vExam $1$ Case Study : A Day in the Life of a Project Manager

Lily, the project manager of a large information systems project, arrives at her office early to get caught up with work before her co$-$workers and project team arrive. However, as she enters the office she meets Neil, one of her fellow project managers, who also wants to get an early start on the day. Neil has just completed a project overseas. They spend $15$ minutes socializing and catching up on personal news.

It takes Lily $10$ minutes to get to her office and settle in$.$ She then checks her voicemail and turns on her computer. She was at her client's site the day before until $6$:$00$ p$.$m$.$ and has not checked her email or voicemail since $3$:$35$ p$.$m$.$ the previous day. There are $10$ phone messages, $18$ emails, and $6$ notes left on her desk. She spends $10$ minutes reviewing her schedule and $$to do$$ lists for the day before and responding to messages that require immediate attention.

Lily spends the next $35$ minutes going over project reports and preparing for the weekly status meeting. Her boss, who just arrived at the office, interrupts her. They spend $10$ minutes discussing the project. He shares a rumour that a team member is using stimulants on the job. She tells him that she has not seen anything suspicious but will keep an eye on the team member.

The $9$:$00$ a$.$m$.$ project status meeting starts $25$ minutes late because two of the team members have to finish a job for a client. Several people go to the cafeteria to get coffee and doughnuts while others discuss last night's baseball game. The team members arrive, and the remaining $35$ minutes of the progress review meeting focus on project issues that have to be addressed and assigned for action.

After the meeting Lily goes down the hallway to meet with Victoria, another IS project manager. They spend $20$ minutes reviewing project assignments since the two of them share personnel. Victoria's project is behind schedule and in need of help. They broker a deal that should get Victoria's project back on track.

She returns to her office and makes several phone calls and returns several emails before walking downstairs to visit with members of her project team. Her intent is to follow up on an issue that had surfaced in the status report meeting. However, her simple, $$Hi guys, how are things going?$$ elicits a stream of disgruntled responses from the $$troops$.$ After listening patiently for over $25$ minutes, she realizes that among other things several of the client's managers are beginning to request features that were not in the original project scope statement. She tells her people that she will get on this right away.

Returning to her office she tries to call her counterpart John at the client firm but is told that he is not expected back from lunch for another hour. At this time, Lawrence drops by and says, $$How about lunch?$$ Lawrence works in the finance office, and they spend the next half hour in the company cafeteria gossiping about internal politics. She is surprised to hear that Jordan Johnson, the director of systems projects, may join another firm. Jordan has always been a powerful ally.

She returns to her office, answers a few more emails, and finally gets through to Lawrence. They spend $30$ minutes going over the problem. The conversation ends with Lawrence promising to do some investigating and to get back to her as soon as possible.

Lily puts a $$Do not disturb$$ sign on her door and lies down in her office. She listens to the third and fourth movement of Ravel's string quartet in F on headphones.

Lily then takes the elevator down to the third floor and talks to the purchasing agent assigned to her project. They spend the next $30$ minutes exploring ways of getting the necessary equipment to the project site earlier than planned. She finally authorizes express delivery.

When she returns to her office, her calendar reminds her that she is scheduled to participate in a conference call at $2$:$30.$ It takes $15$ minutes for everyone to get online. During this time, Lily catches up on some emails. The next hour is spent exchanging information about the technical requirements associated with a new version of a software package they are using on systems projects like hers.

Lily decides to stretch her legs and goes on a walk down the hallway where she engages in brief conversations with various co$-$workers. She goes out of her way to thank Chandra for his thoughtful analysis at the status report meeting. She returns to find that Lawrence has left a message for her to call him back ASAP. She contacts Lawrence, who informs her that according to his people, her firm's marketing rep had made certain promises about specific features her system would provide. He does not know how this communication breakdown occurred, but his people are pretty upset over the situation. Lily thanks Lawrence for the information and immediately takes the stairs to the marketing group$$s department.

She asks to see Mary, a senior marketing ma