whittmanhart project- shum siew pei 1000820160

1. Based on the article, the Whittmanhart project team consists of 8 people who filled the 11 roles of designer and developers. Which tools do you think the project manager used to ensure that the resources were allocated according to the project activities?

The project manager may use the project management software, Gantt charts or milestones to ensure that the resources were allocated according to the project activities. At the beginning of the project, the project manager has to develop a Gantt chart which is time base schedule for the project team to carry out their own tasks and finish it on time. The project manager can also create milestones to emphasize important events or accomplishments on projects.

The project team can use high-end tools that provide enterprise project management capabilities and integrate all aspects of project management. So the project can benefit from using some type of project management information system to coordinate and communicate project information.

The project may have each team member to prepare a monthly or even weekly progress report that describe what the project team has accomplished during a certain period. So that, the project manager is updated by those development in the project team and make sure the team meet the performance objectives of the project.

The project manager must also provide strong leadership to steer the project to successful completion. They must not get too involved in managing project changes. Project manager should delegate much of the detailed work to project team members and focus on providing overall leadership for the project in general. He or she must focus on the big picture and perform project integration management well to lead the team and organization to success.

4. The article mentioned that “One of the key roles is ensuring that there is communication between all of the parties involved in the project.” In your opinion, how did the project manager manage the project communications?

In my opinion, communication is the oil that keeps the project running smoothly. Project communication plan of some type should be created for the project and a stakeholder analysis for project communication helps to determine communications needs for different people involved in a project.

Various methods for distribute project information include formal, informal, written or verbal which are important to determine the most appropriate means for distributing different types of project information. As the number of people that need to communicate increases, the number of communications channels also increases.

The project manager is the interface between the customer and the development team. He or she is responsible to ensure that the team meets or if possible exceeds the customer’s requirements. To improve project communications, project manager and his or her teams must develop good conflict management skills as well as other communication skills. A problem-solving approach to manage conflict is often the best approach.

Besides, the project manager in order to improve project communications, has to learn how to run more effective meetings, how to use e-mail, instant messaging, and collaborative software more effectively and how to use templates for project communications.