The project I last worked on as part of my professional life involved a small tracking program that helped customers identify the location of their package in real time. This program was done as part of a practice case study scenario, which assumed it were to be implemented in a postal service or a delivery company. The objective was to provide the simplest type of software possible, with the bare minimum of functionality, while still maintaining accuracy and efficiency.
From the perspective of socio-cultural and technical dimensions, three of each can be identified in the project. The former includes teamwork, customer expectations, and problem-solving (Gido & Clements, 2018). The later includes schedules, status reports, and resource allocation. The project included a teamwork dimension, as it was created by a group of individuals I had to work with, as we wrote different parts of the code. The problem we had to solve was that of locating parcels accurately and in a timely manner, while keeping within very tight budget constraints. Finally, the scope of the project was revolving around customer expectations, with the objective being to provide the necessary minimum they sought to receive, for their estimated budget.
From a technical dimension perspective, we had to work on a very tight schedule – the project was time-constrained as well. The client (or in this case, the professor) requested timely status reports from us to see how the project is going. With the customer’s budget being limited, we had to work with limited resources and allocate them accordingly. Most of them went into purchasing the software necessary to write the code, and the rest – as compensation for the efforts. We also had to allocate our own time and efforts, which are considered resources as well.
The project was operationally-oriented, as its purpose was to add a new operational dimension to an already existing process. The dimension was that of tracking the parcels as they traveled from the postal office and to the customer (Gido & Clements, 2018). As such, we needed to provide the employees, the drivers, and the customers with means of tracking the shipments, which imposed additional requirements towards expectations and commitment to schedules for the organization in question. Customers were now capable of holding the company accountable, while the organization itself could learn beforehand if something went wrong mid-shipping.
The dimensions selected and described above affected the project in several ways. The majority of them formulated the scope of the project and the conditions in which we had to work. The rest had to improve the operational level at which the organization functioned by providing new services and new methods of tracking parcels. Finally, the functional limitations of the project and the material constraints prevented us from going off-track and developing an overly complex product, delivering the bare minimum necessary, at a minimum price.
The project was successful, as we managed to achieve all the objectives placed by the customer (professor) before us, while producing a marketable product. The reasons for our success included the team being ready and having the right skills for the job, the appropriate number of resources to complete the task, good team effort and coordination, as well as having an adequately outlined scope for the job. Overall, though challenging, it was a project we were capable of doing, so achieving success was not particularly difficult.
References
Gido, J., & Clements, J. (2018). Successful project management (7th ed.). Cengage Learning.