Life Prior to Project Management

Before I write about proper project management, I should first tell you about how my life was prior to taking Professor Drake's IS 445 Project Management class. What I thought was a well oiled machine of a workflow turned out to be rather rusty and full of holes. It only took a few weeks of this class to realize that my methods of project management were in severe need of help.

Some background: I own multiple businesses. I started my first business in 1998, when I was 13 years old. While other kids were out playing in the playgrounds, I spent my evenings at home trying to build my own website. Countless hours were invested in studying other people's work, and then I would try to spin what I learned around to fit my needs. Eventually, I was ready and excited to start making websites for other people. My father owned a recording studio that had a constant flow of local artists coming in looking for new ways to market their music. This fortunate opportunity brought me quite a bit of business, and without any prior experience in running a successful business, I had to make things up as I went.

Truthfully, not every project I worked on was successful. I realize now that some of the steps I instinctively went through had official project management terms, like defining scope, time, and cost requirements. Of course I did not use these terms back then, but some part of me naturally assumed that there was some level of importance to this.

I noticed patterns with certain projects. For example, I noticed that if I did not establish an agreed upon scope with the client, that the project often failed. Having an undefined constraint left a lot up for interpretation, and eventually misunderstandings arose.

I had no idea about process groups or knowledge areas. The process groups (initiating, planning, executing, monitoring/controlling, closing) all make complete sense now, but I did not understand the importance of each group. Furthermore, the knowledge areas (integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communications, risk, procurement, stakeholder management) were completely off my radar, but hearing about them now gives me some peace of mind that it is entirely possible to become proficient in each of those areas.

My goal this semester is to immediately start utilizing the skills I learn in this class on the projects I have on my table. I have no doubt that by applying these skills, it will be much easier for me to remember them in the future. Who knows, maybe I can leave this class with the ability to manage larger projects that previously had me terrified to approach.