EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Parks Corporation is a company that concentrated mainly on R&D business, doing projects for the Department of Defense. Parks Corporation has changed its focus over the years from predominantely R&D business to a low-cost production facility. The recession resulted in the company retrenching a number of employees, the staff compliment going from 6700 to 2200. In 1975, the corporate strategy changed again with the upturn of DoD spending. Parks began to beef up its R&D engineering staff.

Owing to the salaries that Parks was offering their access to experienced engineers was limited so they opted to employing mainly young inexperienced engineers, straight out of college, like Gary Anderson. Gary was an outstanding production engineer and was promoted to senior scientist responsible for all R&D acitivities performed in the Mechanical Engineering department.

In January 1978, Parks Corporation decided to bid for Phase I on the Blue Spider Project, with Lord Industries as the prime contractor for the Armys Spartan Program. The project was to improve structural capabilities and the age life of the short range tactical missile, which was exhibiting fatigue failure after 6 years in the field. The criteria for a subcontractor was not only a low bid, but technical expertise and management performance. Parks Corporation felt that they had a distinct advantage over most competitors, as they had worked on other successful projects for Lord Industries.

From the beginning of the project the following problems were evident.

Project Kickoff, this was done informally and without specific guidelines. The Proposal was unethically won, by not disclosing the truth. Parks Corporation Management is deemed to have behavioural problems. The Operational Process needed to be improved. The Organisation architecture / Relations needs to be clearly defined and followed.

The 9 areas of Project Management knowledge were not used, Integration Management, Scope Management, Time Management, Cost Management, Quality Management, Human Resource Management, Communications Management, Risk Management and Procurement Management.

Solutions to Blue Spider Project being successful are:

Follow formal Project Management Methodology being followed.

A competent project manager, involve the Programme Manager and Functional Management every step of the way. A competent project team, sufficient resources Top management support and leadership. Project aligned to Company Strategy with correct priority all through the project. Customer involvement and regular consultation (Lords Industries).

Communication throughout the Project, proper monitoring, feedback, measurement, appraisals and review of deliverables.

1.1

With reference to the case, discuss the problems with their underlying causes.

The Blue Spider Project presented some major challenges, for Parks Corporation. At the onset of the Project there were already problems. In this case study, the functional manager (Henry Gable, director of engineering) selects the Project Manager for this Project, in this instance there was no consultation with the director of program management, Elliot Grey. Project Management guidelines are not being followed. Henry Gable is using Gary Anderson for his own agenda, he set the standards for the proposal and he also selected the Project Manager, using Gary Andersons inexperience to his own advantage. Henry Gables integrity is questionable as Gary Anderson, technical expert, points out that there were problems meeting the specification requirements. Henry Gable, comments that The truth doesnt always win proposals. This is a leadership behavioural problem and dysfunctional behaviour. Gary Anderson is a brilliant production engineer and senior scientist, he was too inexperienced to take the responsibility of Project Manager, on a major project. Although Parks Corporation claimed to have the Matrix structure in place, it was not fully functional in this project. Henry Gable intimidates Gary Anderson with his underlying threats of not succeeding. The Blue Spider project did not get a priority in Parks Corporation, only production programs, seemed to get priority, resulting in poor project prioritization. Gary was worried from the beginning that the test matrix called out in the technical volume of the proposal would not produce results that could satisfy specifications, yet he does not raise this as an issue or escalate the problem. Gary was too hands on and not managing the project/ progam, he took it upon himself to do all the tasks himself. He was not clear on the duties of a Project/ Program Manager. His communication to the customer (Lord Industries) and internally is very poor. There is no evidence of regular Project Meetings taking place with all the stakeholders (internal and external).

