Each of the four project management phases has its unique challenges, so student answers will vary. Project initiation, the first phase, involves team building, building relationships with customers, defining the problem and project, and other challenging tasks. Some students will argue that the first phase is most important. If the first phase is conducted poorly, the project is likely to be doomed to failure. Project planning, the second phase, is also important because it can make or break the success of the project work that follows. In addition, resource planning, scheduling, crafting a budget and other planning tasks are difficult. Good planning is a challenge, since there is almost always pressure to truncate or do away with planning. Many students are likely to choose project execution, the third phase. This phase involves actually building the system, which is the analyst’s primary responsibility and often is the longest phase of project management. Students are not likely to choose the fourth phase, closing down the project. However, this phase is equally challenging. The dismantling of the team is a difficult, often overlooked aspect of project management. In addition, assignment changes for team members and performance appraisals are challenges associated with this phase.
I appreciate that you approached it in a broader perspective. Just to add-on to your second point, Planning phase is where you bring your team on board and train them about the overall project requirements, it involves creating of a set of plans to help guide the team through the execution and closure phases of the project. If anything goes wrong or if any assumptions are made then the complete project life cycle would collapse. Hence, appropriate project planning is required for successful project completion.
And also, I strongly support your last point. Project Closure phase is very important, just because all the phases are complete it doesn’t mean that the job ends there, it is very important to learn “What went well and What did not work?”. It is important to analyse the project performance, team’s performance, accoutning for used and unused budget,and closure documentation etc.
Out of the four phases of project management, the phase that I feel is the most challenging/critical is phase 3, execution. The execution phase is the most challenging because it is the deliverable for all the work put into phase 1 & 2. The outline and objectives have been carefully defined, the specific steps of implementation have been planned as well, the critical phase is seeing the project coming into fruition. All the budgeted money has been spent to create this deliverable, and if execution goes wrong, phase 1 & 2 will equal naught. Careful steps must be in place to ensure proper execution, and execution is the real start of project implementation, this is delivering what the client asked for. Every party involved, from the project manager, project team, clients, and most importantly investors, will be most critical about this phase.
Hi Mei, your reasoning supports your thought that phase 3 is the most challenging and critical one. Execution indeed requires careful implementation from lots of perspectives. Though I would also like to say that phase 2 planning seems to be more challenging as even with the right execution if your planning went wrong to begin with, it would be a waste of time so planning is quite challenging as well.
Hello Mei, although my response was different, your response is very well put together and supports your answer very well. The fallout of failing in execution can be enormous and extremely disheartening. Better to fail at the beginning, where not as much money is spent, than failing during execution.
I feel the most challenging one of the four phases of the project management process is the second phase, the planning phase. The main idea is to create small tasks within bigger project, build your team, and prepare a schedule for the assignment completion. It would be the most challenging part in practical. Because this phase is between Initiation and Execution that means we got a whole idea without any implementation. But this phase also needs accuracy and rationality. It is challenging even for the professional experts to bring the team on board.
I agree with your answer! Project planning phase will help you to manage time, cost, quality, change, risk and issues. They will also help you manage staff and external suppliers, to ensure that you deliver the project on time and within budget. Also, during this phase an agreed-upon baseline will be established for the Project Schedule. This schedule baseline will be used as a starting point against which performance on the project will be measured. It is one of many tools the Project Manager can use during Project Execution and Control to determine if the project is on track.
Yes. Managing time, cost, quality, change, risk and issues initially is absolutely challenging. And thank you for emphasizing the schedule baseline that is used as a starting point against which performance on the project will be measured.
Hi Haixin, I feel the same with you that the second phase is the most challenging and I totally agree with the reasons you mentioned. Even though the team does not have to actually test anything, the team has to know the determinant and understand the current situation. Only with a appropriate plan, the project can succeed.
Yes. We got the same point here. the team needs to foresee the determinant and figure out the circumstance to manage all the stuffs and set a baseline before testing or implementing anything. That’s what makes it the most challenging phase. And I like you use the word “appropriate”. It does not need to completely right, but it needs to be easy to change and free of serious mistakes.
Following are the 4 phases of project management process:
1) Initiating the project
2) Planning the project
3) Executing the project
4) Closing down the project
From reading chapter 3-“Managing the Information Systems Project” of MSAD, I believe that the project planning phase is the most challenging process because this phase requires thorough understanding of the complete project life cycle which involves Creating a project plan, Creating workflow documents or process maps, estimating budget and creating a financial plan, Resource planning, risk assessment and potential quality roadblocks. We could say that this phase is the central system/heart of the project management process as this phase tells everyone involved where the project is going and how it is going to achieve the goal.
