AEM 804 Project Management

Midterm Exam Project Management Your Analysis of PM

(Due Date: March 15th at 11:59 p.m.)

At this point you have read through Chapter 1-8 and have a feel for what good and bad project
management looks like. Now it is your time to choose an organization that you will analyze using
the central concepts you have learned in each Chapter (i.e. Where ideas come from, Writing a good
vision, etc). Develop an essay where you analyze an organization of your choosing. Preferably use
an organization that you are familiar with and operates in your industry. I want a big picture analysis
of the organization using the concepts you have learned up to this point. Stay focused on facts, not
opinions, and properly support your analysis. You have 5 pages, double spaced to convey your
understanding of the material. No more than 5 pages. Make sure to cite from the book using the APA
6th edition and include a Works Cited page. You should have extensive citing throughout your essay.
The Works Cited page is above and beyond your 5 page assignment limit. Let me know if you have
any questions.
You have a deadline of Sunday, March 15, 2015 at 11:59 p.m.
Chapters 1 8
1. A brief history of project management (and why you should care)
a. PM is everywhere and can be a job or an activity
b. Leadership and management require an understanding of several common paradoxes
(ego/no ego, autocracy/delegation, and courage/fear)
2. The truth about schedules
a. Schedules serve 3 functions: allow commitments to be made, see contributions of
individuals, and tracking progress
b. Big schedules should be divided into small schedules to minimize risk
c. All estimates are probabilities
3. How to figure out what to do
a. Different projects require different approaches to planning
b. Who has the authority (requirements, budget, design) can impact planning approach
c. Planning perspectives: business, technology, customer
d. Defining requirements is difficult, but there are ways to do it well
4. Writing the good vision
a. Vision document are a point of reference (simple, goal-driven, inspirational)
b. Vision goals drive team goals which drive individual goals
5. Where ideas come from
a. Questions, perspectives, and improvisational games are tools for finding new ideas
6. What to do with ideas once you have them
a. Create checkpoints for creative work and track it
b. Create an open-issues list to track questions that need to be resolve before specs
7. Writing good specifications
a. Specs should do 3 things: ensure right product gets built, provide a schedule
milestone that concludes planning phase, enable deep review and feedback over the
course of the project
b. There should be clear authority for who writes and has control over specs
8. How to make good decisions
a. There is an important skill in meta-decision making, or decisions about which
decision to invest time in.
b. All decisions have emotional components to them whether we admit it or not
c. Information and data do not make decisions for you