Parks Corporation does not have a good Human Resources follow through, as Gary Anderson was promoted to the Project Manager and no induction took place. After the proposal was won, there was very poor functional management support. Gary put all the pressure on himself to deliver and did not use his team effectively. He was not maintaining a good balance between his technical and administrative responsibilities. With Lords Industries threatening to establish a customer office in Parks Corporation this shows a major lack of trust. Henry Gable is also issuing instructions to Paul Evans and secretly testing material that was not part of the original specification. Thus creating mistrust between the functional departments within Parks Corporation and also wasting valuable resources, as they were testing the existing material for the past two months. This has also caused mistrust between Parks Corporation and Lords Industries. Once again the dysfunctional behaviour of Henry Gable is displayed as he was spear heading the new research with the customers money, without consultation with the Project Office or the customer. When Gary submitted the handout package to Lords Industries, he did not give them enough time to review the new findings, causing them to postpone the meeting. The integrity of Parks Corporation is challenged by Lords Industries, this is not a good situation to be in as the customer does not trust the service provider and now wants to increase the written communication between the parties and supervise all acitivities, by looking over Parks shoulder at every turn. Gary did not keep accurate time on the project, causing the manufacturing plans to be behind schedule. He also did not draw up and communicate a work schedule to the functional departments, and let managers know of any potential problems. He did not follow procedures therefore his costs on the project are affected. Gary was not skilled in motivating his staff and this was causing everything to slow down. He then calls a meeting to discuss the strategy for the remainder of the program, the people who attended the meeting could not make the decision, therefore rendering the meeting ineffective.

In summation, the problems experienced on the Blue Spider Project are the following; poor communication, poor negotiation skills, leadership behaviour problems, poor functional management support, lack of knowledge management, conflict handling and the lack thereof, dysfunctional behaviour, poor prioritization of projects, lack of strategic direction and no clear sign of a company value system. These are all as a result of behavioural problems within the organization. There were operational problems evident within the organization, namely poor project planning, no quality assurance or change management, major lack in Project Management processes and procedures and a problem with customer focus. The third and final problematic area is the organizational architecture as there are clear authority, responsibility and accountability issues, poor Human Resources and no balance of power.

In conclusion the Blue Spider Projects problems were not only as a result of Gary Andersons inexperience but a host of other factors as discussed above. 1.2 Recommend what should be done to solve the problems, prioritizing the steps to be taken in your approach. Be systematic and motivate your assertions. My recommendation in running the Blue Spider Project successfully will start after Parks Corporation has won the proposal. The approach Gary Anderson should have taken when his integrity was challenged, was to step back immediately and not accept the challenge on the back foot from the onset. Had Parks Corporation not been able to meet the requirement standards as set out in the proposal, a meeting should have been called with senior management and the technical experts to see if an alternate solution could be found and proposed to the customer. Therefore allowing Parks Corporation to make an informed decision. Owing to the fact that this was a $2.2 million contract and potential business for the next ten years, a seasoned Program Manager would need to be appointed to run this program. Gary would have excelled in the role of assistant program manager as it would have suited his skills and expertise more. Elliot Grey should have been involved from the inception of the program. This would have allowed the program to be prioritized with the strategic objective of the company in mind. And have a competent project manager with a competent project team. The Project Manager would create an effective project organizational architecture. The Project would need a Project Requirement Definition, which consists of Project Scope, Defined deliverables, Functional and project resource requirements, Customer (sponsor) acceptance criteria, initial risk analysis and assumptions. A WBS would already have been drawn up and communicated to all parties concerned, to compliment the WBS a responsibility matrix should be drawn up, as it shows each persons role in supporting the overall project. A Network plan would be drawn up enabling the planning and scheduling of the project. Gary Anderson does not have a clear understanding of his role, in this case study. A Project Manager has clear responsibilities; planning, directing, organizing, staffing, controlling and coordinating. Human Resources from Parks Corporation could have come into play here, with Gary being new to Program Management, an induction into the department would have been appropriate and values of the organization re-enforced. Elliot Grey would also have played a much more active role, by assuring that standards and procedures are met. Risk Management Control would play a very important part of this case study, as there are both internal and external risks that need to be managed. Risks need to be identified and documented. Qualitive and Quantitative Risk analysis as well as risk respons planning and monitoring and controlling of the risks. Gary did not perform well in the communication of the project, both to the external client (Lords Industries) and the internal resources (project team and functional management). Gary should have formalized all the communication that was to happen on the project through a communication plan. Timely and appropriate generation, management and communication of project information. This would include regular feedback meetings with the client and regular project progress meetings.

