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Ryan Saldanha Project Management Simulation

Project Management Simulation

The Project management simulation gave me an opportunity to play the role of a senior project

manager at Delphi Printers and Peripherals, a computer peripheral company based in Santa

Clara, CA. I was tasked with managing a project to develop a new and innovative high speed

printer. The project was highly critical for our company as there was a strong indication that our

competitor was launching a similar product within 6 months. Summarizing the scope, schedule

and budget, the printer had to be high speed, we had 17 weeks to complete the project and the

budget allocated to the project was $39,220. The team morale needed to be between 85-95%.

Overall the project looked challenging from the outset.

I played the simulation many times over, my best score was 572, and I mostly ended up with

scores in upper 400’s. I was able to complete the project on schedule around 3-4 times; however

the cost went over budget. If I stayed on track with the cost by hiring fewer employees, I was

going over schedule. There was a very thin line between the cost and schedule, changing one of

them severely impacted the other.

My strategy for the highest scoring simulation was not to outsource in the starting three weeks,

hiring four to five medium-high skilled resources to get project on a good start, I had one

coaching session during this time along with a daily standup meeting. At end of week three I was

on track in terms of schedule, but was over budget. For weeks 5-8 I was restricted to only two

resources, I adapted to this situation by selecting highly skilled employees, having extensive

offshoring and conducting no meetings at all. After week 8 I used around five medium skill

workers with one status meeting weekly, outsourcing only the support tasks, I found it was easier

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Ryan Saldanha Project Management Simulation

to stay on schedule and on budget after week 8 by having basic and medium skilled employees.

Throughout the project I encouraged overtime. The team delivered three prototypes during the

project timeframe.

It was very difficult to get back on track once project was over budget and/or behind schedule. In

one scenario I added around 8 Medium-High skilled resources to the project between weeks 14-

17, but I could not complete the project before 23 weeks. It was better to stay on track (in terms

of cost and schedule) right from the start. One key reason for this is the delayed effect seen in a

project, if there are problems in a project they become visible at a later stage, this involves more

work in later stages than originally planned. If project is behind schedule in the start, delayed

effect makes it worse as the project progresses, it is almost impossible to recover. In terms of

cost, I found cost could be controlled by outsourcing more, however this negatively impacted the

schedule, probably more coordination effort was needed to track and handle the offshore

activities. If we were behind schedule starting at week 5 when the resources were limited for

three weeks, at the end of week 8 we were completely off track in the project. My advice to all

project managers is that it is very important to be on budget and schedule right from the start,

take into consideration the delayed effect in a project. If you are on track for at least the first 50%

of your project it is much easier to control schedule and cost in the end,. Plan to outsource more

to reduce cost, but also be aware it can negatively impact the schedule.

I observed that team morale improved when the team members were not overburdened with

tasks, when the team met more often and finally when they were provided coaching. Team

morale also improved when no overtime was imposed on the team. However on the flip side

status reporting and coaching took time and put the project behind schedule. It was very essential

to keep team morale at least to a moderate level, while not significantly impacting the schedule.

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Ryan Saldanha Project Management Simulation

While running the simulation I observed that project team members were bored, and having at

least two to three prototypes in the project kept them excited.

Increasing team members ensures less work for individuals, and team members are less stressed,

however this significantly increases cost. A project manager needs to balance team morale with

cost and schedule, he can decide how many employees to hire, whether to allow overtime, how

many prototypes need to be created for a project, and how often the team meets and reports

status. However project manager always needs to look at the cost and schedule in order to have a

right balance with team morale. Negatively impacting team morale could be catastrophic,

Employees are reluctant to work on projects with a project manager who does not pay attention

to team morale. Project team members must meet often, there should be adequate coaching.

Personally I have observed a team performs well when they have bonding activities such as team

lunches, going out to movies etc., this reduces stress level in a team. Project needs to be planned

and estimated correctly in such a way that overtime is reduced, this ensures team is not stressed

and morale within the team is high.

The biggest lessons I learnt from the simulation were to stay on schedule for at least the starting

50-60% of the project keeping in mind the delayed effect in a project. It is impossible to recover

from falling behind in the start no matter how many resources are added in the end. Another

important lesson I learnt was to be flexible, there are circumstances where adaptation is a must.

Between weeks 5-8 I only had two resources available to me, I adapted by increasing

outsourcing and hiring higher skilled workers. Finally a very important lesson I learnt was to

keep team members constantly engaged and involved by constant communication, this reduces

the stress level in the team and ensures a quality product on time and at the budgeted cost.

Finally overtime in a project should be avoided whenever possible to improve team morale.

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