1. Discuss how your mind map might be used to facilitate other project planning activities such as resource allocation, schedule development, and risk analysis.

CASE

Samson University

Samson University is a small liberal arts university located in the northeast of the country. Recently, QBS Inc., a large multinational corporation headquartered in the same city, made a large gift to the university to develop a 1-year Master of Science program in Project Management. To develop the new Project Management program, Samson's business school dean, Dr. Ryan, asked Professor Scott to chair a taskforce to develop the new degree program. Together, Dean Ryan and Professor Scott decided that Professors Samuelson, Kacy, Regan, and Lee should also serve on the taskforce.

At the taskforce launch meeting, Dean Ryan acknowledged how much she appreciated everyone's willingness to serve on the taskforce given all their other responsibilities. She went on to explain how developing this program would significantly enhance the university's relationships with QBS, lead to important job opportunities for its graduates, and ultimately enhance the university's reputation. She then turned the meeting over to Professor Scott.

Professor Scott Began

I would also like to echo Dean Ryan's appreciation for your willingness to serve on this taskforce. Personally, I am very excited about this opportunity and I truly believe we can develop a program that is unique and will attract great students and major employers. Today, my goal is to have us brainstorm about what work we need to undertake to complete our charge. I will record the ideas you come up with on the flip chart and then use this to develop a draft project schedule for your review.So without further delay, what ideas come to mind regarding the work we need to do to complete our charge?

Professor Lee was the First to Respond

In my view, the first thing we need to do is benchmark other Project Management programs and find out what courses these programs offer. Also, I think we need to decide what our goal is. In particular, are we trying to develop a program that achieves parity with other programs or are we trying to reinvent the way project management is taught?

Professor Kacy Next Chimed In

I agree with Dr. Lee that benchmarking is an important step. Based on what we learn from benchmarking other programs, we will then need to develop the curriculum for our program.

Dean Ryan Added

From an administrative perspective, as you develop the curriculum you will need to consider faculty-related issues. For example, does our current faculty have the background to teach the new courses? And if so, is there sufficient slack that we can accommodate the new courses in the faculty's current teaching loads?

Professor Samuelson Suggested

In addition to benchmarking other programs, I think it is important to solicit input from key stakeholder groups including potential students, our faculty, and companies that would recruit graduates of the program.

Dr. Lee Agreed

I completely agree with Dr. Samuelson. My suggestion is we create an online survey to solicit recruiter opinions.

Dean Ryan Added

Speaking of recruiters, we also need to evaluate whether we have sufficient resources in our Career Management Center to handle the coaching and placement needs of this new group of students.

Professor Scott Next Suggested

There are a lot of issues that come to mind regarding the curriculum. For example, should we develop a skills matrix? How much hands-on experience should be emphasized? Should the program be organized around modules or should we have standard semester length courses?

Building on Professor Scott's Comments, Professor Kacy Remarked

Yes, getting the curriculum right is critical. Also, we need to determine the split between hard analytical skills and softer skills. And if we were to go with modules, would there be themes for each module?

Professor Regan then Commented

Another issue we need to address is what would be the admissions criteria for the program? For example, would students need to have some number of years of work experience?

As the Discussion Died Down, Professor Scott Wrapped up the Meeting

This has been a productive meeting. I think we have done an excellent job identifying the work ahead of us. I greatly appreciate the passion each of you has demonstrated and the contributions all of you have made. I will take the list we generated, organize it a bit, and then develop a tentative schedule for your review. I will also have my staff assistant send out a poll to identify a weekly meeting time.

Questions

1. Critique the launch meeting. Are there aspects you think are worth emulating? Are there aspects you would do differently?
2. Develop a mind map for this project using the ideas shared in the meeting and other ideas that occur to you to identify the work that needs to be done to complete the project.
3. Convert your mind map into a WBS.
4. Review your mind map and identify risky potential failure points. Which are the most serious? Which are the most likely? Determine the most critical failure points by calculating all their RPNs. Develop a contingency plan for each of the most critical failure points you identify.