These would be formalized by minutes and plan of action. All meetings with the clients should have had an agenda and been formal, as requested by the client. Gary should have known that he had a contractual requirement to prepare completed minutes for all interchange meetings, to be signed off before going for publication. Gary should have approached the Project Office for support with the administrative paperwork. He should not leave it up to them to prepare, but he should manage that resource as any other resource on the project. Human Resource Management is there to enable the project manager to effectively manage and organize the project team. This would include HR planning, HR developing. Project resource team building, feedback on performance of project team members. Had Gary done this he would have been aware of the problems in the research labs. Paul Evans should be reporting any changes to the plan to Gary first. It is unacceptable that Henry Gable is running testing of new materials on the project without Garys knowledge at all. This also brings me to the Scope Management on a project. The Scope planning and definition would already have been defined. So this research on JXB-3 is out of scope at this stage of the project. Had Gary been doing Scope verification and control this would not have happened in this way and he would not be totally unaware of this testing going on and could have managed it better. Had this been identified sooner, there would not be wasted resources working on existing material for no reason. This also causes ill feeling with functional management, which in turn would demotivate staff, as they have been putting in effort into work that was wasted.

Gary did not control his time management or the projects time during the project, but only addressed it when a crisis arose. Had he been ensuring the timely completion of acitivities within the project he would not have been behind schedule. He did not build in review time for the client (Lords Industries) Although Gary had decided to try to reduce costs by accepting responsibility for developing the bill of material himself, he had not considered the fact that it would impact his schedule, as they were now behind schedule.

He did not take the Time, Cost and Quality triangle into account, when you change any one of these on the triangle it will affect the other two.

Time

Quality

Cost

The definition of Leadership is getting things done through others. Gary found it difficult to motivate his people, as they were acting as if they were on a sinking ship. Gary did not have the skills to do this, as he lacked the strong leadership ability, the ability to develop people. By the eighth month

Gary seemed to be finding it difficult to motivate himself. Gary should have consulted all the parties concerned at the team meeting to see what the schedule should look like. The functional managers who are able to make decision should have been present at this meeting as well as Elliot Grey. Garys schedule seemed to be a problem as he is only involving the deparment manager responsible for testing the following day, to get a specific resource for that particular weekend. This should have been addressed at his emergency team meeting.

One of the most important roles of the project manager is the cost management of a project. Cost estimating, cost budgeting and cost control. Regular feedback to the sponsor of the project and the project office would be appropriate to assertain where the project is with regard to the budgeted amounts versus the actual cost amounts. Owing to communication and project controlling and wasted work the cost had to be escalated unnecessarily. Gary had predicted a profit, when in fact there was no profit.

Gary had also decided to take responsibility for the reduced age life and not escalate this to management (Henry Gable). This type of project risk should be a company decision, had Gary communicated this to Henry, he may not have been demoted back to engineering. The conclusion to the solution is for Gary to be trained in using Project Management methodology and processes (Initiating, planning, executing, controlling and closure). He should not have been left on his own with his very first project, without HR induction, training and project office support. Elliot Grey, comments that Gary has not exactly had a sparkling performance, but he should have had review sessions with Gary to give him feedback on his performance at each milestone. The organization (Parks Corporation) needs to address its Behavioural, Operational and Organisation Architecture problems to ensure the success of future projects. References and Bibliography Steyn Pieter, Professor, Project Management: Leading, Creating, Implementing and Improving, Page 1 73. Gido and Clements, Successful Project Mangement, Pages 76 81, Pages 290 308, Pages 391. Richman Larry, PMP, Improving your Project Management Skills, Pages 10 13, Pages 17 40, Pages 155 170. PMP Partners, IT Project+ Certification Essential Competencies. Triangle of Balance. PMP Partners, IT Project+ Certification Essential Competencies.Pages 8/5 8/13. Case Study The Blue Spider Project 1. Discuss the project management organization on the project. Strengths? Weaknessess? Recommendations. Parks Corporation used a matrix project management organization on the Blue

