It is important to become comfortable receiving and giving constructive criticisms since this is an important component in one's professional growth and development and a core competency for leaders. Read the initial posting from peer below and then provide thoughtful comments addressing the following:

Point out what you perceived to be the strengths of the initial posting along with supporting rationale. Identify specific opportunities for improvement with regard to the content in the initial posting. Furthermore, you should provide supporting rationale for your stated position, as well as concrete suggestions and guidance intended to strengthen the effectiveness of the content. For these responses, should outside sources be used to support the content within the postings, proper in-text citations and correctly formatted references should be prepared consistent with the APA. The list of references should be physically positioned at the end of the postings.

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Unit 8: Discussion - PM Plan for New Expansion

Objective: Project Management Plan for New Expansion.

Keep being strand have an exciting announcement to make. We are moving forward with our expansion plans, and we have detailed project planning for the new east wing. This project will be "the art of planning, handling, and executing construction projects. These projects demand knowledge in various fields starting from finance and law to business and management," (Kumar, 2021). Before we dive into the three major components of our plan first let's take a look at what is a construction management plan and how it can help us have success with the new expansion. "A construction management plan is a document that entails detailed information on mechanisms, tools, resources, and the knowledge transfer necessary to deliver complex construction projects," (Kumar, 2021).

Now that we know what project management is let's take a quick look at why it's so important. "If you've ever missed a deadline, gone over budget, or faced an unhappy team or client, you know just how tough managing projects can be. It's not fun to let people down," (LaPrad, 2020). In short it helps deliver a project and we'll give the project management Peace of Mind while performing all the tasks. Let's dive into the first task list with our durations.

1. Task List with Durations:

Site Preparation

Duration: 2 weeks (Start Date: March 1, End Date: March 14)

Foundation Construction

Duration: 4 weeks (Start Date: March 15, End Date: April 11)

Structural Framing

Duration: 3 weeks (Start Date: April 12, End Date: May 2)

Roofing and Exterior Enclosure

Duration: 3 weeks (Start Date: May 3, End Date: May 23)

Interior Construction

Duration: 5 weeks (Start Date: May 24, End Date: June 27)

Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) Installation

Duration: 6 weeks (Start Date: June 28, End Date: August 8)

Finishing and Punch List

Duration: 3 weeks (Start Date: August 9, End Date: August 29)

Testing

Kibby and strand will be using the project management institute guidance as we perform this expansion. Before we get into the diagram let's look at a couple of critical reasons why planning is important and should never be taken lightly. First and foremost proper planning will minimize stress as well as inspire confidence and will drive communication with all stakeholders. The project management plans will unite and focus teams and create accountability. With its accountability it will keep deadlines on track and prevent team overload. Lastly the construction project plan will take the fear out of the change it will mitigate risks and also will increase profitability. "With a plan, you're more likely to hit your project goals on time and budget. And less time and money wasted means more room for your business to actually grow," (LaPrad, 2020).

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2. Diagram Gant Chart (Smart Sheets)

Figure 1 Gant Chart Kibby Strand (Hall, 2024).

Figure 2 Gant Chart Kibby Strand (Hall, 2024).

Figure 3 Gant Chart Kibby Strand (Hall, 2024).

Figure 4 Gant Chart Kibby Strand (Hall, 2024).

Figure 4 Gant Chart Kibby and Strand (Hall, 2024).

3. Critical Path:

"Project managers must juggle resources, talent, budgets and expectations to ensure a project's execution is successful and completed on time," (Rudder et al, 2023). The critical path is the longest path through the network diagram, which determines the shortest possible duration for the project. In this case for Kibby and Strands expansion plan the critical path important to embrace and will be used moving forward. "By prioritizing tasks that have no buffer time and completing other tasks around them, project managers can efficiently keep projects progressing to an on-time completion," (Rudder et al, 2023).

Site Preparation (2 weeks)

Foundation Construction (4 weeks)

Structural Framing (3 weeks)

Interior Construction (5 weeks)

MEP Installation (6 weeks)

Finishing & Testing (3 weeks)

Total duration of the critical path: 2 + 4 + 3 + 5 + 6 + 3 = 23 weeks

By following this critical path, we can ensure that the expansion project is completed in the shortest possible time frame, minimizing downtime and allowing operations to resume as soon as possible. Our goal is to turn the new expansion over to operations and with the critical path model we can utilize the benefits that it provides. "The critical path method offers project managers the ability to stay on budget more easily, schedule talent and resources efficiently, monitor progress, not get overwhelmed with project management demands, monitor and report on project progress and keep scope creep in check," (Rutter et al, 2023). Let's take a closer look add some specifics of the benefits. Critical path method makes budget control easy it creates scheduling simplifies project management as well as resource allocation streamlined. While there's no true effortless approach to construction management the monitoring will be easier the reporting will be straightforward and will definitely help with scope creep management. We want to thank you for your time to look at our expansion construction management plan. We're excited about the new possibilities as we move into the air of more fashion driven textiles. We're also excited to announce the guru of our planning Doctor Gaught and his amazing group from the MBA 576 Team. Lastly, we want to thank our COO Dr. Joshua hall who made all this possible and his hard work and dedication has made this possible.

Godspeed and Semper Fidelis

Reference:

Kumar, A., & Software, S. (2024, January 11). A detailed guide to Construction Project

Management plans. Resources Library.https://www.saviom.com/blog/detailed-guide-construction-project-management-plans/

LaPrad, L. (2023, September 23). Why planning is important in Project Management: Teamgantt.

RSS.https://www.teamgantt.com/blog/why-planning-is-important-in-project-management

Stevenson, W.J. (2021). Operations Management. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Rudder, A. (2023, May 5). Critical path method (CPM): The ultimate guide. Forbes.

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/critical-path-method/