PPMP20009 Leading Lean Projects

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21-11-2020

Course Code: PPMP20009
University: Central Queensland University

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Country: Australia

Question:

In this unit you are required to complete a weekly portfolio. A portfolio provides evidence of previous experience and presents a dynamic record of your growth and professional learning over the duration of this Unit. Your portfolio provides an account of your learning based on your prior and current learnings and your critical reflection.

A portfolio is increasingly being used in Universities as a means of:

Being able to tell much more about you than exam results;
As a means of reflecting your development through the unit;
To reflect your attitude and values as well as your skills and knowledge.

(Race 2010, p. 58)

Timmins states that ‘A portfolio is a cohesive account of work based learning that contains relevant evidence from practice and critical reflection on this evidence. Its primary purpose is to ‘display achievement of professional competence or learning outcomes and knowledge development’ (Timmins 2008: p. 115).

You’ll find much more information about the use and application of portfolios on the Internet. However, it will require you to take some time to think through how you are going to complete the portfolio on a weekly basis. It is very easy to trivialise the portfolio and write nearly the same thing each week. But that won’t gain you many marks. Instead you should try to focus on the topic and learning outcome for the week and your reflections regarding them.

Task

Your task is to write a weekly portfolio reflecting upon your learnings from the prior week. In your portfolio you will identify:

The learning outcomes and module/topic of the unit;
A description of your experience, including reading samples or records;
Your learning from your experiences;
Any supporting documentation of prior or current learning.

Instructions for completing the portfolio

Type your name and student id at the top of the page in the header section.
You can then delete this first section, save the file so that it can be used each week, and concentrate on writing your weekly portfolio.
Each learning outcome and the topics appropriate for the learning outcome have been included as the first column of portfolio table on the next page. You should review these columns and make changes as the unit progresses and you gain more familiarity with the learning outcomes and unit content. You will find that you will progressively elaborate on the content of the second, third and fourth columns as you work through each of the weeks of the unit.
Please appreciate it takes time to complete the portfolio therefore you must think always of what is required and be taking notes to update your portfolio as you read, study videos, or undertake other unit related activities. You are expected to be working 12 to 16 hours each week on this unit so you have plenty of time to get the portfolio right!
The portfolio will be discussed in the unit online videos and tutorials – please listen carefully and you may find the portfolio is easier to complete than it first appears.
You may disagree with the allocation of the learning outcomes to the topics in the portfolio table. This is your right and you are free to move things around as you become more familiar with the portfolio and the unit material.
At the beginning of the unit all of the learning outcomes may be not appropriate for the first week, so you should reflect upon what you believe is required from the portfolio for the first week. As the weeks progress then you will find that you will add more learning outcomes. The content of the first weekly learning portfolio table in this file includes all of the topics and reading samples to save your time in typing.
At the end of the unit you should review your weekly portfolios and then consolidate them into a single submission. This is the assessment that gets marked. Since the objective of the portfolio is to show your learning journey as well as your reflections then you should not be surprised to find that your opinions have changed during the unit. You do not have to change your portfolios from prior weeks.

Future directions

In the future you should expect that portfolios will be used increasingly at the academic post graduate level. Eventually they may even replace exams. Therefore there are a number of things to note for the future:

You will be required to complete more portfolios in other units as you progress in your academic career;
As portfolios begin to replace exams you will need to make your portfolio comprehensive and deeply reflective to gain a good grade;
You may find that other unit assessments, such as presentations, will be aligned with the content of your portfolio submissions as a means of validating your knowledge.

References

This portfolio structure was based on an example (a psychology unit) located at Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada

Race P. (2010) A Practical Guide to Assessment, Learning and Teaching. Abingdon, England: Routledge.

Timmins F. (2008) Making Sense of Portfolios: An Introduction to Portfolio use for Nursing Students. Glasgow, Scotland: McGraw-Hill Education.

