Reference no: EM132244166
Razor and a new line of gaming laptops.
Jim Beam is an expert in digital signal processing and was promoted to Senior Design Engineer just two years after Razor whose company motto is “For gamers by gamers”. After serving as a Senior Design Engineer for two years, he was promoted to Project Manager and asked to oversee a product development project involving a relatively minor product line extension one of Razor’s gaming keyboards. Razor had a range of existing gaming laptops and gaming peripherals that are distributed through a network of value-added resellers. After completing the gaming keyboard product line extension project about nine months ago, Jim was asked to serve as the project manager for a project to develop a new line of ”superlite” gaming laptops. This was the first time he was to lead a major strategic project for the organization.
Jim wasted no time in planning the project. Based on the success of the product line extension project, he decided to modify the work breakdown structure he had developed for the product line extension project and apply it to this new project to develop a new line of notebook computers. He recalled the weeks of planning that went into developing the work breakdown structure for the desktop product line extension project. The entire project team had been involved, and that was a relatively straightforward product line extension. The current project was more complicated, and there simply was not sufficient time to involve all team members. What was the point of wasting valuable time and resources to reinvent the wheel? Jim thought between his experience and the suggestions made by the Vice-President he has more than enough information to plan the project.
After modifying the work breakdown structure, Jim scheduled a meeting with the Vice-President of Product Development to discuss staffing the project. As was typical of other product development projects at Razor, Jim and the Vice-President agreed that the project should be housed within the engineering division. In his capacity as project manager, Jim would serve as liaison to other functional areas such as marketing, purchasing, finance, and production. He also had this view that since the other functional areas had finished the desktop product line extension project, they should have plenty of spare capacity for the new line of notebook computers. Jim was concerned that half the engineers had already been assigned to other projects but thought that if everything worked out well it should still work.
As the project progressed, it continued to slip behind schedule. Jim found it necessary to schedule a meeting each week to address how unanticipated activities would be completed. For example, last week the team realized that no one had been assigned to design a mechanism to allow the screen to attach and detach the base so that it could be used as a touch screen.
Indeed, Jim found himself increasingly in crisis mode. For example, this morning the manufacturing group sent a heated email to Jim complaining about his conflict management style which was described as aggressive. The manufacturing group noted that they just learned of the notebook computer project and based on the design presented to them, they would not be able to manufacture the printed circuit boards because of the extensive amount of surface mount components required. Jim responded to this message by noting that the engineering group was doing its job and had designed a state-of-the-art notebook computer. He added that it was the manufacturing group's problem to decide how to produce it. He thought some people just do not have a "can do" attitude wanted to spend too much time talking about problems.
Just as troubling was the crisis that had occurred earlier in the week. The Vice-President of Product Development had requested that the notebook computer incorporate a new type of interface that would allow the notebook computer to synchronize information with the new portable playing platform Razor was about to introduce. Jim explained that incorporating new interfaces for high speed synchronize of large would delay the introduction by a minimum of several months. Nevertheless, the Vice-President was adamant that the change be made. The Vice-President of Product Development said to Jim it was pretty obvious from Razor's President's speech last week that all Razors products would interface with each other and expressed concern that Jim seems to be losing his "can do" attitude and wanting to spend too much time talking about problems. The Vice-President of Product Development thought it was time to get a new project manager. He felt Jim did not know how to play the game at level required. “Why do we have so much trouble with our project managers?” he thought.
Questions:
Does Jim show the characteristics of a good project manager? Describe the characteristics of a good project manager bases on material covered in this course and compare Jim to these characteristics. Define all terms used. Which areas do you see as major areas for improvement? Justify your choice of areas in the context of the organisation.
To what extent were the problems facing the notebook computer development project avoidable if the team leadership and management techniques or processes that you used (or might have used) in the completion of your assignment had been used by Jim. Choose three leadership and management techniques or processes that are applicable to a project context. Describe how you used them in your assignment and illustrate how they may have lessened the current problems encountered by the project if Jim had used them.
How could the problems facing Jim been avoided if good project management practices, governance and auditing processes had been used. Identify four problems and how each of these could be addressed if specific project management practices, governance and auditing processes has been used. Do not repeat techniques or processes used in question 2. Clearly define terms used and specifically link to the case.