I agree with your point, the project planning is very important. The project plan helps organize the different plans that reside within the project plan. The project scope plan outlines the overall scope of the project. The scheduling plan details the timeline of the project and the project start and end dates. This plan also outlines the project phases of the overall project. The cost management plan includes the project budget and inconsistency in the budget details. The quality management plan provides information on the project’s operational details. The staffing and communications plans detail resources and when and what communications go out to the organization and project team.
Hi Deepa, your format is very easy to read and understand. I agree that the planning phase is the most challenging one as it will take everything into consideration, if you missed anything, the execution might just not be executable at all. There are lots of things you need to take into account when you are planning for a project. Budget and risk should be considered heavily, which is why it is quite challenging.
Hi Deepa, I agree with your thought process and conclusion you came to. The fact that you laid out the four steps definitely gave me a great introduction to your response and the question. I really couldn’t have given a better response. One question I have for you though Is the weight and importance you put on the other phases of the project management process. I believe that the connection between the planning and execution phase (although this isn’t its own phase) is an important intermediary. If requirements or timelines are lost in translation, the end product could be way off of what the client wanted, What do you think? Which other phases carry weight besides planning?
You just show a clear and precise phase of project management based on the MSAD. I agree with your idea. the planning should be the most challenge part of the whole project because they have to understand whole project and analyze each step to find if there is any vulnerability that could become a threat during the period of project running.
The four phases of the project management including initiating the project, planning the project, executing the project, and closing down the project. Although all of the four phases are crucial for project success, the most challenging one would be the second phase: planning the project. Planning phase including scope, dividing the project into manageable tasks, resources plan, preliminary schedule, communication plan, project standards, Identifying and Assessing Risk, Preliminary Budget, and a Baseline Project Plan. Everything in the planning phase is very tight up with the phase of executing the project. For example: executing the baseline project plan, monitoring project progress against the baseline project plan are based on the baseline project plan, and managing changes to the baseline project plan which should be developed in the planning of the project phase. Communicating the Project Status would heavily depending on the communicating planning. Developing the scope is also one of the most challenging processes in project planning. Without proper project planning, the change of projects failing increase rapidly. A good project planning is critical and challenging.
Hi, Shyue, I agree with your point that the project planning phase would be the most challenging one because I think the project manager needs to make an educated guess in this phase, and the guess is very difficult.
Hi Shuyue, thanks for the detailed explanation! I think the planning phase is the most challenging too and it should involve many aspects that need to cover before executing the project, but I do not have that much knowledge about the specific areas. I learned a lot from your words!
Between project initiation, project planning, project execution, closing down the project, I think both project planning and project execution are the most challenging ones. If I have to pick one, I would pick project planning over project execution for the following reasons:
-Budget estimation is not easy and often an organization’s budget is limited for its’ own various reasons.
-The various tasks that need to be performed to produce the expected business application system can take some time to map out.
-Each task’s priority is different for an information system, the project manager needs to figure that out.
-Again, IT and non-IT supporting resources, which are required to perform the project can be hard to get/estimated.
Comparing to project execution, you just need to hire the right people to do the right things. Well, this could be oversimplified but I hope you get what I mean.
you just show a different answer compared with others. Most persons only focus on the planning as the most challenge part of the project management. However, I think execution is important and is a significant challenge because there always is a difference between planning and execution. There are some factors of environment we cannot realize and think about it as vulnerability in the system. Plan is just a general organization of the system. execution is the achievement of the system. I think you are right, both of them should be challenge.
Planning, to me, is the most difficult phase. The hardest part of the scope is always trying to figure out the potential solution. If it wasn’t hard, then the problem isn’t significant. On top of that, having to collaborate with other people, some who might not understand IT, can always be difficult. Having to convince upper management your cause is worth their money is difficult.
Development is second to planning. Once you get everything approved and funded, now you have to actually make it happen. Having a design is great, but building it to fruition is something else. Just because you know what you want, doesn’t mean your entire team knows how to build your vision.
Systems Design is third. Before you develop, you need to lay out what you are going to develop. In the planning phase, you had the idea, now you have to put it onto paper. You have to make sure that your design fits the available requirements and will operate efficiently and as a system. System requirements and compatibility issues can be a pain, especially if you don’t have control over how much storage/processing you can purchase.
Integration is fourth. I listed this as fourth because this can be extremely frustrating. When I code and I constantly receive error messages I want to punch my computer screen. There is nothing more complicated than not being able to figure out what is wrong. This is exceptionally awful when you have pages and pages of coding.
I agree. Planning is important for any project success and thus, I believe it is the most challenging as well. That is because planning will guide the entire project team through the execution and closure phases of the project. So, if the project is inadequately planned, the rest of the project will only fall apart.
The project management is usually broken down into four phases:
Initiating the project is the first phase of the project management process in which activities are performed to assess the size, scope, and complexity of the project and to establish procedures to support later project activities.