Spider Project. It was a multi-disciplinary team where the members came from different functional units such as Research and Development, Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality Control, Purchasing, and Finance. Gary Anderson, the Project Manager, was responsible for the project but his responsibility for performance of the individual phases of the work to be accomplished on the project remained with the functional managers. Anderson assigned, monitored, and coordinated work among the project team. But, the functional managers had the last say on would be involved in deciding who would work on the project team and remained responsible for long-term administrative issues. All the people working on the Blue Spider Project had two bosses and if they were working on more than one project they could have had even more. If all the key players involved with the Blue Spider Project had understood the distinction between what and how, the conflicts between Anderson and the functional managers would have been greatly reduced. Success of the Blue Spider Project depended on the ability of Anderson and the willingness of the functional managers to cooperate. But this did not occur very often if at all. Personnel working on the project reported to their functional managers who had objectives that sometimes did not coincide with Andersons objectives on the Blue Spider Project. There was also little or no understanding of the relationships between the different functional organizations and this created communication problems between Anderson and the other team members, as well as the other functional managers. The teams ability to react quickly was hampered by the poor communication and a lack of priority control over facilities and other projects that were being worked. Cost control on the project may have been better due to the flexibility of man-loading personnel but it was less effective because of the lack of direct control Anderson had over the performance of personnel involved in the project. There were also times when Anderson failed to realize the many and varied demands that were placed on the functional managers and they found themselves in a position where the demand for their resources could not be adequately met. The functional managers had limited resources at their disposal and they had to juggle these resources in order to satisfy most of the demands for most of the time. They often had deadlines, relating to both departmental work in progress as well as to each project that they were supplying resources to. The Blue Spider Project had changes that affected the agreement and commitment of the required functional resources and these had important implications for the functional managers. It was human nature for Andersons requests to be over prioritized because he was trying to ensure that he got the best resources available. Strengths of Parks Corporations matrix project management organization: A flexible reservoir of technical specialists was retained Technical and managerial integration One focal point in project management. Unfortunately the management was weak. Consistent management approach to the project. Unfortunately the approach was reactive and not proactive. People were reassigned to the project without changing the organization

Weaknesses of Parks Corporations matrix project management organization: The project manager had no line authority over the functional organizations Planning and control systems were required, but not used A large number of task and organizational interfaces were created and these were not communicated There was a delicate balance of power between project and functional organizations, and it seemed like the functional organizations had the power most of the time There was a conflict of loyalty between the functional managers and project manager over the allocation of resources The projects was difficult to monitor because the teams seemed to have a lot of independence Costs increased because the budget was not managed effectively Recommendations 1. Parks Corporation should have appointed an experienced project manager to run the Blue Spider project and Gary Anderson, who was an experienced engineer, should have been made the assistant project manager with the responsibility of managing the projects R&D activities. Anderson was too inexperienced as a project manager and really had no clue what the true responsibilities were for managing a project except what he might have learned in his MBA program. 2. Project requirements needed to be clear and specific. In order to achieve successful project management and implementation, Anderson needed to ensure the requirements for the Blue Spider Project were clearly stated and written down in detail, so everyone involved in the project clearly understood the requirements. And, everyone needed to know what was not included in the Blue Spider Project. 3. Regular and effective communication was needed. If effective communication channels were established that let team members share their knowledge and skills Anderson could have delivered the right understanding of the project requirements to all the team members involved. All types of communication helps build a bridge between team members and stakeholders who have the responsibility to detect potential problems, clarify details, and maintain trust. 4. There was a need for making project assignments clear and allocating work effectively and efficiently to the team. Project assignments should have been made to the appropriate person or group. Making the right assignments should have involved the personnel with the required skills and knowledge in collaboration and implementation. Multitasking and overload should have been avoided and every assignment should have been made in strict accordance with the competencies of the team members. Anderson should have been ready to delegate tasks and make reassignments if necessary. 5. The Blue Spider Team needed to know specifically how one task relied on another task. This is important because the team members would understand when and how the completion of one task impacts the starting date of a dependent task. If the project manager is successful at defining these specific dependent tasks, then the team will be successful at doing the tasks in the right sequence and the project will stay on schedule and be successful. 6. The Blue Spider team needed to be committed to the project. The right assignments would have achieved commitment and if the team agreed on the work, understood the requirements; were

