Project Management Skills

Sarah Brennan

OGl 321

Module 4 Paper

April 10, 2022

how using knowledge can help visualize the future. Knowledge plays a big role in managing

projects uncertainty since it allows the project manager to plan out how projects and events will

occur. We see that tactic acknowledgement is beneficial by having the wisdom and experiences

that occur that allow managers to know how to successfully tackle a project and close deals

efficiently. The Hallmarks of effective decision making include being timeliness, deciding

whose decision it is, involving the right people to make the decision making, communication

within the team, consistency, finding the window of opportunity and lastly measuring

effectiveness. All of these Hallmarks lead up to making an evidence-based decision by going

through all the factors of what it takes to decide on something important within the project.

I would say I agree with these assertions based on the article that was provided in step

one of this project due to a lot of examples where it could lead to successful projects and I really

do think that decision making should be thought about more directly and more thoughtfully since

it is deciding important factors in the project. In my workplace at Starbucks I am constantly

needing to make knowledge based decisions daily where I really need to have some area of

experience to make those decisions. If I am not able to make that decision myself, I take a step

back to determine who would be the best fit for this area. I also agree that communication is key

since you need to have your team on board and on the same page to successfully get the work

done that is needed.

Looking back at the simulation earlier in this module, I believe some of this information

would have helped me decide what was the best decision for the team. I had many employees on

my team not fully understanding their jobs and felt stressed that I was not communicating

enough, so I would have taken a step back to get a view of what was going wrong and host more
meetings for who and when the help was needed. The next simulation I plan to implement some

of these skills I learned today on what I face next for unexpected situations, by planning for these

scenarios to happen before hand.

When I read the article, The Tao of Project Management, It was definitely a good blog

that shows how management differences can really affect a team. I read an example in this blog

where poor management is viewed as a manager that is eager for success but does not really care

about the team. The manager is so focused on showing how clever he is and creating a hectic

work environment that the team often feels ignored and unworthy. Then we look at a wise

project manager that does not care how smart he looks in front of his team, he is just focused on

how he can get his team to do their work effectively and protect the team.

I agree with these assertions that were made in that blog, as I am thinking about my

workplace and how I see myself as a manager, I do really try to be apart of the team that is their

to help with anything and not a manager that just tells people what to do and ignore them if they

need help. It definitely is important for project managers to be on the same page and act as an

equal to their team or at least give positive reinforcement and feedback to their team in order to

have the team feel valued and understand what they should and should not be doing.

This information is important to remember since it will always benefit you as being the

wise project manager instead of the poor manager since it shows immaturity and disrespect to the

team that is working for you and for future projects that may come along and they know of your

history of managing styles. In the simulation that we completed earlier this week, I think that this

article can be a little confusing to interpret into a online scenario because I am not actually

present as a manger online, but I do think in that scenario I could have used skills of being a
present and respectful manager so that my team had more confidence of feeling understood and

communicated with.

When I read the blog of: How to Manage Risks: A Guide for Project Managers, I learned

five effective ways to manage project risks. The first one being making risk identification a team

activity, this means involving your team and brainstorming together different risk scenarios and

all come together to propose possible solutions. This is something my management team does at

Starbucks at our weekly meetings, we go over possible scenarios where we have to coach or

resolve a conflict situation and we roleplay ways we can solve these situations together and get

feedback and advice from that.

The second most effective way to manage project risks is to determine your risk

tolerance, meaning the risk tolerance is the amount of risk you are willing to accept to achieve

your project goals. Having this planned out will allow you to know what to do in response to a

situation that came up that didn't go as planned. The third way to decide which risks to manage is

to decide which risks you want to take action on based on your risk tolerance and the resources

available to you. The third Way is to develop a plan for mitigating risks, developing a plan of

action for either avoiding or dressing the risks that came up and protect you from costly delays

and project failures. And lastly we should track risks throughout the Project Life Cycle meaning

tracking risks throughout the project helps you identify new risks as they rise and determine

whether existing risks are getting worse or better.

All of those effective ways to manage a project really come in handy by being prepared

for the worst outcomes while hoping for the best outcomes. You always should have back up

plans set up to allow time and knowledge of possible risks that may arise and when they do you

and your team will be able to tackle those risks successfully.

that these effective ways would be very helpful as I kept getting outcomes out of my control and

I was not prepared at all for those risks that arose. If I had used this method of planning for

project risks, I would have been more prepared to tackle these situations better and have a better

plan. For future simulations I plan to take into consideration risks that could possibly affect

timelines, team stress levels, budgets, etc and plan out how I would overcome those obstacles.

Over all, I plan on incorporating all of these strategies I have learned in the blogs and

articles in my current job as a manager and see how this improves my everyday management

routine as well as when I am in charge of a project. Next simulation I will be trying out these

scenarios as well to test out if this can improve my overall score, which I am hoping it does

because I feel as if I went over many things in this project that I was struggling with last

simulation.
 Resources

“5 Tested Ways to Mitigate Project Management Risks.” 5 Tested Ways To Mitigate

Project Management Risks, https://blog.capterra.com/mitigate-project-management-risks/.

Blogger, P M. The Tao of Project Management, 1 Jan. 1970,

http://thetaoofpm.blogspot.com/.

ProQuest Ebook Central.

https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/lib/asulib-ebooks/reader.action?

docID=438596.