PMAL105: INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT (22F-C-1F)
CASE STUDY 1:
THE HOKIES LUNCH GROUP
NAME: ARYA GIRIJA BHUVANENDRAN
STUDENT ID: 229559360
SUBMITTED TO: PROF. OLGA BROUCKOVA
DATE: 18/09/2022
INTRODUCTION
The Hokies lunch group consists of three friends Fatma, Viktoria, and Jasper. They met each
other at the Silicon Valley alumni reception and instantly became friends. It was there they
decided to have lunch once every month. The lunch meeting every month eventually turned
into a professional support group. All three handled different types of projects even though
they are from different professional backgrounds, Jasper, a software engineer, Viktoria an
electrical engineer, and Fatma works in charge of scheduling and managing work assignments
for an internet company. Handling projects was the one thing that was common between them.
During lunch every month they shared their issues at work, guided, and encouraged each other.
Fatma, Jasper and Viktoria meet for lunch to discuss their current projects to get insights from
each other. The friends discuss various issues that they face with their respective projects.
During the initial period, we can see Fatma faced with issues regarding defining the scope of
the project, Viktoria working on a project which is being tested and tells Fatma about the
importance of defining the scope of a project, Jasper on the other hand is working on a project
and is sworn to secrecy. He can be seen as very confident about his programming and about the
project even though the scope of his project kept on changing. Towards the end, both Fatma
and Viktoria successfully complete their projects, whereas Jasper loses his project even though
he gave his best.
1. For parts A, B, and C, what phases of the project cycle is each project in? Explain.
Every project must start and end somewhere. The different phases of a project cycle are
defining, planning, executing, and closing. The defining stage is where specifications of the
project are defined, objectives are established, teams are formed, and responsibilities are
assigned. The planning stage is where plans are developed, scheduled, and quality and budget
get decided. The executing stage is where a major part of the work takes place. The closing
stage is where delivery of the project, redeploying of resources, and conducting a post-project
review take place (Gray, 2021).
A: Fatma is seen in the initial or defining stage of the project as she mentions having issues
defining the scope of the project and going towards the process of planning.
Viktoria talked about the importance of defining the scope of the project and how it helped in
her project. Viktoria’s project had finished with the planning and is now in its executing stage as
they entered the phase of testing their product PAX2.
Jasper mentions coding and testing the project and the around-the-clock work done by his
colleagues. Since he mentions coding and testing, he must be in the executing phase of his
project.
B: Fatma mentions discussions regarding risk management with her team and further about her
responsibility for scheduling work assignments. This indicates her project i (arya, n.d.)s in its
planning stage and moving towards the executing stage.
Viktoria emphasizes the importance of risk management and talks about how it was beneficial
and helped her project. Further, she talked about the successful testing of the battery, meaning
the project moving towards its closing stage.
Jasper was having trouble testing the execution phase of his project and they spent little time
dealing with risk management. Jasper was behind the schedule in his project and missed certain
milestones and is under pressure to complete the project. Jasper is still in the executing phase
of the project cycle.
C: Fatma’s project is in the executing phase as she mentions that both the founders joined the
team and are making a great team. She is working on the project master schedule to schedule
and assign work.
Viktoria successfully completed her project and is in the closing phase of doing the project
retrospective, to identify improvements.
Jasper had trouble submitting a functional product and thus got his project withdrawn. He
could not reach the closing stage of the project cycle.
2. What are the two important things you learned about working on projects from the case?
Why are they important?
The two most important things that we could learn from the case study are the importance of
defining the scope of the project and the significance of risk management. Defining the scope
will explain the boundaries of the project and establishes the responsibility of each member of
the team (Monnappa, 2022). Correctly defining the scope of their projects helped both Fatma
and Viktoria execute their project successfully. Likewise, effective risk management strategies
allow for identifying the project’s strengths, opportunities, and threats (Duggan, 2019).
Planning on risks helps in mitigating the risks and improves the chances of a project being
successful. This case is visible from Viktoria’s project, even though their first prototype i.e., the
battery became a failure during testing, they anticipated the risk and worked on a second
prototype which was a success and helped the project immensely.
CONCLUSION:
The case study reflects the importance of the project cycle and how important each cycle is for
every project. Every phase is as important as any other and should not be skipped. Well defined
scope of the project is half work done and managing risk effectively assures the success of the
project.
REFERENCE:
(Gray, 2021) Project Management The managerial process 8th edition Eric W Larson and Clifford
F Gray.
(Monnappa, 2022)Project Scope Management and Its Importance in 2022, By Avantika
Monnappa
Published
on
Aug
9,
2022,
https://www.simplilearn.com/project-scope-management-
importance-rar89-article.
(Monnappa, 2022)Why is risk management important to project success, by Tara Duggan
Published on 2019, https://smallbusiness.chron.com/risk-management-important-projectsuccess-56920.html