ready to share their skills; and work in a collaborative environment then they would have established a strong commitment to the project. 7. Any potential risks should have been identified in advance. This avoids missteps and reduces the probability of project failure. A contingency plan should have been developed to determine the actions to take in the case of an emergency such as the project is out of scope, there are no funds available, or critical changes in the customers expectations. The project manager needs to be ready to identify, discuss, and evaluate all possible risks before the project starts. 2. Discuss the main personalities on the project. Gary Anderson Project Manager Gary Anderson was a fine, experienced engineer and he was eager to take on the responsibilities of Project Manager for the Blue Spider Project. He had sufficient technical engineering skills, but he didnt have a sufficiently broad ability and background to be adequately conversant with all of the disciplines involved in the project. Anderson had sufficient drive and aggressiveness. However, he didnt have the sufficient skills in business development and his skills in planning, work definition, scheduling, estimating and budgeting, and project control systems was also lacking. Initially, Anderson was able to establish a team effort with his abilities to work with people and establish enthusiasm and an esprit de corps. However, this started to erode toward the end. He was not good at communicating ideas in a timely manner and he was even worse at delegating responsibility. Anderson also lacked the skills to properly plan work for him and others. Anderson could not properly assess and coordinate various requirements of broad areas of activity and make timely decisions and establish a balance between thoughts and action. Henry Gable Director of Engineering Henry Gable knew the ins and outs of project management because of his experience. He knew that successful program managers had to be able to communicate, had to know how to motivate people, and that they are totally committed and dedicated to the project. He was also somewhat helpful to Gary Anderson in putting together the Blue Spider Project team. However, it did include one of his yes men Paul Evans a project engineer. He was also honest in telling Gary Anderson that if he failed as the Blue Spider project manager, Anderson would not get his senior engineering job back. The biggest thing that was fairly obvious to me was that Henry Gable lacked integrity and was unethical. He hired Anderson because he thought Anderson would be a yes man and go along with everything Gable wanted. Gable wanted Anderson to falsify the actual test matrix specifications in the RFP. Once the project started Gable had private meetings with one his yes men, Paul Evans, to privately discuss the previous days raw materials test data. Gable also spent Lord Industries money on testing the new JXB-3 material and didnt inform Anderson what he was doing. And, when Anderson found out, Gable told Anderson to tell Lord Industries that Parks Corporation money was used and they would be happy because Parks Corporation was spending their own money on the Blue Spider Project. Gable is a real piece of work in my mind. He sets Gary Anderson up for failure because he is inexperienced as a project manager, then he goes behind Andersons back to test some new material, and then he gets a substantial bonus from corporate headquarters for his work on the Blue Spider Project and Anderson only gets a letter of congratulations. And, to keep Anderson quiet about his underhandedness, Gable gave Anderson his engineering job back. I just cant believe he made it all the way up the Parks corporate ladder to Director of Engineering.

