11:17 a! '' 59 ( Back Assignment2(1).docx v ['1] Case Study: Project Management at Global Green Books Publishing Global Green Books Publishing was started two years ago by two friends, Jim King and Brad Mount, who met in college while studying in Philadelphia, USA. In the new business Jim focused on editing, sales and marketing while Brad Mount did the electronic assembly and publishing of books for Global Green Books. Their business was successful and protable in the rst two years, largely due to contracts from two big businesses. In their third year they got very busy thanks to their third major customer, a local college that needed customized eBooks. They hired several part time employees to help them with their publishing business. But by the end of third year of operation, Global Green Books started experiencing critical problems. They were: - unable to leverage all the new employees effectively - unable to deliver eBooks to their customers on schedule - unable to provide quality textstime and money was being spent xing defects in their products - unable to control coststheir business was not protable in the third year. Global Green Books saw a signicant rise in issues, a lot of unpleasant \"surprises\" were cropping up; business was down as new resources were hired, also some of the projects were poorly estimated. The local university was unhappy as their eBook products reached campus late for use by professors and student. In some cases, the books were a week or two late. Since the courses must start on schedule and studentsmme beginning 11:17 a! "1\" ( Back Assignment2(1).docx v Samantha asked for more time to research all the issues but noted that Global Green Books, while being innovative, completed projects without a roadmap or a project plan and lacked a disciplined approach to project management. She noted that Jim and Brad did not use any project software for scheduling and they did not use tools or techniques to estimate, budget or to communicate with stakeholders. Finally, they had no processes in place to manage project risks and quality. Impressed with this and other conversations, Jim King asked Samantha if she would consider joining them as a project associate or project manager on a full-time basis to help them introduce project management practices and help them tide over their current crisis. Samantha accepted the offer! She has several key skillsshe is an excellent communicator with very good interpersonal skills and detail- oriented. Within the rst three months in her new role as PM, she introduced formal project management processes, created a PM manual and trained the employees to get the work done well. Within nine months Samantha had fully turned things around. Due to proactive risk analysis and risk response planning, surprises and issues reduced. Communication with stakeholders was enhanced. Brad and Jim noted that the company was delivering projects on schedule, the quality processes workedand customers were happy with the products! Comment on the following aspects of the case study: a) Why did Global Green Books Publishing struggle? 1'\" What XXIPI'F' fnp QhPPI1P 5:71 enln'rinhq fl'm'r 11:17 a! '' 59 ( Back Assignment2(1).docx v ['1] lllllUULlUU Pl UJ UUL llldllagclllclll Pl dULIUUb allu help them tide over their current crisis. Samantha accepted the offer! She has several key skillsshe is an excellent communicator with very good interpersonal skills and detail- oriented. Within the rst three months in her new role as PM, she introduced formal project management processes, created a PM manual and trained the employees to get the work done well. Within nine months Samantha had fully turned things around. Due to proactive risk analysis and risk response planning, surprises and issues reduced. Communication with stakeholders was enhanced. Brad and Jim noted that the company was delivering projects on schedule, the quality processes workedand customers were happy with the products! Comment on the following aspects of the case study: a) Why did Global Green Books Publishing struggle? b) What were the specic PM solutions that were introduced by Samantha that worked? 0) What kind of suggestions would you give to Brad and Jim if you were the PM? (1) Are you aware of other similar startup businesses that struggle in a similar manner? How did they overcome the challenges? e) Global Green Books Publishing is a technology intensive business, but Samantha is not technically knowledgeable, will she continue to be a successful project manager? Source: wwwpmi.0rg 11:17 59