Was the Woody 2000 Project Well-Conceived?

1. Project Concept and Strategy

A. Was the Woody 2000 project well-conceived? Give reasons for your opinion?

• Ans:  No the Woody 2000 project was not well conceived. Initially in woody 2000, they faced a lot of problems, they weren’t able to manage the problems. Later they clearly defined the purpose of assessments and accordingly they planed the woody's 2000 project. This project readily agreed to commit to budget of $17 million without any observation which means before checking.

 b. What were Woody’s real objectives that could and should have been articulated?

Ans: The Woody's real objectives were to install air-conditioning and a dust-free paint and finishing shop complete with additional compressor capacity. Equipment would include a semi-automatic woodworking production train, requiring the development and installation of software and hardware to run it.

C. What strategies were there for achieving these objectives? What would you recommend?

Ans: 1. Allocation of resource for task execution.

   2. Assigning time frame for each tasks.

   3.  Use of Project management methodology

   4. Defining detailed statement of work.

I recommend: Use of Simulation methodology

2. Failure Mode Effect Analysis

3. Involvement of Project expert with similar experties.

        4. project execution in software.

D. Did they consider other solutions? Give Examples.

Ans:  No information was given which tells that they have explored other solutions.

E. How would you gauge the project’s success, Could success be measured? If so, when?

Ans:  Yes, The project success looks satisfactory/okay, with meeting the key deliverables with respect to the planned time lines. Yes, Success can be measured, when the project is completed.

3. Project Planning a. What should be included in a Woody 2000 project plan? What use would it be? b. Evaluate Woody's plans for managing the project, including their approach to contracting for professional services and construction work. What would you have done and would that change for successive phases of the project? c. Did the project plan explain how the project and any changes would be controlled? Should this be part of the plan? Give reasons.

Ans 2.a. The project plan should have defined the equipments required and then should have designed the building plan.

2.b. The company should have identified the vendors in first place and should have invited quotations for their respective work. Multiple vendors could be selected for different works.

4.

a) Quality control is one of the most important aspects of project management. Proper checks and balances must be deployed at important milestones to keep a tab on the progress of the overall project such that corrective actions can be taken at the right time, failing which, the project will suffer and spiral out of control of the management.

b) Leadbetter, being a mechanical engineer with a specializationin semi-automatic manufacturing machinery, was more focussed towards his areas of expertise such installation of mechanical equipements for the dust-free paint shop, which at the time, was not a critical process in the project. To make matters worse, he had no idea about project management and hence couldn't see the big picture in the larger scheme of things. Consequently, important things were ignored at the expense of trivial things. In a nutshell, it was mainly his inexperience, coupled with his ignorance about project management, that he didn't invoke the specifications to ensure quality.

c) Quality is very important in a project like this because, if properly implemented, it ensures that the project will meet and probably exceed client's expectations in delivering an excellent product. On the other hand, if the quality is not upto mark and fails to meet the client's expectations, the project will become a failure.

8. Communication and People Management a. Draw a project organization chart. What were the real relationships? b. Should Leadbetter have been left to run the project? Would training have helped? c. How should the Woody 2000 project plan be communicated and when? d. What communication (coordination) would you expect to see during execution?

Ans a. Leadbetter should not have taken the responsibility as he had no experience in project management.

3.b. The project plan should have been communicated on finalization and through the organizational hierarchy with clear cut roles of respective team members.

10. Cost Control a. Why was EID’s first price so high? Was their position reasonable? b. When did Woody’s know they were in trouble with over expenditure? What was the result? c. How should the project budget and expenditures be set out for cost control? d. Draw a simple flow chart for processing changes?

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