Individual Reflective Review

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Individual Reflective Review

In my learning journey throughout this course, individual reflections have been indispensable learning tools because they have allowed me to express my experiences, perspectives, and thoughts in developing various topics and concepts covered throughout the entire unit. In essence, reflective reviews have been illuminations of intense learning experiences expressed as thoughtful and informative accounts of learning accomplishments, lessons learned, improvements made through the learning process, and perhaps some unresolved issues. The impetus of the current reflective review is the critical reflection on two specific items relating to my project. The first is the effectiveness and suitability of the tools I used in planning my project while the second is the examination of teamwork and the performance of my teammates.

Reflection on Project Planning Tools

Tools Used in Project Planning

I used four tools in planning my project, all of which are discussed in the PMBOK Guide by Project Management Institute (2013) and Snyder (2017). These tools include a Gantt chart, a network diagram, a project charter, and a milestone chart. I used the Gantt chart as a tool for planning and representing my project’s schedule graphically. I remember that using the Gantt chart assisted me in planning for all upcoming project stages, tracking progress in ongoing project tasks, identifying dependencies between project activities, and identifying possible schedule delays that could affect the timely delivery of my project. I used the network diagram as a visual tool for detailing the sequence of my project work. Utilising this tool in planning my project was valuable because it facilitated the scheduling and control of key project activities by allowing me to analyse several scheduling alternatives, thereby choosing the most suitable scheduling option. I used the milestone chart as a tool for planning significant project-related events scheduled to take place at specific times in my project. This tool helped me to determine differences in planned dates and estimated dates of achieving particular project milestones at each project-related reporting period. Also, the tool enabled me to track the steps of my project on its timeline, visualise progress towards realising these steps, and comprehend significant risk events associated with my project. I used the project charter as my last project planning tool to set project expectations and communicate my project’s description, goals, purpose, scope boundaries, success measurement criteria, and key deliverables. The project charter was a valuable tool for my project because it provided all the information needed for its commencement.

Tools I Found Most Useful

Of the four tools that I used in project planning, I found the Gantt chart and network diagram as the most useful ones and would use them again in future project planning. One reason I found the Gantt chart most useful was that it simplified the planning, coordination, and tracking of specific project tasks. Also, it indicated the completion of these tasks on projected finish dates. Another reason was that the Gantt chart helped me to visualise the possible project duration, the project resource needs, and articulate dependencies between and among project tasks.

The first reason I found the network diagram most useful is that it provided me with an essential analytical approach to managing my project schedule and resources throughout the project life. The second reason was that it allowed me to compute the earliest time for completing my project, which was not possible with my Gantt chart, a fact that Snyder (2017) and Wysocki (2014) subscribe.

Reflection on Teamwork

Aspects That Went Well

In our project initiatives, teamwork was essential to addressing new challenges collaboratively, performing project tasks strategically, and sharing ideas, information, and responsibilities innovatively towards achieving project goals. Teamwork was also an indispensable part of my learning journey because it allowed me to gain specific skills that I need later in my professional practice. Such skills include collective effort, constructive compromise, sound communication, and the ability to assess teamwork effectiveness. Looking back to what we accomplished as a team, I can attest that five aspects of teamwork went well, which allowed us to function as a high-performance team in project accomplishments.

The first of these elements was communication. I believe that team communication went well because we managed to maintain open lines of communication throughout the project work. We knew that for us to operate as an effective, high-performance team, we needed to embrace honest communication to ensure sufficient flow amongst ourselves. The team members performed excellently as regards maintaining open, honest, and ongoing communication, which stimulated mutual understanding, cultivated a sense of supportiveness and enhanced progress in a productive direction. Such communication also enabled us to freely share information and inventive ideas while allowing each member to comprehend their roles. This was valuable to realising time economy when completing our project initiatives.

