them informed. Invite stakeholders and customers to periodic status briefings and provide an update to those that did not attend 3. Human Resources Management Challenge: skilled-labor recruiting, establish the principle and rules, people-oriented communication 4. manage risk: once the project has a assessment risk , we can either plan to reduce the chance of the risk occurrence or act towards responding to the risk occurrence after it happens. 5.
Recruiting competency skilled team is headache: some people assigned may be too proud or some simply not knowledgeable enough. Using assessment of team towards training, additional resources, external advisors and other methods to close the skill gap. 6. Accountability: Determine and use accountability for each project team members by having them sign off on each forecast for which they are responsible. The accountability will be identified and managed in a more visible manner. 7. Use brainstorming sessions: forecast and doing “what if”?
Update the list of project risk items, pick up the plan elements and dependencies. 8. Vision and goals well-defined: find vague terms and phrasing and make notes and ask for feedback. Hopefully, tied into to the direction, strategic goals, and vision for the whole organization. In conclusion, project leadership is a skill that takes time to develop in a person. Achieving success requires analyzing setbacks and failures in order to improve. Focusing on each project’s challenges and learning from them will help to build a more capable and successful project capability.