Paul Evans Chief Project Engineer Paul Evans was an experienced engineer who, for the most part, was an honest and upfront person. He told Anderson that he had doubts about the validity of the test matrix and that if it proved to be a failure the scope of effort would have to be changed and there would be a cost overrun if trade-offs were not made to see what could be deleted downstream. He also told Anderson about the secret meetings he was having with Gable and that Gable would try to manipulate them. But, he didnt tell Anderson that he was working with Gable on the side to test the new JXB-3 material. Evans told Anderson they needed to inform Parks upper management when the results of the accelerated aging tests indicated that the new materials would meet specifications, but the age life would be less than five years. However, when Anderson refused to tell upper management and told Evans that he would handle the issue, Evans agreed to go along with Andersons decision and suffer the consequences later. 3. What tools of project management were used or ill-used? Project Management Tools Used Master Program Plan Based on statements in the case study I believe Parks Corporation had a master program plan in place that considered the entire project from initiation by the customer, through the proposal stage, through the negotiation, award, and performance. It is just hard to tell if the plan was incremental in nature and if it started with a broad top level logic diagram. I believe it was implemented in detail as the Blue Spider project moved through the various phases. Financial Plan There were several references in the case study on finances, so I believe there was a financial plan in place that allocated resources for the Blue Spider Program and included the financial management processes needed for achieving both contract cost goals and company financial objectives. I am sure the plan included cost expenditure plans, man loading plans, and contingency alternate plans. Technical Performance Plan There were also several references to technical performance and specifications so I am certain there was a technical performance plan in place that provided the basis for predicting total system technical performance based on system element data that included; (1) technical performance parameters; (2) goals and target parameter values; (3) milestones for planned parameter profiles. Project Management Tools Ill-Used Project Charter A formal document that provides authority to a project manager to conduct a project within scope, quality, time and cost and resource constraints as laid down in the document. A charter usually includes a mission statement, including background, purpose, and benefits, a goal, objectives, scope, assumptions and constraints. There was no reference to a Project Charter in the case study. But, if a charter existed, Anderson would have been a lot more successful putting together a team than one that was just adequate. He would have also avoided the slow-down in decision-making and difficulty in motivating his team members. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) This document is vital to any project because it clarifies and provides key details for a number of project management activities. The WBS provides a detailed illustration of project scope; monitors progress of the project; creates accurate cost and schedule estimates; and provides every team member with clear work assignments and a sense of how their work fits into the overall effort. Anderson would have benefitted tremendously if a WBS had been created and project management activities had been included in the WBS because he could have been a lot more proactive in managing the project and not reactive. The majority of the tasks should have been everyday work, such as communication and problem resolution. These types of tasks would have helped

Anderson with his lack of communication with his customer, functional managers, and team members. It would have also kept Henry Gable from secretly developing the JXB-3 material and spending Blue Spider Project money to do it. The WBS would have also been a great tool for Anderson to delegate work; avoid doing everything himself; stay on top of the projects cost and performance; ease the burden of the bureaucratic red tape of project management. Earned Value Management System This is an integrative approach which brings cost, schedule, and technical planning and control all together to give the project manager an effective system for managing the project. The secret to making an earned value management system work is the work breakdown structure. This system would have provided the data and information for Anderson to know if the Blue Spider project was: (1) Ahead of schedule and under budget; (2) Ahead of schedule and over budget; (3) Behind schedule and under budget; or (4) Behind schedule and over budget. Risk Management Plan All projects involve some degree of risk, so a project risk plan is needed to define and document those procedures that will be used to manage risk throughout the life of the project. Risk is any factor that may potentially interfere with successful completion of the project. Therefore, it follows that by recognizing potential problems the project manager and core team members can avoid most, if not all, of these problems through proper actions. A risk management plan should also specify who is responsible for managing the different areas of risk, how risks will be tracked through the project life cycle, how contingency plans will be implemented, and how project reserves will be allocated in order to handle risks. If the Blue Spider Project had a risk management plan the temperature range issue could have been dealt with more effectively and efficiently. Communication Management Plan Having a communication plan in place is an essential component for good project management. This document ensures that all stakeholders are equally informed of how, when, and why communication will happen. Communication is often a very effective way to solve problems, deal with risks, and ensure that tasks are completed on time. Successful communication plans identify stakeholders, the information to be communicated, and how this information will be communicated and they leave nothing to chance. The plan is designed to provide everyone involved in a project a general framework on the development of a more strategic approach to: Ensure timely and appropriate generation, collection, distribution, storage, retrieval, and ultimate disposition of project information Provide the critical links among people and information that are necessary for successful communications Guide the project manager, the project team, stakeholders, customer, sponsor, and everyone involved in the project understand how communications affect the project as a whole This was one of Andersons biggest problems. He just did not communicate effectively with all the external and internal stakeholders involved with the Blue Spider project. If he did life would have been much better for him. Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) This document describes the participation by various roles in completing tasks or deliverables for a project. It is especially useful in clarifying roles and responsibilities in cross-functional/departmental projects and processes. The document lays out who are responsible for doing the work to achieve the task; who is ultimately accountable for the correct and thorough completion of the deliverable or task, and the one to whom the responsible individual is accountable; those individuals whose opinions are sought; and with whom there is two-way communication; and those individuals who are kept up-to-date on progress, often only on completion of the task or deliverable; and with whom there is just one-way communication.