Answer:

Topic and reading samples.	Your personal learning outcomes from this unit.	Learnings from your experience.	Supporting documentation including your prior learnings.
Different ways of classifying projects, functional manager, Project Manager	This materials are taken from Kerzner Chapter and from week 5 lecture notes. From this week learning, I have learnt that there are three different classification of projects and learnings about the project manager.	Projects are classified according to its complexity, source of capital, project content, those who are involved, and according to the objective of the project. Actually it depends on the organization about the experience level of the project manager. It almost takes several years of experience to become a project manager. Functional manager is a person who controls a specific function in organizational unit. If the functional manager has a good experience with many organization teams, then the functional manager is capable of making a good project manager. Project Sponsor or the CEO of the company can look over the shoulder of the project managers.	Baptista, A., Santos, F., Páscoa, J. and Sändig, N., 2016. Project management methodologies as main tool for current challenges in global economy driving historical changes. Journal of Advanced Management Science, 4(2).
Project Management Design, career path and career growth, Kerzner Chapter 1.14-1.16, & 3	From this part, I have learnt about the project managers and the line managers in a project management design. The difference between the career growth and career path in project driven organization and non-project driven organization can be studied in this. This materials are taken from Kerzner Chapter and from week 5 lecture slides.	Yes, while dealing with a project management design, the power of line managers can be transferred to a project manager. In project driven organizations, the career paths are flexible, while in non-project driven organization, the career paths are traditional where to get upwards in a company is very difficult. Career growth in a project driven organization is directly related to career path of the organization. Career path is faster than career growth.
Different organizational structures, advantages and disadvantages of organizational structures PMI Implementing Organizational PM Chapter 2	From this, I have learnt three types of organizational structures and their related advantages and disadvantages. The materials are taken from PMI Implementing Organizational PM Chapter 2.	Three types of organizational structures are Functional organizational structure, matrix organization structure, and projectized organization structure. Functional Organizational Structure Advantages · Operational Clarity · Operational speed Disadvantages · Segregation · Co-ordination lack · Weakening of common bonds Matrix Organizational Structure Advantages · Flexible Resource Pool · Less Downtime of Resource · Consistent Methods Disadvantages · Conflict · Inability to Access Resource Projectized Organization Structure Advantages · Full control over the team · Quick resolving problems · Motivates the team Disadvantages · Outside accessing is not possible · Functional work can be isolating. The project manager will have one boss. The functional team manager will have three bosses, and functional manger will have two bosses while dealing with a project.	Binder, J., 2016. Global project management: communication, collaboration and management across borders. Routledge.

Portfolio Reflection

From the portfolio of week 5 learning, I have learnt the details of project managers and the functional managers as well as line mangers involved in a project management. The projects are classified into three categories and the functional, matrix, and projectized operational structures has many advantages and disadvantages that can also be learnt clearly form this portfolio of week 5.

Weekly Portfolio 6 Learning Table

Topic and reading samples.	Your personal learning outcomes from this unit.	Learnings from your experience.	Supporting documentation including your prior learnings.
Project Manager order to develop a project plan Kerzner Chapter 1.8-1.10, & 10 & 11.25	From this section, the details of project plan is created that helps to create a project.	To create a project plan, the project manager should define the scope of the project first in order to start the project, then the project manager will identify the supporters of the project, then determine the resources that are available, then check the timeline of the project. For completing project successful, the project manager should list all the big steps that are included in the project, break down the whole project into smaller steps, and finally develop a draft plan. A project baseline is created, with refining the plan that is based on reality. The manager is to monitor the progress of the work and document everything and keep all the members up to date with the proceeding of the work. No, age is not a bearing for an executive whether to accept or reject a project management.	Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Results of inefficiency in functional lines, details of project manager PMI Implementing Organizational PM Chapter 3	The functional lines of a project can be made inefficient that may result in different results. All such results can be learnt from this.	In case of inefficiency of functional lines of a project, the project manager should look on the productivity of the company, keep a look on the unequal workload, team work lack, slow decision making, Innovation lacking and lack of communication.
Project Sponsor, Project Management Responsibility PMI Managing Change Preface, Chapters 1, 2 & 3		The project sponsor is often a manager or an executive who is responsible for the team in project completion. The project sponsor has every right to remove an in house representative from the company. The final responsibility of a project manager is to complete the project successfully with controlling the quality and realize the benefits of project.	Baptista, A., Santos, F., Páscoa, J. and Sändig, N., 2016. Project management methodologies as main tool for current challenges in global economy driving historical changes. Journal of Advanced Management Science, 4(2).

Portfolio Reflection

From this portfolio, I have learnt about how a project manager develops a project plan. This portfolio also describes the results of inefficiency in functional lines as well as details of the project manager. From this, I have also learnt about project sponsor, and the responsibilities of project management.