Planning the project is the second phase of the project management process that focuses on defining clear, discrete activities and the work needed to complete each activity within a single project. I think this phase is more challenging because it is the center of the whole process. Also, it often requires us to make numerous assumptions about the availability of resources such as hardware, software and personal. Therefore, we often should do long- term plans.
Executing the project is the third phase management process in which the plans created in the prior phases put the baseline project plan into action. I think this phase more challenging, because of this phase primarily during the analysis, design, and implementation phases.
Closing down of the project is the final phase which is to bring the project to an end. It is very important. A project is not complete until it is closed, and it is at closedown that projects are deemed a success or failure.
Hello,
After reading through your response regarding what you thought was the most challenging phase of the project management process, I was enlightened to the fact that listing out and writing your thoughts regarding each phase helped provide context and detail. I was particularly interested by your opinion on the last phase, which is the closing act of a project, since you put emphasis on its importance. I would be interested in learning more regarding the significance of the fourth phase.
Of the four project management phases, I think that project initiation is the most challenging for a variety of reasons.
1. The activities in the project initiation phase are often unstructured. When taking on a new project, selecting a new team, or establishing new relationships, there may not be a solidified framework to rely on for decisions.
2. It is difficult to get good feedback during the project initiation phase compared to the other phases. For example, in the execution phase, if a deadline is missed or a test is failed, that feedback is quick and can be corrected within the phase. In initiation, project managers may not get feedback late in the process, if at all.
3. All other phases are reliant on the initiation phase being done properly. Failure in this step will likely lead to project failure overall.
Hello Adam, I also agree with you. Planning can be difficult for many different reasons. If you don’t properly lay out the foundation, then the rest of the building won’t be built properly. The same goes for tech projects, whatever the case. In tech projects, sometimes you don’t find out the foundation is built poorly until it’s too late.
Hey Adam, I agree with you. The initiation phases, the project team needs to figure out a objective for the project and determine whether the project is feasible and identify the major deliverables for the project. Next, they need to develop a statement of work or project initiation document, which may include basic project life cycle flowcharts
Each phase of the project management process is connected, so minor changes in one phase will most likely cause change or documentation within another phase of the process. A project manager’s main focus is how to reach an end product within budget, that doesn’t exceed projections to complete (deliverables, duration, budget). With this in mind, I consider project planning to be the most challenging due to the numerous components needing consideration before creating a project’s baseline plan, which could still potentially change during the project’s execution. This phase deals with identifying scope, possible issues, developing a schedule, creating a preliminary budget, as well as risk assessment and communication strategies. As we discussed, communication is the defining factor for successful system development. While it may seem obvious, establishing an initial plan regarding who receives what information, and when they receive it, is not a simple task for the multiple parties involved.
Thorough explanation. I agree with you. Planning is needed before any action is taken. Hence, it is a very important phase as it maps out all the details needed for the phases to come and ultimately, a successful project. As stated in the text, “The decisions made at the early definition stages set the strategic framework…. get it wrong here and the project will be wrong for a long time” (Morris, 1998). Furthermore, planning sets the tone for scope, cost, quality, change, risk and resources. Therefore, it is a critical point.
Out every phase, the task arranging phase is troublesome for a venture supervisor, because the undertaking director needs to make an educated supposition of the internal staff, assets, and equipment expected to finish the undertaking. He is also responsible to design group interchanges and exercises, just as get any outsider providers.
He should design estimated numerical estimations of assets that are accessible to finish the whole project. If planning of the venture isn’t done in a proper way, the various periods of SDLC will get influenced and yield which is wanted won’t be accomplished.
Venture supervisor of leadership for the site program and responsible for the assignment of operations integrity management roles. Responsible and accountable for the safety of assigned workers, for cost management and effective business controls. Maintain the business an make sure it is always run in an efficient and highly functional manner. Also, monitor concession activities and prepare report summaries.
Hi Peinghui, I totally agree with you. The task arranging phase is important for the project management process. I think it is similar to the phase I talked about, which ensures the project will succeed. Therefore, the planning phase and the task arranging phase is the most challenging phases.
Which of the four phases of the project management process do you feel is most challenging? Why?
The project management process includes four phases— initiating the project, planning the project, executing the project, and closing down the project. In my opinion, project planning is the most challenging. As noted in the text, “research has found a positive relationship between effective project planning and positive project outcomes” (Valacich et al., 77). Essentially, it is the heart of the project. Project planning is a critical phase as it establishes the nitty-gritty details and tasks needed to complete each activity for the entire project. The plans created during this phase will help manage time, cost, quality, change, risk and resources. The plans will also help to manage staff and vendors, to ensure that the project is delivered on time and within budget.
Hello Raisa, I also agree with your response. I like how you cited a study that also proves that planning is the most difficult phase. You have a unique take, compared to the rest of the planning responses. Without a properly planned planning phase, then the rest of the project is certain to fail.