4. What went right or wrong on the project? List the reasons. What should have been done? The only thing that went right on the Blue Spider project is that Parks Corporation was awarded a solesource contract for qualification and production of Spartan Missile components using the new longer-life raw materials. The reason this happened is that in spite of the fact the project was behind schedule, over budget and out of scope, and there was poor project management, definition, planning, and control was the fact that all the folks involved rolled up their sleeves and overcame all these obstacles to win the follow-on contract. All of these folks were experienced in their jobs and they all knew how important the success of the Blue Spider project was to the Parks Corporation. Based on the information in the case study, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The project did not meet cost, schedule, quality goals, and there was a breakdown in communication on several occasions. I believe there were three reasons for all these problems. First, there was no project definition that laid out a firm foundation for the project. As the project manager, Gary Anderson, needed to determine the purpose, goals, and constraints of the project and then make these known to all the stakeholders. These become the foundation for making all project decisions because they describe the cost-schedule-quality relationship and connect the project to the mission of the Parks Corporation. Gary Anderson should have established basic project management controls. He also should have gotten an agreement on which people and functions were to be involved in the project and what their roles would be. Anderson also needed to clarify the chain of command, communication strategy, and change control process. When these decisions and strategies are documented and accepted they communicate to all the stakeholders the expectations about the way the project will be managed. It would also be an agreement that Anderson could have referred to keep everyone accountable for their responsibilities in the project. In other words, they are the rules of engagement that outline how to play the project game and what it takes to win. Second, project planning was not complete by any means as I have already discussed in the answer to question #3 above. Thorough project planning puts together the details of how the project goals will be met based on the given constraints. Estimating and scheduling techniques lay out how much work the project will entail, who will do the work, when the work will be accomplished, and how much it will cost to do the work. In addition, risk management will identify those areas with the greatest uncertainty and develop strategies to mitigate the risk. A detailed project plan includes: (1) Work schedules and deadlines; (2) Budgets, cost accounts, and a cost control system; (3) Detailed Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and work packages; (4) Areas of hrisk and uncertainty and contingency plans; (5) Personnel plan and utilization plans; (6) Plans for testing; (7) A documentation plan; (8) A change control and work review plan; and (9) Initial implementation plans. Third, project control that includes all the activities to keep the project on track was not evident in the case study. These activities include: Progress Measurement This activity identifies problems early, so they are easier to solve. This activity also provides feedback that validates the estimates in the plan and the cost-schedulequality relationship. Communication Obviously communication is vital in controlling a project because it keeps everyone coordinated, aware of any changes, and updated on the progress of the project. Corrective action This is the day-to-day responses to all the problems and obstacles that are encountered on a project.

Any project must begin with definition, then move to planning, and finally move to control. These steps can be repeated many times because planning could lead to modifications in the project definition, and controlling actions could require a change to the plan, and maybe even to the project definition. So, its possible a project manger could spend time every day defining, planning, and controlling. Some more thoughts on what should have been. There needed to be agreement among the Blue Spider Project team, Parks Corporation management, and the team from Lord Industries on the goals of the project at the very beginning. A plan that shows an overall path and clear responsibilities and that can be used to measure progress during the project was needed. Constant and effective communication among everyone involved in the project was also a must. Much more effort needed to be put into managing stakeholder expectations. This is an important, ongoing task that should have been accomplished throughout the project, especially when the changes to the JXB-3B material were made. Finally, it would have been more beneficial to all parties concerned if Anderson was able to work more productively with the functional managers because the project would have been a lot more successful and Anderson job would have been a lot easier and a lot less stressful. Anderson would have also gotten the right people at the right time and timely decisions based on the facts presented by the project team.