The second teamwork aspect that went well was trust and commitment. Following the openness of and honesty in communication, we managed to establish strong bonds and relationships. Consequently, these bonds and relationships were fundamental building blocks of enhancing trust among team members. In turn, this trust made each of them express full commitment to attaining the project goals. By trusting each other, we devoted our energy and time to advance our project purpose and objectives and balance our workloads, which made us deliver exceptional project outcomes. We were fully aware of the fact that distrust could lead to a lack of commitment to project initiatives, besides provoking unnecessary team conflicts that often damage team performance by creating needless gaps between members’ output.

The third teamwork feature that went well was the application of cultural diversity. My team was multicultural, which means that cultural diversity was an influential component of the team. Studying the PMBOK Guide provided by the Project Management Institute (2013) enabled me to learn the need to capitalise on the cultural diversity of team members realised to make the best out of the team. The cultural diversity of the team manifested in the form of diversity in creativity, industry-specific experience, and norms. Throughout the project lifecycle, we appreciated and respected our cultural difference. This, together with blending our culturally diverse skills, talents, and technical competencies, facilitated an interdependent functioning among team members in a team atmosphere of mutual trust.

The four teamwork aspect that I believe went well was the concept of change adaptability. In our team, we were highly adaptable and flexible to changing situations under which we were working. My colleagues and I knew that change when handling project matters is inevitable. Thus, as an effective and high-impact team, we had to adapt to changes arising in our strategies, tasks, workflows, and the ways we were working together. Accordingly, we designed and implemented tactics that enabled us to rally together, address team challenges head-on, and balance our ideological differences without resisting change.

The last aspect of the team that went well was the establishment of team creativity and confidence. There was adequate creative freedom in my team, which allowed us to try new things without the fear of failure. Working on our creativity freely enabled us to blend elements of effective teamwork, trust, change adaptability, open communication, and this enhanced our confidence in our project work. As I reflect on our achievements, I must state that team confidence was essential to our optimal functioning as a group because it cultivated our collective efficacy, defined our intrinsic drive, and impelled our performance.

Aspect That Failed and What Will Be Done Different

Despite these successful team aspects, two things did not go so well with my team. The first was talent differences. While the diversity of talents was crucial to skill enhancement, creativity, and supporting efficacy in our interdependent functioning, differences in talents influenced imbalances of members’ contributions to the team. Some members contributed more to the team than others, and the lack of balance of contribution affected the overall team productivity. I feel that this was not only frustrating for members who felt that they were high-performers but also triggered a few conflicts were experienced. The conflicts we had to deal with as a consequence of talent differences include personality clashes, conflicts over project accomplishment strategies, and opinion differences.

The second aspect that did not go so well was the concept of self-awareness. A few team members demonstrated traits that reveal low self-awareness. These included a know-it-all attitude, resistance to feedback, and unproductive criticisms. Low self-awareness affected the team by triggering low engagement in some instances, but we later solved this problem by encouraging positive team attitudes to ensure high engagement. What I could have done differently as a team member to avoid issues stemming from talent differences is to set project goals based on team members’ capabilities and skills. To overcome problems arising from low self-awareness, what I would have done differently would entail leveraging team feedback to identify cues to traits that indicate low self-awareness in team members.

Summary

This reflective review has highlighted the tools that I adopted in planning for my project. It has also allowed for a critical assessment of the elements that defined the effectiveness and appropriateness of teamwork as we engaged in the project processes. Completing it has been indispensable in expressing my understanding of team dynamics and their impact on successful teamwork in project work. Also, my completion of this reflective review has been valuable to ‘jogging my memory’ of the tools of project planning that I need to include in my project management toolkit in my future professional practice. Going forward, I will take into consideration the teamwork areas I identified as having not done so well to devise some strategies for addressing these areas and making improvements to team functioning.

References

Project Management Institute. (2013). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (5 Ed.). Newtown Square, Pennsylvania: Project Management Institute, Inc.

Snyder, C. S. (2017). A project manager’s book of forms: A companion to the PMBOK guide (3 Ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey. John Wiley & Sons.

Wysocki, R. K. (2014). Effective project management: Traditional, agile, extreme (7 Ed.). Indianapolis, IN. John Wiley & Sons.