When considering which of the four phases of the project management process I find I most challenging, I chose to approach it from the perspective of “the phase where the most could go wrong, both intentionally and unintentionally”. With this mentality in mind, I came to the opinion that the third phase centered around executing the project had the most risks associated with it, including unforeseen and risks. This phase is often the lengthiest process, and taken the most seriously due to time constraints (that are associated with costs) that need to be met in order for the project to remain profitable. An example of how this can negatively impact the success of a project is if there is a delay in the deployment of a project, which results in more paid labor and time needing to be used and delaying further steps. Performance wise, this phase is incredibly reliant on the synergy of the members and information acquired in the first phase, along with the thorough and organized planning of the project in the second phase.
Hi Jordan, you are right about execution is really challenging as it has unforeseeable risk. This is why planning needs to take everything into account, which is also very challenging. I can see both planning and execution being challenging since they both take a good amount of time for the project to complete.
There are four phases of project management, Initiating, planning, executing and closing. Initiating processes is recognizing that a project or phase should begin and committing to do so. Planning processes is devising and maintaining a workable scheme to accomplish the business need that the project was undertaken to address. Executing processes is coordinating people and other resources to carry out the plan. Closing processes is formalizing acceptance of the project or phase and bringing it to an orderly end. In my opinion, initiating is the most challenge phase because it is the first of whole process and the basement, which decide the whole project idea and design. If there no clear and completed initiating there would be a trouble in other process.
The four phases of the project management are initiation, planning, execution, and closure. Of all the phases in the project management, I think planning is the most challenge for me because many things have to be dealt with in this phase. There are many steps in this step and involve many relate parties. Once a project is initiated, the planning process begins, which is a complex phase in the entire management process. The staff needs to have certain engineering experience, the need to understand the nine knowledge areas of project management, project integration management, project scope management, project time management, project cost management, project quality management, project communication management, project resource management, communication management, talent resource management, project risk management, and project procurement management.
I believe that stage 2 — Planning — is the most difficult stage of the Project Management process. Stage 1 — Initiation — is comprised of taking the problem and objective and developing the scope of the project. Most of that stage can be completed almost solely on the requirements handed down and collected from management. Stage 3 — Execution — could pose issues and create roadblocks. However, if planned correctly (which often times does not occur) those roadblocks and stoppages can be anticipated. Also, execution is primarily done by SME’s so the body of work is expected to be done right. Stage 4 — Closure — is comprised of analysis and documentation. From my perspective, outlining the individual stages, their duration, and the precedents of each requires the most expertise from an IT Auditor. An auditor’s first time on a project will not be able to accurately estimated and outline the step of the project. And this stage flows through and can affect the remaining stages.
Really well-thought out response. I like how you discussed not only why you felt planning was the most difficult, but also your opinion on the other stages as well. For me, I still think the project initiation is most challenging. While I understand the how difficult planning can be, initiating and scoping the project is most difficult to me because it also relies on the auditor’s ability to understand what requirements are relevant to the scope, and which ones are not (like our case studies in class).
I think the most challenging phases would be planning. There are four phases of the project management process, initiating the project, planning the project, executing the project, and closing down the project. The reason I think the planning phase is the most challenging one is that it needs to consider many factors. For example, resources plan, preliminary schedule, communication plan, and staffing. I think the project manager needs to fully understand the project and find out the most efficient way to plan this project. If they don’t have a well-developed plan, it could cause the failure of this project. Therefore, I think the planning phase is the most challenging phase among the four phases of the project management process.
Hi, Ryu:
Great post. Thank you for pointing communication plan out. If a project does not have a good communication plan, it would be a project that has difficulty to move one smoothly. I would also say that change management plan and risk management are also essential for a project. All of those preparations of a project would increase the chance of success rapidly.
I agree with your answer, project planning is a very important phase since it builds the foundation of the project. It’ll be extremely difficult to come and fix things overlooked initially in this phase, the project manager has to have a good understanding of the whole scope to efficiently guide this project.
This chapter ” project planning management” addressed 4 phases of the project management life cycle, which is broken down into initiation, planning , execution, and closure. these make up the path that takes your project from the beginning to the end.
From my perspective, the planning phase is the most challenge part. first of all, the project team needs to create a project plan to identify the project timeline. And next, to create workflow documents and estimate budget and create financial plan. Besides, gathering resources helps to build the functional team from internal and external talents pools while making sure everyone has the necessary tools.
