Reflection: Identify the essential skills of a project manager
Reflection: Identify the essential skills of a project manager | Foundations of Project Management | week-2
1.
In this exercise, you’ll practice identifying core project management skills. Read the scenario below and try to identify the skills the project manager uses. Specifically, you can identify the skills discussed previously, and consider when the project manager:
Enables decision-making
Communicates and escalates
Demonstrates flexibility
Applies organizational skills
Are you ready?
Great! Now, compare your answers to the feedback below.
2.
Scenario: Planning a Corporate Retreat
An event planning team of five is tasked with planning a corporate retreat for a business with 85 employees. This retreat involves hundreds of to-dos, a large budget, client-initiated changes, and important discussions with the client. The project manager knows there is a lot to do, and they are ready to lead the way.
Right from the beginning of the project, the project manager creates a spreadsheet to track what needs to get done in the project, and what teammates are working on. They also send status update emails twice per week to the stakeholders.
The project has a $100,000 budget. There are many items to purchase and rent, including venue space, retreat materials, food, chairs, and tables. The project manager allows each one of their teammates up to $3,000 in expenses, with anything over requiring an approval.
Shortly after the project begins, the client decides they want to slightly change the theme of the project to focus on the future instead of the past. The project manager has to work with several team members to implement the changes which include graphic design, retreat materials, and signage.
Throughout the process of changing the theme of the retreat, the project manager works closely with the client by phone, email, chat, and video to ensure that the theme updates meet their expectations.
There is an award-ceremony dinner at the end of the retreat. The deadline to finish scheduling the dinner is in two days. Several crucial decisions need to be made: the menu, lighting, and presentation music. To make sure the deadline is met, the project manager has a video meeting with the client to ensure the dinner choices meet their expectations.
3.
How did the project manager enable decision-making in the project? Write 1–3 sentences.
Thank you for your response. If your response did not include the process for dealing with project expenses, you may want to consider how the project manager enables their team.
For instance, by giving each teammate a $3,000 purchasing limit, the project manager enables teammates to make decisions on what to buy for the retreat. If they didn’t give the team this option, then the project manager would have to make all the final purchasing decisions themselves
4.
How did the project manager communicate and escalate in the project? Write 1–3 sentences.
Thank you for your response. If your response did not include the final dinner scheduling, you may want to consider how the project manager dealt with that deadline.
When the deadline for the celebration dinner was approaching, the project manager scheduled a meeting with the client to escalate and communicate the decisions that needed to be made. If the project manager didn’t escalate these decisions, it may have gone past the deadline to order food and materials for the dinner.
5.
How did the project manager remain flexible in the project? Write 1–3 sentences.
Thank you for your response. If you did not include client change requests in your write-up, you may want to consider how the project manager addressed client expectations.
When the client requested to change the theme of the retreat, the project manager had to stay flexible. They worked with teammates to get the necessary changes in place quickly
6.
How did the project manager use strong organizational skills in the project? Write 1–3 sentences.
Thank you for your response. If your response did not cover how the project manager used tools to stay organized, consider the following: The project manager created a spreadsheet to track and organize the tasks for the project.
They also used the tracker to assign tasks to specific team members. Sending status updates twice per week was also a way the project manager stayed organized. The status updates could also be viewed as a communication skill as well