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Project Management Case 2

The NoName Company is a Business Process Outsourcing company that accepts contractual projects. The company offers graphic designing, search engine optimization (SEO), & banner making, desktop applications, web applications design and development.

The company belongs to the outsourcing category which means that people or representatives from the said company are having transactions with their clients over the phone and internet.

The Scenario

Since that the team is accepting project from clients, problems of miscommunication may appear somewhere in the process wherein a project is being made.  Now, people may look at the same thing as in doing a web development project. There are two sides of this type of business; these are the side of the client and the development team. The client has their own perception and creates idea which they will give to the developers to be created visible on the internet. They also have their own standards and an outlook on what the outcome will be.

Now, on the side of the development team, they may get the idea but may not yet fully comprehend what the client wants. There may be times when the development team must use tweaking measures in order for them to meet the client's standards and for them to fully understand and achieve what the client wants. Every time, the client will ask for some changes of a particular component of the project that would make the entire scope to change as well.

Now, there are only some concerns while in the development process. The job of the developers is never easy, with a lot of things that was given them.

Questions: (at least 1000 words per question)

 1. How could they manage the project?

2.What methodology is appropriate for this project to avoid this kind of problem?

1. How could they manage the project?

Managing a company is a complicated process. There are lots of things to consider in order to come-up with a good work flow and for the company to be able to perform well and deliver what it should deliver. Communication is a vital factor in managing a company. In handling any kind of project, the company should make sure to get accurate details and verify those details on the given project. Constant communication with the client is a must. The clients must be able to view progress so that they can be updated on what was happening on the project. Sometimes miscommunication may arise at the time of planning. Sometimes the company’s team may comprehend the project on a different perspective than what the clients desire it to be. That is why constant communication and constant updates on the project’s progress is very important. In this way, step by step, changes could be resolve very quickly if ever there’s any. It is always very important to listen to what exactly the clients need and want. And dedicate time and effort on how to develop and manage each project. In managing the project, there should be a planned schedules or tasks to guide them in creating the project. As an outsourcing company, they should have a person who can synchronize the client and the company’s team ideas together. Without a project manager and a project leader, it will gonna be so hard for them to manage and organize project. 

Changes from the clients side must be considered by the company. Though not all the time it’s the company’s fault for the changes that occurred, sometimes it’s just the clients that are so hard to deal with. But still, the company is the one to go with the flow and adapt to the changes. It is very important that as much as possible the two sides must come-up with an agreement they’re both happy with. Though most of the time the company most likely will be the one to adapt to the changes requested by the clients as for the reason that the company’s goal is to make their clients satisfied. An outsourcing company is a delicate company to handle. Every project and client is to be considered as fragile as it is. Once the company make a single mistake everything will be affected, it’s like having a domino effect to the projects. The company should always avoid clients losing its trust to the company. For instance, the company will give some discounts or other deals that would probably be very beneficial to the clients to be able to save the client and the project. Thus, it is occasional that the client will agree to this remedy.

