Integrated Project Management Processes

My final MBA unit has been completed, first the anxious wait for results begins. For me, this wasn't too bad as the final assignment was worth 20% of the marks and the course facilitator had been very expedient with marking so I already knew I had passed the unit with 80% of the examinations completed, I also knew the worst grade I could receive was a credit with 66.48/80 unadjusted.

So what did I learn? Well, this is the second project management coded PROJ600 unit after the initial PROJ6000 Project Management unit introducing the Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide (PMBoK) as a study resource. As a text book, the Richard Wysocki authored Effective Project Management - 7th Edition was our reference text for the first unit and I had to use this again as the proprierty text by Burke titled Project Management Techniques was unable to be used as an ebook issue prevented access and hence download. I was unable to source a pdf version so I unfortunately had to do without throughout the duration of the unit.

The unit focused on integrated project management processes with emphasis on the project management life cycle. We were broken into groups for group assignments where we we required to identify areas where efficienies could be gained. Our group started well and I was able to get reading completed on a flight from Perth to Singapore where I had a long layover. I worked from my laptop and began writing up my agreed upon section of our report.

However, our three and a half thousand word that was supposed to be shared among the group of four participants suddenly became a group of two. Whilst we had to write up more sections than what was required, coordination between two group members is certainly less complex than four members where team dynamics and group interactions may cause issues.

The second and third sections of the assessments required online posting of relevant topics related to the selected case study/project in regards to risk management, human resources, quality management, time management and financial management of five hundred words. We were then required to provide specific feedback to team members critically analysing their online post in three hundred and fifty words; naturally all online submissions were referenced and supported with contemporary published principles.

The second main assessment of one thousand five hundred words further focused on the identified project short-comings with improvements identified in the initial report aligned to environmental enterprise factors. Once again, a series of graded postings of three hundred and fifty words were required that were referenced and adhered to a strict word count of plus or minus ten percent. We also provided critical analysis of peer reports with areas of improvement of two hundred and fifty words. Finally, a reflective review of learning, short-comings forming a personal critical review of one thousand words was required as the final assessment.

I have been involved with peer-reviewed marking previously and while you learn to critically evaluate project work, it is a little lazy of the facilitator getting you to do their work for them. Do I feel confident to become a project manager now this unit is complete? Well no actually, but I do know more than I did before and should I be put in charge of a project; I know a little now as opposed to knowing nothing at all of project management previously.