By Natalie Agbele
Project management is a field increasingly used in all kinds of businesses. As aspiring leaders, it is important to gain the necessary skills needed to manage projects and teams.
“Every project has to attempt a scope, schedule, and resources,” said Dan Heck, a certified Project Management Professional who led the first MSLCE project management workshop. During this workshop, we incorporated project management in building the Sydney Opera House Lego model.
The day started with an information session. This session was aimed at informing us of the keys desirable for a well-designed project. Later on, we were divided into 7 teams. While the first six teams were tasked with building the actual Lego model, the 7th team, which was called the media team, was responsible for documenting the process through pictures, videos, and interviews.
In our teams, we stated clearly the overall program objective and then went on to identify our team objectives. After that, we discussed the risks and constraints of the project.
The planning stage is known to be the most vital stage in project management, yet it is also the stage most people tend to forget about. As the famous saying goes: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” We spent a lot of time planning and assigning tasks in our groups. Thankfully, this reflected positively in the outcome.
After the planning stage, we started executing and it took us about 2 and half hours to complete the Lego model. As we were executing, we had time to reflect and post our curiosities, issues and insights on the board.
Although the task was undeniably fun and stressful, we all had a lot to learn. Upon completion we reflected on what we had done right and what we would do differently in the future. In a short period of time we were able to take home the necessary ingredients needed to successful complete a project. One of which I would like to share with you. It goes like this: “Lead the team and manage the plan.” It is important to be a leader and not a boss to your team in order to achieve efficient and effective outcomes.
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