A Day in the Life of a Project Manager

Unit Assignments

Unit I Web Assignment

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A Day in the Life of a Project Manager

Conduct an Internet search for articles and web sites relating to “a day in the life of a project manager” and “project manager skills.”

Answer the following two questions:

1. What do you believe are some of the most important things a project manager has to handle on a daily basis?
2. What are at least three skills a project manager will need in order to be successful?

Submit this assignment as one comprehensive MS Word document of no less than 800 words. You are required to use at least one reference as a source material for your response. You must also use one outside source. Format your paper using APA style. Use your own words, and include citations and references as needed to avoid plagiarism.

Information about accessing the Blackboard Grading Rubric for this assignment is provided below.

Unit II Project

Project Charter

Using the Project Charter Template, choose either planning a birthday party or planning a ten year high school reunion as your base project to work with. Remember this is your project definition, so write out your information clearly in business language.

• Be sure to fill out each section in detail using as much information as possible. The charter has guidance on it in red font, so please follow this and then remove any template evidence from your assignment.
• There may be information that is not easily accessible, so you may have to conduct some nominal research, as this is a fictitious project. Make this document as professional looking as possible. You are the project manager for the reunion or birthday party. Therefore, present the documentation as if this is going to the client that “hired” you as the project manager to plan their special occasion.
• ollow the guidance and instructions in each section of the template.

Click here to access the template for this assignment.

Information about accessing the Blackboard Grading Rubric for this assignment is provided below.

Unit II Assignment

Work Breakdown Structure

Using the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) template, choose either planning a birthday party or planning a ten year high school reunion as your base project to work with. (Use the same information you did for the Project Charter)

• Choose either the graphical (tree) or outline (list view) from the template document and create a work breakdown structure for your reunion or birthday party.
• Make sure each task is clear. Your textbook and the written lecture can serve as a refresher for this assignment.
• Make sure the verbiage in the template is changed to fit your project. Change all the wording from the template. None of the same tasks from the template should be in your Project.

Click here to access the template for this assignment.

Information about accessing the Blackboard Grading Rubric for this assignment is provided below.

Unit III Assignment

Ten Year Class Reunion Estimate/Schedule Project

You are planning a ten year class reunion for your former high school. You have been selected as the project manager to plan this event. Your high school has given you a firm budget of $15,000 to plan this event. Answer the following questions:

3. Make a list of things you must consider when creating your estimate for the reunion (i.e. food, entertainment, do you need a team of people to help?). Give approximate costs when you are creating this list. You do not have to go out and call hotels or restaurants, but put numbers to the items you have on your list. Make sure that your totals do not exceed the $15,000 firm budget.
4. The date the reunion will take place will be one year from this coming Saturday. Create a schedule with dates (mm/dd/yyyy format) leading up to the date of the reunion. List specific tasks that you need to do, or have done to plan a complete reunion (hint: you may want to go back and read about the process groups of initiate, plan, execute, and close to help with your schedule). You can search for free project schedule templates on the Internet to help you.
5. Discuss some of the schedule risks you may encounter putting together this type of estimate in a paragraph or two (what can go wrong?)

Information about accessing the Blackboard Grading Rubric for this assignment is provided below.

Unit IV Project

Channel Tunnel (Eurotunnel) Failure Project

This week is focused on project control and change management in order to keep a project on track. Conduct an Internet search for The Channel Tunnel Project as an example of poor project management. Searches are generally conducted under “Channel Tunnel,” “Eurotunnel,” and “Chunnel.”

Answer the following two questions:

2. Summarize the situation with the Channel Tunnel (Eurotunnel). Explain why poor project planning in terms of project control and change management made this project a failure.
3. What project control and change management strategies would you have used to prevent some of the issues?

Submit this assignment as one comprehensive MS Word document of no less than 800 words. You are required to use at least one reference as a source material for your response. You must also use one outside source. Format your paper using APA style. Use your own words, and include citations and references as needed to avoid plagiarism

Information about accessing the Blackboard Grading Rubric for this assignment is provided below.

Unit IV Web Assignment

Analyze Your Style Under Stress

On pages 63-69 of the Crucial Conversations textbook, there are instructions and an assessment to test your own style under stress.

Use the following link to take the assessment electronically. This is free, but you will have to register an account on the Vital Smarts website.

Take this assessment and answer the following three questions:

1. Summarize your test results and your style under stress.
2. Are you surprised by the results? Why or why not?
3. Knowing this information, what aspects of your style do you like and what aspects of your style would you like to work to change and how?