To complete this phase, the project team should bring the team on board, usually with a project kickoff meeting. and its important to have everything outlined and explained
Each of the four project management phases has its unique challenges, so student answers will vary. Project initiation, the first phase, involves team building, building relationships with customers, defining the problem and project, and other challenging tasks. Some students will argue that the first phase is most important. If the first phase is conducted poorly, the project is likely to be doomed to failure. Project planning, the second phase, is also important because it can make or break the success of the project work that follows. In addition, resource planning, scheduling, crafting a budget and other planning tasks are difficult. Good planning is a challenge, since there is almost always pressure to truncate or do away with planning. Many students are likely to choose project execution, the third phase. This phase involves actually building the system, which is the analyst’s primary responsibility and often is the longest phase of project management. Students are not likely to choose the fourth phase, closing down the project. However, this phase is equally challenging. The dismantling of the team is a difficult, often overlooked aspect of project management. In addition, assignment changes for team members and performance appraisals are challenges associated with this phase.
I appreciate that you approached it in a broader perspective. Just to add-on to your second point, Planning phase is where you bring your team on board and train them about the overall project requirements, it involves creating of a set of plans to help guide the team through the execution and closure phases of the project. If anything goes wrong or if any assumptions are made then the complete project life cycle would collapse. Hence, appropriate project planning is required for successful project completion.
And also, I strongly support your last point. Project Closure phase is very important, just because all the phases are complete it doesn’t mean that the job ends there, it is very important to learn “What went well and What did not work?”. It is important to analyse the project performance, team’s performance, accoutning for used and unused budget,and closure documentation etc.
Out of the four phases of project management, the phase that I feel is the most challenging/critical is phase 3, execution. The execution phase is the most challenging because it is the deliverable for all the work put into phase 1 & 2. The outline and objectives have been carefully defined, the specific steps of implementation have been planned as well, the critical phase is seeing the project coming into fruition. All the budgeted money has been spent to create this deliverable, and if execution goes wrong, phase 1 & 2 will equal naught. Careful steps must be in place to ensure proper execution, and execution is the real start of project implementation, this is delivering what the client asked for. Every party involved, from the project manager, project team, clients, and most importantly investors, will be most critical about this phase.
Hi Mei, your reasoning supports your thought that phase 3 is the most challenging and critical one. Execution indeed requires careful implementation from lots of perspectives. Though I would also like to say that phase 2 planning seems to be more challenging as even with the right execution if your planning went wrong to begin with, it would be a waste of time so planning is quite challenging as well.
Hello Mei, although my response was different, your response is very well put together and supports your answer very well. The fallout of failing in execution can be enormous and extremely disheartening. Better to fail at the beginning, where not as much money is spent, than failing during execution.
I feel the most challenging one of the four phases of the project management process is the second phase, the planning phase. The main idea is to create small tasks within bigger project, build your team, and prepare a schedule for the assignment completion. It would be the most challenging part in practical. Because this phase is between Initiation and Execution that means we got a whole idea without any implementation. But this phase also needs accuracy and rationality. It is challenging even for the professional experts to bring the team on board.
I agree with your answer! Project planning phase will help you to manage time, cost, quality, change, risk and issues. They will also help you manage staff and external suppliers, to ensure that you deliver the project on time and within budget. Also, during this phase an agreed-upon baseline will be established for the Project Schedule. This schedule baseline will be used as a starting point against which performance on the project will be measured. It is one of many tools the Project Manager can use during Project Execution and Control to determine if the project is on track.
Yes. Managing time, cost, quality, change, risk and issues initially is absolutely challenging. And thank you for emphasizing the schedule baseline that is used as a starting point against which performance on the project will be measured.
Hi Haixin, I feel the same with you that the second phase is the most challenging and I totally agree with the reasons you mentioned. Even though the team does not have to actually test anything, the team has to know the determinant and understand the current situation. Only with a appropriate plan, the project can succeed.
Yes. We got the same point here. the team needs to foresee the determinant and figure out the circumstance to manage all the stuffs and set a baseline before testing or implementing anything. That’s what makes it the most challenging phase. And I like you use the word “appropriate”. It does not need to completely right, but it needs to be easy to change and free of serious mistakes.
Following are the 4 phases of project management process:
1) Initiating the project
2) Planning the project
3) Executing the project
4) Closing down the project
From reading chapter 3-“Managing the Information Systems Project” of MSAD, I believe that the project planning phase is the most challenging process because this phase requires thorough understanding of the complete project life cycle which involves Creating a project plan, Creating workflow documents or process maps, estimating budget and creating a financial plan, Resource planning, risk assessment and potential quality roadblocks. We could say that this phase is the central system/heart of the project management process as this phase tells everyone involved where the project is going and how it is going to achieve the goal.
I agree with your point, the project planning is very important. The project plan helps organize the different plans that reside within the project plan. The project scope plan outlines the overall scope of the project. The scheduling plan details the timeline of the project and the project start and end dates. This plan also outlines the project phases of the overall project. The cost management plan includes the project budget and inconsistency in the budget details. The quality management plan provides information on the project’s operational details. The staffing and communications plans detail resources and when and what communications go out to the organization and project team.
