Project Management Assignment - I

The Blue Spider Project

Question 1: If you were Gary Anderson, would you have accepted this position after the
director stated that this would be his baby all the way?

Answer: The problem lies with the unethical acceptance that the missile would work up to the desired
range which actually was not as per the test functionings.

Question 2: Do engineers with MBA degrees aspire to high positions in management?

Answer: MBA provides ample scope/exposure in management areas and helps individual in visualizing
the broad areas of business. This creates an aspiration to take up to new roles which are in higher levels of
management.

Question 3: Was Gary qualified to be a Project Manager?

Answer: Gary might have a little experience, as project management require developing specific skills on
time management, reporting and driving but he could have learned these skills on the job. He was qualified
as project manager because of his experience in the organization and management degree.

Question 4: What are the moral and ethical issue facing Gary?

Answer: Gary was made to commit as a project manager that the missile would work above 130-degree F,
whereas, things in reality was different.

Question 5: What authority does Gary have and to whom he reports?

Answer: Gary reports to Grey in Program Management. He has little authority directly over people, but
he does his work thorough matrix relationship in the organization.

Question 6: Is it true when you enter project management, you either go up in the
organization or out of the door?

Answer: Project management has high stakes and therefore, there are high stakes with the projects. This
seems partly true.

Question 7: Is it possible for an executive to take too much interest in an R&D project?

Answer: The priority should be given to the overall project. However, if the time permits, the executive
can help the R&D to an extent that his other work do not suffer.

Question 8: Should Paul Evans have been permitted to report information to Gable before
reporting to project manager?

Answer: No, in worst case they might have done together.

Question 9: Is it customary for the project manager to prepare all the handouts for a
customer interchange meeting?
Answer: No, Project manager should take support from the team members in order to prepare for
handouts.

Question 10: What happens when a situation of mistrust occurs between the customer and
contractor?

Answer: This can result in unhappy situations. Also, more black and white reporting starts happening.

Question 11: Should functional employees of the customer and contractor be permitted to
communicate with one another without going through the project office?

Answer: All the formal communication should happen through the Project office, however, there is no
harm in sharing the knowledge.

Question 12: Did Gary demonstrate effective time management?

Answer: No. Gary missed the timelines multiple times. He also did not communicate to people well in
time.

Question 13: Did Gary understand production operations?

Answer: Gary created work stress by not informing in time and thereby creating chaos in production
operations which showed his lack of production operation knowledge.

Question 14: Are functional employees authorized to make project decisions?

Answer: Functional employees need to take approval of their seniors for project related decisions.

Question 15: On R&D projects, should profits be booked periodically or at project

termination?

Answer: Profits should be booked only if one phase of the project is over and to that what extent. Also,
there should be clear timelines.

Question 16: Should a project manager even sensor bad news?

Answer: No.

Question 17: Could the lesson learned on the success and failure during project debriefings
cause a major change in the project management methodology?

Answer: Yes, Sharing the lessons learnt can help in avoiding the same pitfalls again in future.

BHOMPAL RATHORE
GMP-17-10