Weekly Portfolio 7 Learning Table

Topic and reading samples.	Your personal learning outcomes from this unit.	Learnings from your experience.	Supporting documentation including your prior learnings.
Program Scheduling, Planning Process of a project management, complexity of the project plan Kerzner Chapter 11.0-11.8	PMI Implementing Organizational PM Chapter 4 From this mainly program scheduling and the planning process of a project management is described. There are many complexity while doing a project plan, all such complexities are learnt from this portfolio.	The steps that are included in program scheduling are as follows: · Define the activities of scheduling · Sequencing the activities · Estimating the resources that are needed for activity · Estimating duration for each of activities · Schedule Development · Controlling and monitoring the schedule. The steps of project planning that can be learned are: · Defining problem that is to be solved in the project. · Develop mission statement · Developing project strategy to meet the project objectives. · Scope statements for defining the project boundaries. · Developing a WBS (work breakdown structure). · Preparing a project master scheduling and budgeting Work Breakdown Structure makes the resource allocation easy to identify the resource allocation.	Joslin, R. and Müller, R., 2015. Relationships between a project management methodology and project success in different project governance contexts. International Journal of Project Management, 33(6), pp.1377-1392.
Work Breakdown Structure, role of functional manager in WBS, conflicts in planning cycles and their mitigation technique PMI Implementing Organizational PM Chapter 4	PMI Managing Change Preface, Chapter 4	There are many types of conflict that can happen in the project life cycle. There are many conflict categories and there are certain patterns of conflict that are involved in project management. The work breakdown structure is system engineering that is basically deliverable oriented structure with smaller components. The work breakdown structure is a project deliverable, which organizes the work of a team in manageable section.	Baptista, A., Santos, F., Páscoa, J. and Sändig, N., 2016. Project management methodologies as main tool for current challenges in global economy driving historical changes. Journal of Advanced Management Science, 4(2).
WBS and program plan, use of social media to help in communication Egelstaff (2013) Academic assignments: Critical thinking and writing critically	There are many social media advantages that helps to create a good communication within the system.	Social media helps in communication with interaction among people that creates, sharing, exchange information, and the ideas that are used in virtual communications. For accomplishing a WBS, the steps that are to be followed are: · High level tasks are to be identified. · After identifying high level tasks, sub task are identified. · Then all the tasks are described	Kerzner, H. (2018). Project management best practices: Achieving global excellence. John Wiley & Sons.

Portfolio Reflection

From this portfolio, mainly the Work Breakdown Structure for planning a project is defined. The WBS and program plan can be learnt and the use of social media that helps in communication in the project.

Weekly Portfolio 8 Learning Table

Topic and reading samples.	Your personal learning outcomes from this unit.	Learnings from your experience.	Supporting documentation including your prior learnings.
Specifications of a project, steps of developing WBS, problems of making WBS Kerzner Chapter 1	PMI Implementing Organizational PM Chapter 5	The specifications that are needed for project development are as follows: · Introduction · Project Objectives · Site user roles · Functional Requirements · Design Specifications · Logic Diagrams · Success Criteria · Site Map · Content Plan · Project Timeline, and · Budget Many steps are to be followed for building a Work Breakdown Structure. The steps are: · All the functions are to be designed · The functions are o be broken down initially. · More functions or process are to be created. · Implementation is to be done. Difficulties in making a WBS are: · No fixed position to stop. · Dealing with some group dynamics. · Sequence discussion · Discussing the deliverables. · Not grouping of activities.	Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Role of senior manager, role of executive during project planning	PMI Managing Change Chapter 5	Similar to all the managers, the senior manager is also responsible for planning as well as directing work for a group of individuals. A senior manager monitors the work of the team and takes correct actions that are to be taken while running a project. Senior managers are allowed to guide the workers directly or might be indirectly. They provides guidelines to the report the project. There are many roles that the project executives plays while dealing project. Project executive helps to communicate with the upper management for developing a strategic program and manages and creates the operations of the organization. They also recommend and approves the funding of levels and spending of plans.	Hornstein, H.A., 2015. The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), pp.291-298.
Project plan, types of plans in project management, project charter Egelstaff (2013) Academic assignments: Critical thinking and writing critically		Project Charter is basically a statement consisting of objective in project. The statement that is involved in project charter contains different goals, responsibilities, and roles, and identifies the main stakeholders, as well as authority level of project manager.	Binder, J., 2016. Global project management: communication, collaboration and management across borders. Routledge.

Portfolio Reflection

From this portfolio, I have learnt about specification of the project, steps for developing the WBS and the problems that can be faced by the manager while creating a WBS. This portfolio also states the role of senior manager, role of executive during the planning of the project. There are also many types of project plans that are discussed in this portfolio along with a project charter.