Hi Deepa, your format is very easy to read and understand. I agree that the planning phase is the most challenging one as it will take everything into consideration, if you missed anything, the execution might just not be executable at all. There are lots of things you need to take into account when you are planning for a project. Budget and risk should be considered heavily, which is why it is quite challenging.
Hi Deepa, I agree with your thought process and conclusion you came to. The fact that you laid out the four steps definitely gave me a great introduction to your response and the question. I really couldn’t have given a better response. One question I have for you though Is the weight and importance you put on the other phases of the project management process. I believe that the connection between the planning and execution phase (although this isn’t its own phase) is an important intermediary. If requirements or timelines are lost in translation, the end product could be way off of what the client wanted, What do you think? Which other phases carry weight besides planning?
You just show a clear and precise phase of project management based on the MSAD. I agree with your idea. the planning should be the most challenge part of the whole project because they have to understand whole project and analyze each step to find if there is any vulnerability that could become a threat during the period of project running.
The four phases of the project management including initiating the project, planning the project, executing the project, and closing down the project. Although all of the four phases are crucial for project success, the most challenging one would be the second phase: planning the project. Planning phase including scope, dividing the project into manageable tasks, resources plan, preliminary schedule, communication plan, project standards, Identifying and Assessing Risk, Preliminary Budget, and a Baseline Project Plan. Everything in the planning phase is very tight up with the phase of executing the project. For example: executing the baseline project plan, monitoring project progress against the baseline project plan are based on the baseline project plan, and managing changes to the baseline project plan which should be developed in the planning of the project phase. Communicating the Project Status would heavily depending on the communicating planning. Developing the scope is also one of the most challenging processes in project planning. Without proper project planning, the change of projects failing increase rapidly. A good project planning is critical and challenging.
Hi, Shyue, I agree with your point that the project planning phase would be the most challenging one because I think the project manager needs to make an educated guess in this phase, and the guess is very difficult.
Hi Shuyue, thanks for the detailed explanation! I think the planning phase is the most challenging too and it should involve many aspects that need to cover before executing the project, but I do not have that much knowledge about the specific areas. I learned a lot from your words!
Between project initiation, project planning, project execution, closing down the project, I think both project planning and project execution are the most challenging ones. If I have to pick one, I would pick project planning over project execution for the following reasons:
-Budget estimation is not easy and often an organization’s budget is limited for its’ own various reasons.
-The various tasks that need to be performed to produce the expected business application system can take some time to map out.
-Each task’s priority is different for an information system, the project manager needs to figure that out.
-Again, IT and non-IT supporting resources, which are required to perform the project can be hard to get/estimated.
Comparing to project execution, you just need to hire the right people to do the right things. Well, this could be oversimplified but I hope you get what I mean.
you just show a different answer compared with others. Most persons only focus on the planning as the most challenge part of the project management. However, I think execution is important and is a significant challenge because there always is a difference between planning and execution. There are some factors of environment we cannot realize and think about it as vulnerability in the system. Plan is just a general organization of the system. execution is the achievement of the system. I think you are right, both of them should be challenge.
Below I have listed the four phases that I think are the most difficult, in order:
1) Planning
2) Development
3) Systems Design
4) Integration & Testing
Planning,
*Accidentally Posted* *Response continues here*
Planning, to me, is the most difficult phase. The hardest part of the scope is always trying to figure out the potential solution. If it wasn’t hard, then the problem isn’t significant. On top of that, having to collaborate with other people, some who might not understand IT, can always be difficult. Having to convince upper management your cause is worth their money is difficult.
Development is second to planning. Once you get everything approved and funded, now you have to actually make it happen. Having a design is great, but building it to fruition is something else. Just because you know what you want, doesn’t mean your entire team knows how to build your vision.
Systems Design is third. Before you develop, you need to lay out what you are going to develop. In the planning phase, you had the idea, now you have to put it onto paper. You have to make sure that your design fits the available requirements and will operate efficiently and as a system. System requirements and compatibility issues can be a pain, especially if you don’t have control over how much storage/processing you can purchase.
Integration is fourth. I listed this as fourth because this can be extremely frustrating. When I code and I constantly receive error messages I want to punch my computer screen. There is nothing more complicated than not being able to figure out what is wrong. This is exceptionally awful when you have pages and pages of coding.
Geez. Well, I’ve realized that I did this wrong. That being said, planning is the most difficult phase and my reasoning is listed above.
*intentionally posted* lol
I agree. Planning is important for any project success and thus, I believe it is the most challenging as well. That is because planning will guide the entire project team through the execution and closure phases of the project. So, if the project is inadequately planned, the rest of the project will only fall apart.
stay woke, fam
The project management is usually broken down into four phases:
Initiating the project is the first phase of the project management process in which activities are performed to assess the size, scope, and complexity of the project and to establish procedures to support later project activities.
