TOPIC 1: In reference to your current job (or a former one if you are currently not employed), please address the following: 1. Roughly what percentage of your work would you estimate to be of a project-related nature? Only 10-15% of my work is project-related in nature. I'm not sure how to explain this section. 2. How would distinguishing between your project-related work and non-project-related work enable you to better perform your job? The project-related work does not help my performance because there isn't any planning or discussion before the project is presented to the team. The non-project related work is managing employee/contractor concerns or issues that may be related to benefits, payroll, work issue, or a myriad of reasons. None are project-related. (Again, I need help explaining between the two). 3. What challenges and/or complications may arise if you do not make that distinction? I work for a company in the staffing industry. The complication/challenge that arises is not having a plan in place when project-related work is required/presented to the team. The powers that be have had a number of meetings to discuss the project, but do not have meetings with those working on the project. We adhere to deadlines provided, and ask questions as they arise. (If you have never had a project-related component in any job you have held, then respond in the context of a hypothetical or dream job that does have such a component.) TOPIC 2 Your readings this week pointed out that projects are differentiated by the space into which they fall in the simple, complicated, complex, chaotic continuum. 1. Do you think that one common approach (such as the traditional/waterfall approach) can be applied to all projects (regardless of where they fall in that continuum)? Why or why not? One common approach would not be feasible for any of the project-related work because each project is different. There are a variety of requirements for each, it is not a one-size fits all type of situation. The agile approach works well for our team, because we may not have the "whole" picture, and have to work the project with the portions we are given. 2. If your answer to #1 above is "no", then explain what might go wrong if you apply such a common approach. If "yes", please elaborate. Since all of the projects I have worked on have been different, a common approach would lead the end result not being the intended result for that particular project. As a team, we have to approach each project with a new mindset. The projects may look the same, but there are neuonces that distinguish each project from one another to such a degree that they are completely different. 3. Also discuss potential challenges (if any) that you may encounter in your organization if you were to propose an approach that is different from one the organization currently follows, and how would you attempt to address those challenges? I have been with my employer for seven years. I have to approach each challenge related to a project using an example from the past that did not work the way management wants the team to approach project-related work. Not all challenges are new, so there are a few cases that can be approached in the same manner as a previous project. For example, we have contract rebidding every three years. Therefore, I have been through two that had the same requirements. As a division we used the same approach with the second rebid, as we did with the first.

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