Components of an Information System
February 26, 2021Module 05 Course Project – Executive Summary
February 26, 2021Short Discussion
“Sensemaking” Please respond to the following:
- Chapter 8 emphasizes that unk-unk mind-set requires a culture of mindfulness and the ability of the project team to cope with fundamental changes without losing orientation and morale. Think of a project team experience that you personally know about or one that you heard about that will help you complete the following tasks:
- After summarizing the project, identify the problems that caused the team breakdown.
- Determine how sensemaking contributed to the social cohesion. If it was not used, how could it have resolved the breakdowns?
- As a project manager, discuss how you foster an unk-unk mind-set.
Also please respond back to these two classmates and please add references:
1.Shauna Brown
Hello Class –
I knew about this project but was not apart of it. The team was updating the current software with a newer version. Just from listening to other team members, sound like everyone that was apart of the team knew nothing about what the software was used for, how it use it and who should be apart of the team. On every project there are things we know and things we do not know. Organizing your thoughts around those concepts can be a constructive approach to understanding a project. Dealing with unknowns; contingency reserves in which case we talk about them, document them, measure and manage them. The unk unk was not being knowledgeable of the project and having key players. Sense-making is a method to communicate more effectively. With project management the ability to use creative solutions to difficult challenges. This coincides with the concept of sense-making from the theoretical perspective. Eventually, the PM reached out to other business partners to get more knowledgeable players on the project. In such a culture, a project can not be led by simply tracking performance indicators. It requires management to engage deeply in what is going on. In order to foster an unk unk mindset, you most plan for the unexpected and have knowledgeable key players.
Shauna
http://www.brighthubpm.com/methods-strategies/1291…
https://www.projecttimes.com/articles/things-known…
2. Kindell Bates
Hello Class,
I worked for a payroll company that acquisition a benefits company; including the staff and its software. There were four teams involved in the integration, DISC Team, developers, implementation, and upper management. The DISC team responsibility was to evaluate the product, its transactions, the financial system, and its client base. The data received from the audit should have provided information to the upper management, the developers and implementation to design a successful seamless migration for the clients and new staff members. A seamless migration did not happen.
The Team makeup
The DISC team consisted of a few Billing Managers from across the country, an implementation person, and other company members that specialized in different products. None of the team members had many project management knowledge or experience.
Upper management were controllers, directors, and the new management of the acquisition company. No one in the stakeholder’s organization had any knowledge of project management.
Examples of the project’s downfalls,
- Missed deadlines, because the DISC team wasn’t equipped to handle a project of this magnitude. There were several deadlines missed and it took this team almost three years to gather information “alone”.
- The data that was collected by the DISC team had missing information, such as how the existing staff members handled overpayment collections, purchase rejections, wire commute payments, and miscellaneous transactions.
- Because the new members of the company were not migrated into our company, it was business as usual and they did not provide any information but was asked of them. (unknown issues or problems weren’t shared with the DISC team)
- The original upper management of this project was fired (for other reasons), the director of DISC team retired, and new stakeholders were assembled. This time there was a Vice President of Service, controller of the Comprehensive of Services (COS), new developers, implementation, and management for the new team.
The results,
Because of the insufficient information received, the handling of the day to day data “financial transactions” was dumped into the wrong financial system “SAP”. Since the project went over its budget after the “first year”, the new stakeholders did not want to spend any dollars to build a database that would channel overpayments, rejected items, wire commute payment and others miscellaneous transactions into a clean report or for SAP to recognize these credits due to customers.
If I was the Project Manager
As a Project Management, my first responsibility would have been to monitor the acquisition business’s interviews of the day to day processes. Keeping a timeline by tracking and tracing all activities. Ensure the new team’s positive moral by having group agile meetings. Recognizing the daily data, understand its transactions and its effects on the financials. Use my resources, discuss unknown factors and find best solutions for those unknown. Finally, consistent communications with the stakeholders (forward information to the new stakeholders with the data of the migration project). Give reliable information to the developers and implementation to allow them to build the most seamless migration process for the clients and the new members.
References
Herring, D. (2017, February 10). “Uncertainty and Risks” Week 6 Discussion. Retrieved from Strayer University: https://blackboard.strayer.edu/webapps/discussionb…