Planning the project is the second phase of the project management process that focuses on defining clear, discrete activities and the work needed to complete each activity within a single project. I think this phase is more challenging because it is the center of the whole process. Also, it often requires us to make numerous assumptions about the availability of resources such as hardware, software and personal. Therefore, we often should do long- term plans.
Executing the project is the third phase management process in which the plans created in the prior phases put the baseline project plan into action. I think this phase more challenging, because of this phase primarily during the analysis, design, and implementation phases.
Closing down of the project is the final phase which is to bring the project to an end. It is very important. A project is not complete until it is closed, and it is at closedown that projects are deemed a success or failure.
Hello,
After reading through your response regarding what you thought was the most challenging phase of the project management process, I was enlightened to the fact that listing out and writing your thoughts regarding each phase helped provide context and detail. I was particularly interested by your opinion on the last phase, which is the closing act of a project, since you put emphasis on its importance. I would be interested in learning more regarding the significance of the fourth phase.
Of the four project management phases, I think that project initiation is the most challenging for a variety of reasons.
1. The activities in the project initiation phase are often unstructured. When taking on a new project, selecting a new team, or establishing new relationships, there may not be a solidified framework to rely on for decisions.
2. It is difficult to get good feedback during the project initiation phase compared to the other phases. For example, in the execution phase, if a deadline is missed or a test is failed, that feedback is quick and can be corrected within the phase. In initiation, project managers may not get feedback late in the process, if at all.
3. All other phases are reliant on the initiation phase being done properly. Failure in this step will likely lead to project failure overall.
Hello Adam, I also agree with you. Planning can be difficult for many different reasons. If you don’t properly lay out the foundation, then the rest of the building won’t be built properly. The same goes for tech projects, whatever the case. In tech projects, sometimes you don’t find out the foundation is built poorly until it’s too late.
Hey Adam, I agree with you. The initiation phases, the project team needs to figure out a objective for the project and determine whether the project is feasible and identify the major deliverables for the project. Next, they need to develop a statement of work or project initiation document, which may include basic project life cycle flowcharts
Each phase of the project management process is connected, so minor changes in one phase will most likely cause change or documentation within another phase of the process. A project manager’s main focus is how to reach an end product within budget, that doesn’t exceed projections to complete (deliverables, duration, budget). With this in mind, I consider project planning to be the most challenging due to the numerous components needing consideration before creating a project’s baseline plan, which could still potentially change during the project’s execution. This phase deals with identifying scope, possible issues, developing a schedule, creating a preliminary budget, as well as risk assessment and communication strategies. As we discussed, communication is the defining factor for successful system development. While it may seem obvious, establishing an initial plan regarding who receives what information, and when they receive it, is not a simple task for the multiple parties involved.
Thorough explanation. I agree with you. Planning is needed before any action is taken. Hence, it is a very important phase as it maps out all the details needed for the phases to come and ultimately, a successful project. As stated in the text, “The decisions made at the early definition stages set the strategic framework…. get it wrong here and the project will be wrong for a long time” (Morris, 1998). Furthermore, planning sets the tone for scope, cost, quality, change, risk and resources. Therefore, it is a critical point.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/importance-planning-phase-project-success-6021
Out every phase, the task arranging phase is troublesome for a venture supervisor, because the undertaking director needs to make an educated supposition of the internal staff, assets, and equipment expected to finish the undertaking. He is also responsible to design group interchanges and exercises, just as get any outsider providers.
He should design estimated numerical estimations of assets that are accessible to finish the whole project. If planning of the venture isn’t done in a proper way, the various periods of SDLC will get influenced and yield which is wanted won’t be accomplished.
Venture supervisor of leadership for the site program and responsible for the assignment of operations integrity management roles. Responsible and accountable for the safety of assigned workers, for cost management and effective business controls. Maintain the business an make sure it is always run in an efficient and highly functional manner. Also, monitor concession activities and prepare report summaries.
Hi Peinghui, I totally agree with you. The task arranging phase is important for the project management process. I think it is similar to the phase I talked about, which ensures the project will succeed. Therefore, the planning phase and the task arranging phase is the most challenging phases.
Which of the four phases of the project management process do you feel is most challenging? Why?
The project management process includes four phases— initiating the project, planning the project, executing the project, and closing down the project. In my opinion, project planning is the most challenging. As noted in the text, “research has found a positive relationship between effective project planning and positive project outcomes” (Valacich et al., 77). Essentially, it is the heart of the project. Project planning is a critical phase as it establishes the nitty-gritty details and tasks needed to complete each activity for the entire project. The plans created during this phase will help manage time, cost, quality, change, risk and resources. The plans will also help to manage staff and vendors, to ensure that the project is delivered on time and within budget.
