project management
Blue Spider Case
1) If you were Gary Anderson would you have accepted this project after the director stated that it would be his baby all the way?
Despite Henry Gable’s very apparent shadiness I would probably have taken the project too due to the backing that the project has. Even though the project had issues, based on all we have learned in project management, it is rare that a project has the amount of attention and backing from top executives, as well as, strong resources from the functional team. Many of the cases we studied are problematic because they did not have this type of backing and priority which in the end, created other conflicts.
Do engineers with MBA’s aspire to high positions in management?
I think the ones who have the unique ability and skillset of both a PM and Engineer probably do aspire to have high positions in management. However, in my limited experience, I think that most engineers would gravitate towards being a project engineer where they are experts in their field and are most comfortable with technical details as opposed to the administrative ones. Gary Anderson was a perfect example of this. I feel that many engineers lack the essential administrative and soft skills of a PM to motivate and manage a team to a successful outcome.
Was Gary qualified to be project manager?
I do not think that Gary was qualified to be a project manager. Just because ‘we can’ does not often mean ‘we should do.’ It was probably very easy for Gary to complete his MBA and therefore assume that he could be a project manager. However, being a project manager entails many personal elements that are not taught in school. In fact, I don’t think they can be taught at all as these soft skills are largely intrinsic. Instead of communicating, motivating and handling the administrative elements of PM, Gary focused way too much on technical issues. Even the client commented on his inability to understand project management and balance between project
1) If you were Gary Anderson would you have accepted this project after the director stated that it would be his baby all the way?
Despite Henry Gable’s very apparent shadiness I would probably have taken the project too due to the backing that the project has. Even though the project had issues, based on all we have learned in project management, it is rare that a project has the amount of attention and backing from top executives, as well as, strong resources from the functional team. Many of the cases we studied are problematic because they did not have this type of backing and priority which in the end, created other conflicts.
Do engineers with MBA’s aspire to high positions in management?
I think the ones who have the unique ability and skillset of both a PM and Engineer probably do aspire to have high positions in management. However, in my limited experience, I think that most engineers would gravitate towards being a project engineer where they are experts in their field and are most comfortable with technical details as opposed to the administrative ones. Gary Anderson was a perfect example of this. I feel that many engineers lack the essential administrative and soft skills of a PM to motivate and manage a team to a successful outcome.
Was Gary qualified to be project manager?
I do not think that Gary was qualified to be a project manager. Just because ‘we can’ does not often mean ‘we should do.’ It was probably very easy for Gary to complete his MBA and therefore assume that he could be a project manager. However, being a project manager entails many personal elements that are not taught in school. In fact, I don’t think they can be taught at all as these soft skills are largely intrinsic. Instead of communicating, motivating and handling the administrative elements of PM, Gary focused way too much on technical issues. Even the client commented on his inability to understand project management and balance between project