Well, a good leader moreover leads a big role for managing an outsourcing company. If the leader has an outstanding performance it will reflect also to the work of his employees. If they respect their leader they might serve their client as well. After that it will produce a successful project and it will serves a firm basis and brings good feedback that their company is an outstanding one, invites other client to make a deal with their company. It’s all about the interchanging effect that surrounds the cycle between the leader/president-employees-clients-company. But after all the success of the team and the project will rely on how the President and the employee develop and work on the project. Communication is the key tool on every business. All the transactions, deals and many more are all transmitted through communication. If ever there would be failure in communication, everything might be compromised and may lead to project failure. So in communication, everybody must be well prepared, mentally and physically ready for anything. Communication challenges are common yet can discourage even the best project managers and leaders causing project failures. Even in the best of circumstances, it is easy to suffer from miscommunication and confusion. The team leader should asked team members for their understanding. Send reminders. Follow up. The project manager should always formulate strategies.To carry out the goals of this project, they must plan to achieve the objectives and goals that the client wants. Plan everything thoroughly to be able to adapt to certain measures and can encompass a long period of time that can finish this complicated goal. The project manager must also plan to use its resources with utmost care. The client’s demands and requests must be noted and analyze with consideration and each of the persons in the team be treated with care. This brings to the next thought which is the workforce. The team should be in an ideal location in an orderly manner. In doing for a project, they will eventually tire out and attention is needed for them to recuperate and work for the project again. The efficiency of the team can further be realized with the leadership traits of the leader, which is the project manager. The project manager should have a vision. If the project manager can inspire the team to work harder, then the project will be given a meaning.The project manager should be a good communicator. It’s an important ability for the manager to effectively negotiate and use persuasion when necessary to ensure the success of the team and the project. There must be directness and openness when dealing or communicating with members of the project so that they can be reminded of their responsibilities, goals and their future performance. Time is not always on our side especially to the project manager and the team themselves. That’s why they should learn how to handle time management and should give more time to the work at hand. Late projects aren’t accepted and if they do, failure comes to their way. Time must be at the thoughts of the project manager in planning for the project such as the date of preparing or releasing the project or how much time do they have to create it.After finishing the plan of the project, the project manager can now begin the preparations in starting the project. Using the resources at hand, the project manager can now utilize the tools he needs to make the project work. In preparing projects, they should know that it can be managed and controlled. They must also allocate resources if they are available to the project or really needed. Preparations must be carefully planned and conceptualized. By preparing everything, and showing the clients confidence and that the team is very well prepared, the clients can be confident in giving you funds to better improve the project’s completion. As all project managers should know, in preparing the project, they must know how it should be managed like planning for example. Other factors are time management, the capital needed for it to be working, the members of the team to be assembled and some others. Allocating resources to projects needed is essential for the project to be fully completed with efficiency. The project manager can’t give a project on creating a sculpture to members who are web developers. They must be given a task specified or related to their job. Giving them the work of creating a website will do. Also the project manager should allocate its funding properly and must not waste it on petty accessories on the project. Also, the team should be eager in dealing with the client clearly and properly during the agreement even without seeing each other. Step-by-step process until the project will have its progress and finally it will profitably be use by the client. The assigned team must be keen in observing the development of the project from the start until the very end. Somehow the project will yield without error. After this it could remark their company as well the team that they do great job in making projects. It will enhance their standing in the eyes of other clients on the field of outsourcing industry. It will uplift also their ranking as well. If they succeed on a particular project it will attract more clients and create new jobs. Having a relationship with the client is a huge factor for every project. The company also should take good care of the client, so that the client would payback their vigor in addition for the success of the project. Through the cycle both must have a regular communication and organize schedule of checking the improvements of the project. The company must be active for the clients’ needs and wants. So that it will cover and be worked immediately. 

2. What methodology is appropriate for this project to avoid this kind of problem?

There are many methodologies that were made. But even though companies used these methodologies they cannot assure that the project would be 100% successful, because there are always risks and unpredicted issues that could arise. A good methodology for this situation is Agile Project Management. Why agile? It is because agile project management focuses on adaptability to changing situations and constant, regular feedback. This is very good especially in BPO industry when the customer feedback is very important. Especially sometimes it is very unavoidable that clients may request some drastic changes during in the middle of development process. Sometimes, miscommunication may occur between developer’s side and client’s side. There are also times when the development team can’t be able to picture out what the project leader or project manager is trying to portray about the end result of the project. Sometimes, misunderstandings between members also occur, most cases caused by task confusion. This is the reason agile project management is perfect fit, constant communication is key to solving all of this issues quick. Misunderstanding can only be solved by communication of objecting parties and through proper communication itself alone will it be solved. In this case failure to make proper tasks schedules is one of the main faults. When one or more issues arise, chaos comes along with the development team. It will be very hard for them to track their progress as well as which part has issues and which parts are affected when solutions are inserted. Agile methodology is suited for this since it has adaptive capabilities to changes. Constant communication will give the team and the clients proper view of the project, if ever there will be changes to come the development team could quickly adapt to changes and find quick solutions avoiding further conflicts to future tasks and thus avoiding the project to fail. The good thing about agile project management methodology is that because of its adaptive capability and constant feedback with customers, it can provide satisfaction to the customers as it will perfectly provide what exactly the customers desires. Sometimes or more often the clients fail to express what they really desire, sometimes what leads to miscommunication is when clients themselves doesn’t really know what exactly they want, thus giving the company or the development team only a glimpse of what they really want. With Agile project management Methodology, clients may slowly picture out what’s their desired output as they will be given constant updates on what’s going on with the project. This type of transparency between the two parties could greatly benefit them. The development team will not be wasting further time finishing tasks that may result to garbage tasks because in the end the client asked some drastic changes. More importantly, the satisfaction on the clients side are guaranteed with this methodology as it will allow them to view step by step progress and thus making step by step tweaks as well. This will avoid confusion to both sides as it will help the client as well to slowly finalize and picture out what’s their desired output really is. Sometimes the project output with Agile project management is a lot better than using Waterfall project management, it is because unlike waterfall where project requirements are usually defined at the beginning, with little to no alterations to the plan unless absolutely necessary, Agile project management allows clients to see better changes and better output to be delivered by the development team because of communication in the middle of development process. Thus, agile project management could deliver better output considering this case.