Hello Raisa, I also agree with your response. I like how you cited a study that also proves that planning is the most difficult phase. You have a unique take, compared to the rest of the planning responses. Without a properly planned planning phase, then the rest of the project is certain to fail.
When considering which of the four phases of the project management process I find I most challenging, I chose to approach it from the perspective of “the phase where the most could go wrong, both intentionally and unintentionally”. With this mentality in mind, I came to the opinion that the third phase centered around executing the project had the most risks associated with it, including unforeseen and risks. This phase is often the lengthiest process, and taken the most seriously due to time constraints (that are associated with costs) that need to be met in order for the project to remain profitable. An example of how this can negatively impact the success of a project is if there is a delay in the deployment of a project, which results in more paid labor and time needing to be used and delaying further steps. Performance wise, this phase is incredibly reliant on the synergy of the members and information acquired in the first phase, along with the thorough and organized planning of the project in the second phase.
Hi Jordan, you are right about execution is really challenging as it has unforeseeable risk. This is why planning needs to take everything into account, which is also very challenging. I can see both planning and execution being challenging since they both take a good amount of time for the project to complete.
There are four phases of project management, Initiating, planning, executing and closing. Initiating processes is recognizing that a project or phase should begin and committing to do so. Planning processes is devising and maintaining a workable scheme to accomplish the business need that the project was undertaken to address. Executing processes is coordinating people and other resources to carry out the plan. Closing processes is formalizing acceptance of the project or phase and bringing it to an orderly end. In my opinion, initiating is the most challenge phase because it is the first of whole process and the basement, which decide the whole project idea and design. If there no clear and completed initiating there would be a trouble in other process.
The four phases of the project management are initiation, planning, execution, and closure. Of all the phases in the project management, I think planning is the most challenge for me because many things have to be dealt with in this phase. There are many steps in this step and involve many relate parties. Once a project is initiated, the planning process begins, which is a complex phase in the entire management process. The staff needs to have certain engineering experience, the need to understand the nine knowledge areas of project management, project integration management, project scope management, project time management, project cost management, project quality management, project communication management, project resource management, communication management, talent resource management, project risk management, and project procurement management.
I believe that stage 2 — Planning — is the most difficult stage of the Project Management process. Stage 1 — Initiation — is comprised of taking the problem and objective and developing the scope of the project. Most of that stage can be completed almost solely on the requirements handed down and collected from management. Stage 3 — Execution — could pose issues and create roadblocks. However, if planned correctly (which often times does not occur) those roadblocks and stoppages can be anticipated. Also, execution is primarily done by SME’s so the body of work is expected to be done right. Stage 4 — Closure — is comprised of analysis and documentation. From my perspective, outlining the individual stages, their duration, and the precedents of each requires the most expertise from an IT Auditor. An auditor’s first time on a project will not be able to accurately estimated and outline the step of the project. And this stage flows through and can affect the remaining stages.
Really well-thought out response. I like how you discussed not only why you felt planning was the most difficult, but also your opinion on the other stages as well. For me, I still think the project initiation is most challenging. While I understand the how difficult planning can be, initiating and scoping the project is most difficult to me because it also relies on the auditor’s ability to understand what requirements are relevant to the scope, and which ones are not (like our case studies in class).
I think the most challenging phases would be planning. There are four phases of the project management process, initiating the project, planning the project, executing the project, and closing down the project. The reason I think the planning phase is the most challenging one is that it needs to consider many factors. For example, resources plan, preliminary schedule, communication plan, and staffing. I think the project manager needs to fully understand the project and find out the most efficient way to plan this project. If they don’t have a well-developed plan, it could cause the failure of this project. Therefore, I think the planning phase is the most challenging phase among the four phases of the project management process.
Hi, Ryu:
Great post. Thank you for pointing communication plan out. If a project does not have a good communication plan, it would be a project that has difficulty to move one smoothly. I would also say that change management plan and risk management are also essential for a project. All of those preparations of a project would increase the chance of success rapidly.
Hi Ryu,
I agree with your answer, project planning is a very important phase since it builds the foundation of the project. It’ll be extremely difficult to come and fix things overlooked initially in this phase, the project manager has to have a good understanding of the whole scope to efficiently guide this project.
This chapter ” project planning management” addressed 4 phases of the project management life cycle, which is broken down into initiation, planning , execution, and closure. these make up the path that takes your project from the beginning to the end.
From my perspective, the planning phase is the most challenge part. first of all, the project team needs to create a project plan to identify the project timeline. And next, to create workflow documents and estimate budget and create financial plan. Besides, gathering resources helps to build the functional team from internal and external talents pools while making sure everyone has the necessary tools.
To complete this phase, the project team should bring the team on board, usually with a project kickoff meeting. and its important to have everything outlined and explained