Submit this assignment as one comprehensive document of no less than 600 words. References and citations are not needed since you are discussing your own personal style.

Information about accessing the Blackboard Grading Rubric for this assignment is provided below.

Unit V Assignment

Jillson’s Custom Home Risk Management Plan

You are the owner of Aspenwell Design Custom Homes, which specializes in building custom and high quality homes in the Oakland, New Jersey area. You have just been hired by the Jillsons to build their dream home. They would like a three bedroom, three bathroom home.

Since you own the company, you act as both the main project manager and general contractor. You employ only a part-time accountant and the rest of the work is subcontracted local trade professionals (plumbers, electricians, lumber, etc.)

The housing market in Oakland, NJ is booming. You are tentatively scheduled to complete 14 houses this year.

You have promised the Jillsons that the final costs will range from $650,000 to $850,000 and that it will take eight months to complete the house once the lot has been cleared and the foundation digging has begun. The Jillsons are willing to have the project delayed in order to save some money. You are now brainstorming potential risks associated with this project with your client and subcontractors.

Using the above scenario and the risk template, create a risk plan for the Jillsons and all of your stakeholders.

Click here to access the template for this assignment.

Make sure each risk and mitigation plan is as specific as possible. Owners should be the person to contact in case the risk becomes an issue. List at least 10-15 detailed risks.

Remember to rank the highest risk items first.

Information about accessing the Blackboard Grading Rubric for this assignment is provided below.

Unit VI Web Assignment

Answer the following questions:

1. Conduct an online search for free leadership style quizzes (hint – it may help to search the words “what is your leadership style” or similar). Give a summary of your leadership style and whether you believe you would make a better leader or manager after taking a free online assessment of your leadership style (you can take more than one to validate your findings).
2. Conduct an online search regarding the difficulties of communication and how to overcome them. Summarize the article and how you will use the information to become a more effective communicator.
3. Conduct an online search regarding managing expectations. Summarize the article and how you will use the information to help you manage expectations on your next project.
4. Go back and review The Four Methods of Decision Making in the Crucial Conversations textbook. Give a summary of the last major decision you made (professionally or personally) and discuss how the decision was made and then how it should have been made (hint: use the four important questions from the Crucial Conversations textbook). How will this information help you make better decisions in the future?

Submit this assignment as one comprehensive MS Word document of no less than 300 words. You are required to use at least one reference as a source material for your response. You must also use one outside source. Format your paper using APA style. Use your own words, and include citations and references as needed to avoid plagiarism.

Information about accessing the Blackboard Grading Rubric for this assignment is provided below.

Unit VII Case Study

Netbook Case and Broken Promises

Click here to access the Case Study, “Netbook Case and Broken Promises.”

Read the Case Study and answer the following questions in detail. Submit this assignment as one comprehensive word document of no less than 800 words.

1. What do you believe is the best way to handle this situation if you were Nicholas? If you were Ting?
2. This contract has been signed by both parties and is in the administer phase of the procurement process. How would you continue managing this relationship if you were Nicholas?
3. How do you share this situation with your Project Manager, Evelyn? How do you think that the Project Manager and Nicholas could have worked better as a team? Do you think teamwork was exhibited in this situation?
4. What are your next steps if you were in Nicholas’s position?

Information about accessing the Blackboard Grading Rubric for this assignment is provided below.

Unit VII Essay

Teamwork Essay

Describe in your own words what you believe are the four most important characteristics of high-performing project teams. Discuss why you believe each characteristic you chose is so critical. Explain how they are related to each other.

Give an example of when you were part of a high performing team and what made the team you were part of successful (it can be a personal or professional example).

This essay should be no less than 500 words.

Information about accessing the Blackboard Grading Rubric for this assignment is provided below.

Unit VIII Essay

Putting It All Together

Please answer the following questions in your own words:

1. Refer to the Crucial Conversations textbook. What is the most important lesson you have learned during this course about crucial conversations and communications? How will you handle your conversations differently? Was the book of value to you?

2. What are four important things you have learned about the field of project management? Will you use this information in your current line of work and how?

Both of these questions should be answered in no less than 800 words (400 words per question).

Information about accessing the Blackboard Grading Rubric for this assignment is provided below.

APA Guidelines

CSU requires that students use APA style for papers and projects. Therefore, the APA rules for formatting, quoting, paraphrasing, citing, and listing of sources are to be followed. Students can find CSU’s Citation Guide in the myCSU Student Portal by clicking on the “Citation Resources” link in the “Learning Resources” area of the myCSU Student Portal. This document includes examples and sample papers and provides information on how to contact the CSU Success Center.