Ashford University Week 4 Project Management Discussion

Identify how your peers’ explanations differ from your understanding, and offer at least one example, explanation, or experience to support your comments or position that your peers may not have considered. Your replies should be at least 100 words

Response 1

A scope change is when the stakeholder wants to change what the project entails. The project manager needs to be diligent when documenting any changes to the scope of the project. By asking key questions a project manager can move forward with confidence. The stakeholder may need to add to the budget, timeline, or trade other features.

If everyone agrees that a change needs to be made to the project once it’s started the project manager should update the project software. This helps show any change in cost, resources, and duration. Trying to avoid project creep is important to keeping a project on track. When a project manager does not document changes or makes unauthorized changes to the workload, this is considered a creep. According to the Journal of Advanced Research in Business, Management and Accounting “During the planning stage, there must have a statement that spells out the project components and packages with entire scope. All stakeholders should sign off the scope of the statement which will make sure that beneficiaries are aware of the scope and expectations of the project.” (Farok, 2022). The stakeholder may decide to leave off the added tasks until after completion to stay on time and budget. Some items may be feature add on’s instead of mandatory requirements for the launch of the software.

Response 2

• What is the rationale behind making a scope change once the project has started?

Change in a project is acceptable and, in some cases, expected. The project manager has to have proper documentation to be prepared for changes and how to process the change requests. The rationale depends on initial planning, the project, and the timeline.

• What needs to be considered before making changes to the project?

Positive or negative, what impacts to project metrics will require mitigation. Is the change valid within the specifications of the project scope? What or who is going to be responsible and accountable for the change? What is the communication plan for the change?

• What steps should be taken to determine if these changes should be made, especially when they are not familiar with the project scope?

A project manager would review the change against the risk management plan and communicate the potential upside and downsides. Utilization of an effect forecast using earned value management to check on scope creep, time impacts, and cost evaluation (Schwalbe, 2017). It is not the project manager’s decision to make the change, only to present data-driven information so that the sponsors or stakeholders of the project can make an informed change. Recommendations to achieving project goals are where project managers should keep the focus.

RESPONSE 3

What is a project risk?

” A project risk is an uncertainty that can be negative or positive effect on meeting project objective,” (Schwalbe, 2017). Risk is measured in variability of returns. Expected return reflects the benefits an investor anticipates from investment. Required return reflects the return an investor demands for assuming risk. When expected return matches required return in all scenarios then the project risk is low.

What strategies do project managers use to assess, monitor, and communicate project risks to stakeholders?

Risks need to be communicated before, during, and after a project to make sure that stakeholders expectations and opinions are supported. Project managers need to involve stakeholders in project conversations, keep important individuals hooked, and use the right tools to implement effective communication. Some strategies can be involve your team, risk management requires the involvement of the project team members especially if some are experts in certain risk areas or leaders of some part of the project. Another would be consider a stakeholder location because if stakeholders are not located near your project it difficult to communicate effectively. Third strategy is utilize technology, risk analysis technology can equip you and your team members to be able to communicate quantitative risk analysis to your stake holders. Last is using regular reporting on your project so you can check on issues, and set up alerts for potential risks so you can react and inform main individuals and stakeholders that need to know.

Respone 4

Many people, including myself, have a negative association with the term “risk”. I believe the biggest takeaway from this topic is that risks can have positive or negative outcomes. Our text defines project risks as “An uncertainty that can have a negative or positive effect on meeting project objectives” (Schwalbe, 2017).

What strategies do project managers use to assess, monitor, and communicate project risks to stakeholders?

Risks must first be identified before anything else. Our text notes that this is often a brainstorming meeting between project managers and stakeholders. I believe that an internal audit could also be useful to identify risks. Raydugin (2013) details how risks can vary “Risk exposures of parties depends on contract types due to risk transferring (or risk brokering), which defines risk management responsibilities among the parties”. Once risks are identified, they must be sorted by priority. This is completed via qualitative risk analysis, which determines how likely a risk is to occur. Risks are then categorized by low, medium, or high risk.