{"id":250,"date":"2018-03-04T19:08:11","date_gmt":"2018-03-05T03:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0017\/?p=250"},"modified":"2018-03-04T19:08:11","modified_gmt":"2018-03-05T03:08:11","slug":"unit-3-activity-1-project-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0017\/unit-3-activity-1-project-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Unit 3 – Activity 1 – Project Management?"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the purpose of this post, I am going to discuss a project I was a part of over a year ago, as I am in a transition in my career at the moment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was part of a small team that built a course for foreign trained IT professionals.\u00a0 <\/span>The BC government identified that there was a significant gap between the number of tech related jobs and the number of skilled workers available to fill those jobs.\u00a0 <\/span>They identified immigrants and refugees as a large group who have relevant skills, but lack adequate credentials to fill most of the positions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The course I was a part of was developed to build employment related language skills, soft skills, cultural acclimatization, job preparation, as well as knowledge and ability to survive in an intensive coding related bootcamp that they were to enter upon finishing our program.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The course was loosely separated into sections and competencies to develop.\u00a0 <\/span>Myself and another instructor\/designer found resources and planned the instructional methods.\u00a0 <\/span>After an all too loose plan and set of entrance requirements, the course ran through one cohort.\u00a0 <\/span>With such a mix of skills and language ability, many of the students were either bored and knew the material, or were way over their heads. \u00a0 <\/span>Many did not succeed in the bootcamp.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This leads me to the \u2018problem\u2019. \u00a0 <\/span>I was asked to run the program again a few months later (initiation)<\/b>.\u00a0 <\/span>I was not given guidance on how to make changes, but was promised that entrance requirements would be altered, and a higher standard expected. \u00a0 <\/span>I needed to ascertain the needs of my learners more effectively, and cater programming to help them succeed in the bootcamp and then at work.\u00a0 <\/span>I was just given a blanket number of hours and a loose scope that I needed to adapt the program, with no mandate or set of requirements to deliver.\u00a0 <\/span>The project execution plan was my own ability to prioritize and work through what I felt was needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the stakeholders were those who ran the bootcamp, as well as employers at large, I was given no guidance on who to speak to.\u00a0 <\/span>I reached out to my own network of subject matter experts, and gathered information on key competencies needed at work.\u00a0 <\/span>I gathered extensive information on clients enrolled in the program during my planning <\/b>phase, and interviewed each student (there were only 15) to get a handle on their background etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I made extensive changes in my implementation<\/b> phase.\u00a0 <\/span>Again, there was really no \u2018project management\u2019, only my own determinations and how I adapted the material.\u00a0 <\/span>The course ran, it was a great success, with increased engagement, positive feedback, overwhelming graduation rate in the bootcamp, and 80% gaining employment within a month of completion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe my students benefited from these changes, and how I went about managing and facilitating this learning.\u00a0 <\/span>The stakeholders in a way were those who ran my school, given that there was overwhelming interest in the program.\u00a0 <\/span>The challenge here though is that this organization is government funded, and as soon as the program finished, no promises could be made as to when it would run again.\u00a0 <\/span>It hasn\u2019t, and now there are rumblings of them wanting me to make changes for the next iteration. <\/span><\/p>\n

Had there been a project management plan in place where changes were part of a \u2018plan\u2019, with data gathered at closeout <\/b>as to what worked, what didn\u2019t, as well as how to involve stakeholders (employers etc.), this program would have much more of a chance at success.\u00a0 <\/span>As it sits now, I am the only one who even knows where the materials are (not to mention how to teach them)!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If I am to get involved in contracts such as this where I build curriculum in future, I will make a point of involving others at the organization (and external stakeholders) as much as possible, in order to gain insights into how the program can directly develop relevant employability skills.\u00a0 <\/span>This will also alleviate my own frustrations, as aspects such as scope management will be made clear when planning the project, estimating hours, costs etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if I am to be the only one developing the content for programs such as this, creating a situation where elements of the process are clearly outlined, and meetings are held to make modifications as risks and scope are identified or changed, will in my eyes help me to do a better job.\u00a0 <\/span>I will also create a degree of consistency, professionalism and transparency for any programming I am involved in developing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Reference<\/span><\/p>\n

Watt, A. (2014). Project Management. Victoria, BC: BCCampus.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the purpose of this post, I am going to discuss a project I was a part of over a year ago, as I am in a transition in my career at the moment.\u00a0 I was part of a small… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[63,21],"class_list":["post-250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lrnt525","tag-projectmanagement","tag-rrumalat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions\/251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}