Projects can be a
tricky business, that’s for sure. There
are so many details involved. One must
keep track of what the client wants, assure all stakeholders are on the same
page, and assure timelines are met. I
learned a lot about this type of business from working in the sales department
when I first graduated college, in what I call my first career. I was working for a promotional products
company out of St. Louis, MO. The Edward
Jones account was my “baby” so to speak.
I was the assistant sales representative for the account. Anything Edward Jones needed with their logo
printed on it, I handled it. I found out
very quickly the detail that goes into managing the accounting by shadowing my
boss.
Looking back, I recall a very
large order in which Edward Jones wanted their logo printed on Waterford Crystal
vases. The stress alone from that order
is still present in my body as I think back to the time I went through the
process of ordering the vases from Waterford, assuring the logo was in the
proper placement on the vases, nothing would be broken, the shipments would
arrive on time to the location, etc.
Nothing went terribly wrong with the order in the end, but I recall
several small hiccups along the way.
My boss and I stayed many late nights to get this order to go as
planned. My husband and I often joke
about the two month time span when he did not see me (I was working on this
project). In the original conversation
with Edward Jones they had wanted a particular vase that would be backordered
for too many days to meet the deadline, so we had to have them pick another
vase. This caused us to have to re-work
the way the logo would set on the new vase because there was no clear place for
a logo on the other vase. My boss and I
had some scary moments in which we thought the etching company had incorrectly
etched the logo on the vases. It was an extremely
expensive order and the largest budget I have ever worked with and possible
ever will.
After helping to
run such a large-scale successful project like this, and many more over the
course of three years, you would this I could easy place a small order and
assure it goes fine. OH NO! I was so upset, angry, and downright
mortified with myself this summer when I ordered t-shirts for our community
volleyball league. The shirts were the
same design, but the kids, men, and women had different colored shirts. I placed the orders for sizes never once
thinking for a second that the two older kids who wore adult sizes would receive
the women’s color instead of kid’s color, until I got them. I ended up reordering the two shirts I messed
up and paying for them myself, since it was my fault. The problem with reordering such a small
order with the t-shirt company is that they charge nearly double for such a
small order.
Had I thought back
to the days I spent with Edward Jones and that Waterford Crystal order, I would
have known the importance of paying attention to detail. I would also have a little more in my budget
(the cost of a couple of shirts). The
first stage of this project was when a group of friends and I got together and
decided we wanted to have t-shirts made for our volleyball games. That was the planning process. When relating this to the project management world,
this was a kind of “kick off meeting” as mentioned by Greer (2010). During this meeting I should have done more
initial planning by discussing the sizing as it related to the details of the
shirt colors. I took notes on the shirt
sizes of each person wanting to order and knew of a lady that could make the
shirts for us. Projects large and small
need alike must have another set of eyes
to look over the plans, in my opinion.
Greer (2010) calls this “review and input,” which were both lacking from
my project. I took on the entire project
myself and did not ask for anyone to review it and never asked anyone for input
before placing the order. My mistake and it cost me.
Resources
Greer, M. (2010). The
project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate
custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.
Jenny,
ReplyDeleteI wrote a ridiculously long comment on here a second ago, but it disappeared! I'll try to sum up what I wrote. Both of your examples remind me of things I've done. I worked in recruiting right after college and often had to deal with details of multiple contracts. My finace and I can also joke about how he never saw me during that time. Looking back on it, it seems like "small potatoes" but I definitely understand how you can feel the tension coming back just thinking about it! All those hiccups along the way make things seem like you're continually starting over.
As for the volleyball shirts, I've been in a similar situation. I have to admit I had a good laugh reading your story, only because I've been there. Even though we're much smarter than that, we still make silly mistakes -- and then pay for it. Your point about having another set of eyes look at something before it's finalized is so true. I used to be an editor and a technical writer, and while I'm supposed to be "great" at proofreading, I still have to have people look over anything I write myself. Imagine how bad it looks when the editor has mistakes in her writing!
Jenny,
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely correct when you claim: "the importance of paying attention to detail" on the last paragraph of your post. Is like Troy Achon also advises: "an once of prevention, is better than a pound of cure"(Laureate Education, n.d.).
Thank you for bringing to my attention the importance of always paying attention to small details, I have learned is crucial in this field of instructional design.
Citation:
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Project management concerns: ‘Scope creep’ [Video file]. Retrieved from https//class.walden.edu
Jenny,
ReplyDeleteIn reading through your project. I had to chuckle, as we had a similar project when ordering shirts for an organizational gathering. Looking at the work breakdown assignments, this would have been under a subtask under the gathering of sizes, with the subtask of size/color. (Portny et al., 2008). This helped me to appreciate how detailed you really need to be when creating a work breakdown. You have to get to the very specifics of each task. There are several different ways to breakdown the task since you had three different colors, and three different sizing charts. Had the task been broken down in a bit more detail this issue could have been avoided.
In addition, as you mentioned it would have been a good idea to build in a little extra into the budget to cover anything you may have overlooked or miscellaneous cost (Greer, 2010). Budget considerations are often underestimated because they do not factor in costs that may not initially be apparent in the planning process, but may come up later.
References
Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Jenny, I loved your introduction. I believe we have been design with vocal cords to use them and use them properly and wisely. Nonetheless communication is a complex process. I found quite interesting your perception and reaction to the video message Jane left for Mark, I did not have the same perception, as a matter of fact I thought the video was the best out of the three messages. Therefore, I love to see how we both, seeing the same thing had a totally different perception and understanding. Very interesting! It brings to mind what Dr. Stolovitch said in his first video: Be really precise and verify, you know, are you and I understanding the same thing? Great post Jenny!
ReplyDeleteRuth
Citation:
ReplyDeleteLaureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Communicating with stakeholders [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu