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QSO 435 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric Overview Project management requires careful situational analysis and consideration of your customer requirements, the project that needs to be tackled, and the information that exists at the planning stage

Project Management

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QSO 435 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric

Overview

Project management requires careful situational analysis and consideration of your customer requirements, the project that needs to be tackled, and the information that exists at the planning stage. It is argued that there are instances in which traditional methods will not cut it, in which case project managers may elect to take an adaptive management approach. This course will lay the foundation for you to think critically about real-world projects that may require special handling.

 

Your final project for this course will require you to apply your knowledge of both traditional and nontraditional (adaptive) project management methods and approaches. You will select a scenario from the three options provided that involves managing a business project and analyzing the customer requirements and the information known (as well as that which is unknown) to determine whether an adaptive project management (APM) or a traditional project management (TPM) approach would be the most appropriate. As this is an APM course, you will have to explain what shortcomings of TPM and what benefits of APM led you to an APM approach. 

 

You will then design an adaptive project management framework, integrating various methods and techniques you feel would be beneficial for the situation from the scenario. Throughout, you will be expected to defend your claims and decisions and clearly determine what from the scenario caused you to make your selections. 

 

You will have two options for submission: an APA formatted report, or a presentation with accompanying speaker notes to ensure that you address all of the pieces of the prompt below.

 

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes: 

 

• Differentiate between traditional project management and adaptive project management principles and practices by analyzing key components of each
• Determine the best project management methods for use in complex and evolving projects by analyzing project and customer requirements
• Select the best adaptive methods for use in project management based on situational analysis and iterative development considerations
• Design adaptive project management frameworks for real-world scenarios that successfully integrate adaptive, agile, and iterative management techniques

 

Prompt

Choose one of the three case studies presented in Chapters 19, 20, and 21 in your textbook. Here is an overview of each case study:

 

               

Chapter 19: Case Study – Valpak

“Valpak’s ability to utilize technology to transform their business is a very significant factor in their business success, and Valpak’s IT group is an integral part of the business transformation and growth of the company. To compete with the quickly changing digital savings marketplace, Valpak transitioned the entire IT organization to agile Scrum/Kanban process with two-week sprint delivery cycles. They embraced this change and quickly adapted.”

 

Chapter 20: Case Study – Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

“HPHC developed an incremental and iterative approach – the Scrum framework for an agile transformation across the whole company. All projects associated with this major initiative, called the IT strategy, were, by default, to move to an agile development methodology. The new approach that was developed was a hybrid of Scrum at the team level and a more plan-driven approach at the enterprise level to provide program/project management of the overall effort.”

 

Chapter 21: Case Study – General Dynamics UK

“Due to the nature of the government contracting environment that General Dynamics, UK has to operate in, projects have to work within two key constraints, time and costs, where other agile methods don’t always have this. This case study illustrates how a company can successfully develop a hybrid agile approach that blends together elements of a plan-driven approach for managing time and cost constraints and still provide flexibility to their customers.”

 

Your adaptive project management framework should answer the following prompt: For the situation/scenario selected, develop an adaptive framework for managing the project that is being tackled. Considering the variety of adaptive techniques and processes that have been utilized for other projects, and the various schools of thought in adaptive project management, what techniques would you integrate into a management framework for the scenario you have selected? 

 

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

 

1. Introduction:
   1. Scenario: Analyze the situation, givens, and customer requirements from the scenario you selected. Make sure you clearly identify the necessary information (both “knowns and unknowns”) and the project type.
   2. Project Management Approaches: Analyze the key principles and stakeholders behind traditional project management (TPM) and adaptive project management (APM), providing detailed explanation and examples for clarity.
   3. Traditional Project Management (TPM): Describe the key roles and responsibilities of the members of a TPM team and the key elements of traditional project planning, scheduling, and monitoring functions and how the triple constraint is handled in TPM.

 

2. Approach Selection: Based on your situation/scenario analysis, and your analysis of the traditional and adaptive management elements, which approach would best serve the project? Be sure to provide a comprehensive defense of your selection that cites specifics from your analysis.

 

3. Framework:
   1. Analyze three nontraditional project management frameworks and identify the capabilities and limitations of each. 
   2. Determine the most appropriate type of nontraditional framework for your project, providing a thorough defense of your selection. 
   3. What aspects from other adaptive management approaches would you find useful for this project? Explain why you either chose to stay within the bounds of the adaptive framework you identified above or chose to incorporate a variety of elements into your own framework. 

 

4. Framework Design: Synthesize knowledge of APM types to develop a framework to apply to your real-world project situation. You will need to identify any special methods you intend to integrate into the framework type that you selected and explain why you chose to integrate these methods.  A. Design a logical adaptive project management framework that includes agile and iterative management techniques. 

B. Assess effectiveness of the chosen method of APM for refinement and reutilization. Be sure to defend your claims. 

 

 

Milestones

Milestone One: Scenario Selection – Information Paper

In Module Two, you will select the scenario you will use for your final project and review the various approaches to project management. This milestone is graded with the Milestone One Rubric.

 

Milestone Two: Approach Selection – Decision Paper  

In Module Four, you will develop an Approach Selection decision paper using the scenario organization you selected in Milestone One. The decision paper will be targeted for the senior program manager in the Program Management Office (PMO) of your scenario organization. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.

 

Milestone Three: Analysis and Project Framework – Position Paper

Module Five, you will submit a position paper targeted for the vice president of Operations at your scenario organization. You will present the PMO position and recommendation for this project that builds upon your previous information paper and decision paper. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Three Rubric.

 

Milestone Four: Framework Design – Small Group Discussion

In Module Six, your instructor will place you into a small group where you will discuss with several of your classmates how to synthesize knowledge of APM types to develop a framework to apply to your real-world project situation. You will need to identify any special methods you intend to integrate into the framework type that you selected and explain why you chose to integrate these methods. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Four Rubric.

 

Final Submission: Project Proposal – Adaptive Project Management Framework Design

In Module Seven, you will submit a project proposal targeted for the vice president of Operations at your scenario organization. It should reflect the incorporation of work completed and feedback gained throughout the course and documented in Milestones One through Four. This submission is graded with the Final Project Rubric.

 

Deliverables

Milestone	Deliverable	Module Due	Grading
One	Scenario Selection: Information Paper	Two	Graded with the Milestone One Rubric
Two	Approach Selection: Decision Paper	Four	Graded with the Milestone Two Rubric
Three	Analysis and Framework: Position Paper	Five	Graded with the Milestone Three Rubric
Four	Framework Design: Small Group Discussion	Six	Graded with the Milestone Four Rubric
	Final Submission: Project Proposal	Seven	Graded with the Final Project Rubric

 

 

Final Project Rubric

Guidelines for Submission: You will have two options for submission of your final project: You may create a presentation with detailed speaker notes and appropriately cited resources, or you may create a report in APA format. Regardless of your choice, your submission should be of professional quality and clear, without spelling, grammar, or citation errors.

 

 

Critical Elements	Exemplary (100%)	Proficient (85%)	Needs Improvement (55%)	Not Evident (0%)	Value
Introduction: Scenario	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and analyses clearly delineate between the “knowns and unknowns”; identifies the key information from the scenario without superfluous considerations	Accurately and clearly analyzes the situation, givens, and customer requirements from the scenario	Analyzes the situation, givens, and customer requirements from the scenario, but with gaps in accuracy or clarity	Does not analyze the situation, givens, and customer requirements from the scenario	10.5
Introduction: PM Approaches	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and analysis is clearly and professionally detailed	Analyzes the key principles and stakeholders behind traditional and adaptive project management, with detailed examples	Analyzes the key principles and stakeholders behind traditional and adaptive project management, but does not provide detailed examples or misses key elements	Does not analyze the key principles and stakeholders behind traditional and adaptive project management	10.5
Introduction: TPM	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and description is well organized and detailed to a level that shows keen insight into the process, techniques, and elements of traditional project management	Accurately describes the key roles and responsibilities of the members of a TPM team and the key elements of traditional project planning, scheduling, and monitoring functions with detail regarding how the triple constraint is handled	Describes the key roles and responsibilities of the members of a TPM team and the key elements of traditional project planning, scheduling, and monitoring functions, but with gaps in accuracy or detail regarding triple constraint	Does not describe the key roles and responsibilities of the members of a TPM team and the key elements of traditional project planning, scheduling, and monitoring functions	10.5

 

Approach Selection	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and defense is well organized and detailed to a level that shows keen insight into the nuances, risks, and benefits of electing to apply adaptive project management	Selects a management approach type that is comprehensively defended based on specific references to the previous analysis	Selects a management approach and defends the approach, but does not make specific references to previous analysis or lacks necessary detail	Does not select and defend a management approach type	10.5
Framework: Analyze	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and analysis identifies the key capabilities and limitations, linking back to the scenario project without superfluous information	Accurately analyzes three nontraditional project management frameworks to identify the capabilities and limitations of each	Analyzes three nontraditional project management frameworks, but does not identify the capabilities and limitations of each	Does not analyze three nontraditional project management frameworks	10.5
Framework: Most Appropriate	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and defense provides exceptionally clear linkages to the project and unique requirements of the project	Selects and clearly defends one APM method over the others as the most appropriate for the proposed project	Selects and clearly defends one APM method over the others, but does not focus on what makes this APM most appropriate for the proposed project	Does not select and defend an APM method	10.5
Framework: Aspects	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and reasoning shows thorough analysis of various aspects in context with the chosen project	Logically explains why aspects from various APM approaches would or would not be useful for the project	Explains why aspects from various APM approaches would or would not be useful for the project, but with gaps in detail or logic	Does not explain why aspects from various APM approaches would or would not be useful for the project	10.5
Framework Design: Design	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and details shown amplify the known advantages of the APM method for this project	Develops a logical, adaptive framework for an APM project considering the capabilities of the method that includes agile and iterative management techniques	Develops a framework for an APM project considering capabilities of the method, but lacks specific details or framework is not logical or not adaptive	Does not develop a framework for an APM project considering capabilities of the method	10.5
Framework Design: Assess	Meets “Proficient” criteria, and rationale is detailed without superfluous information, clear, and organized	Analyzes the proposed effectiveness of the chosen method of APM for refinement and reutilization and rationalizes claims	Analyzes the proposed effectiveness of the chosen method of APM for refinement and reutilization, but does not rationalize claims	Does not analyze the proposed effectiveness of the chosen method of APM for refinement and reutilization	10.5

 

Articulation of Response	Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format	Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization	Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas	Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas	5.5
				Earned Total	100%