Project Management: A Necessary Tool for Career & Life Goals - Essay Sample

Introduction

Project management is a necessary concept not only in reinforcing ones' career path but also in planning and undertaking simple activities of daily living. In many cases, people get involved in simple yet significant projects with a definite beginning and ending times more than they can realize. Whether small, medium, or large, projects require the practical application of processes, skills, experiences, knowledge, and methods to attain specific objectives and attain final deliverables within the set timeline and budget. Throughout the course, we have worked in teams to create projects for our sponsor aimed at giving guidance and help to high school seniors prepare for their life after school. Throughout my lessons on projects, both from course activities and life experiences, I have learned that the most fundamental aspect of project management is getting people to work together towards achieving some definite goals within the set timeline, cost, and quality standards.

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We formed a team of five members to develop a project aimed at accomplishing a unique and more inclusive package for local senior high school students to provide them with specific preparations that they need for college and work environments so as to develop them into self-sufficient individuals. In the team, I was the product owner in charge of the overall project and responsible for ensuring that everyone is fully involved in delivering the scope of the project. It was my responsibility to make decisions on features and functionalities to include in the project and the order in which they were to be built. I maintained and communicated clear visions of what the scrum team was trying to achieve to other stakeholders with interest in the project.

As the leader, I realized that coordinating team-members to ensure that they fully understand their roles and the scope of the project and commit fully to the objectives of the project demanded not only critical thinking and leadership qualities but as emotional intelligence. I had to consistently evaluate objectives, assign roles, make available the necessary resources, and ensure that team members work cooperatively and coordinatively towards achieving the set goals. In doing this job, I realized that bringing together the interests of various people to focus on achieving the same goal demands a proper understanding of their interests, skills, and motives and working on ways to accommodate everyone irrespective of behavioral and social differences.

In addition to social and leadership skills, I found technical skills much useful. I was able to use my expertise in Ms. Excel and Ms. PowerPoint to create my section on tax preparation and designing of the LinkedIn Step-by-Step Guide for senior high school students. Generally, I had two major technical contributions to the project. I created presentations on taxation and arranged the project into one file to simplify the process of putting it into the Workbin in our Google site. I found using the two software, especially Excel, incredibly interesting, specifically given my interaction with 1040 Tax Return. These activities helped is sharpening my managerial skills not only from the leadership perspective but also from technical, managerial perspectives.

Effective project planning, organizing, coordinating, directing, controlling, and communication allowed the team to attain the project milestones as dictated in the objectives. We managed to create a complete PDF file for our project sponsor, which she can share with high school senior students. The experience in the project has really reenergized my perspectives about project management. Although I initially perceived it as a simple process that anyone can do, I now understand that project management demands an assortment of skills ranging from soft skills such as communication and leadership to hard skills such as Ms. Excel and PowerPoint skills. I look forward to applying every skill and knowledge that I have learned from the project activities in my future career as a School Business Manager for a School District.