RUNNING HEADER: THE JOURNEY OF A STUDENT PM 1

The Journey of a Student PM

Christian Larin

OGL 320 Summer Session B

THE JOURNEY

Icansaythisclassremindedmeofabootcampclasswhenyouarecompletely

outofshape.Youbeginthebootcampclassnotinthebestfitnesslevel.Afteryourvery

firstclassyouarecompletelysore.Youarewalkingaroundstiffanddreadingthenext

class.Thisclasshadthesameaffectonme.Gettingtheinitialgradeformyfirstpaper

wasaharshrealty.IwalkedaroundangryforabitandkeptthinkingabouthowhardI

hadworkedonthepaper.Eventually,Ibegantolearnhowtotrulyorganizemythoughts

andreadtherubric.Ilearnedhowtoreadtherubricstohelpformmypapers.Itfinally

clickedthattherubricwasthescopeoftheproject.DeReyck(2010)discusseshowover

50%ofITfailureswerebecauseofapoordefinitionofthescopeofaproject.Ibelieve

thatthisnumberwasmuchhigherforthewholeclassforthefirstpaperweallturnedin.

Thispaperwilldiscussmyjourneyinthisclassbylookingathowtheawarenessofmy

biasesincreased,howcrucialplanningwasforthisclass,andfinallyhowlearningto

utilizefeedbackallowedmetogrowasapersonandPM.

ThefirstpaperthatIturnedinwasdiscouraging.Ihadcompletelyleftoutthe

sectionofanalyzingmyownbiases.IthoughtIhadpointedthemoutandanalyzedthem,

butafterreceivingthefeedbackandrereadingmypaperIrealizedthatItrulyhadnot.I

hadassumedthatIreallydidnthaveanyandnowrealizethatwealldo.Myinitialpaper

focusedonmybiasesaroundexperience.Halverson&Rock(2015)statethis,aswhatI

seeistherightwayofdoingthings.IhavebeeninmyroleforquitesometimeandI

bringsomegreatexperiencesandknowledge.However,forcedmetoevaluatemy
THE JOURNEY

biases,alot.ItshowedmethatIreallydidhavebiasesthatwerealiveandactive.

Acknowledgingofmybiaseskeepsallowsmetobeabletolookatthewholepicture.

ThebiasIhadtokeepincheckforthisclasswastheavailabilitybias.Halverson

&Rock(2015)statethisasmakingdecisionsbasedoninformationthatcomestoyou

firstinsteadofinformationthatismoreobjective.Iunderstandthisaslookingaroundfor

thefirstthingtohelpyouproveyourpoint.Ihaveseenthisutilizedbymeinmy

marriage.MywifeandIhaveanoldcraftsmanhousebuiltin1910.Wearefixingitup

slowly.Mywifehasavisionforwhatshewantsthehousetolooklike.Whenweare

shoppingaroundforaccentsforourhouseshewillwanttoshopthewholestore.Hegets

frustratedbecauseIgoinandjusttryandfindsomethingformthefirstrowofthestore

thatweareat.Shehaslearnedtogivemeatimeframeforthelengththatwearegoingto

spendinastore.Irealizedthatmybiascamefrombeingannoyedabouthowlongwe

weregoingtospendinaspecificstoreandalsohowmanyotherstoresthroughoutthe

day.Communicatingtimelinesallowedustocometoanunderstandingregardingthe

lengthoftimeforhertolookaroundandformetonotbeannoyedandmostimportantly

beopentoreallylookaroundmyself.

Duringthisclass,theavailabilitybiaswouldcreepupasIwaswritingmypapers.

Iwouldfocusonthefewthingsthatwereatmydisposalandnotreallydigdeep.Iwould

notlookattheadditionalresourcesthatwereavailabletome.Thiswasshowninregards

withthescorethatIwasgivenintherubricofdepthofanalysis.Thisclassgavemethe

growthmindsettobeginlookingbeyondthefewresourcesthatIhadatmydisposalthat

werelistedforthisclass.DuringthestudyoftheBigDigwewatchedagreat
THE JOURNEY

documentary.Iwasabletogainfurtherinsightbygoingintotheadditionalresourcesand

lookingattheinterviewwithFredSalvucci.Thisgavememoreinsightthenthevideos

allowedmetosee.Theincreaseofmygrowthmindsetpushedmetolookformore

information.Dewck(2006)stateshowthosewithagrowthmindsetfindsetbacks

motivating(pg.99).TheinitialgradeonmyfirstfewpapersmademereevaluatehowI

spentmytimepreparingforthepapersforthisclass.Thefeedbackfromtheverylow

gradeparalyzedmeatfirstbutthenmotivatedmetolookatthepuzzleandfigureout

howtosolveit.

Thisclassrequiresalotoftimeandefforttoacquireagoodgrade.Ihadtolearn

howtoplanaccordinglytobeabletomanagetheworkloadforthisclassandOGL350

DiversityandOrganizations.Ialsoneededtobalancemyjobasafulltimestoremanager

forStarbucks.Lastbutnotleast,Ialsohadtomanagemyresponsibilitiesasafatherand

husband.Learninghowtoplanallthemovingpartsrequiredmetoalsofocusonanother

biasthatIhadtokeeponcheck.Halverson&Rock(2015)statetheplanningbiasis

underestimatinghowlongitwilltaketodosomething.Iunderstandthisasnotgiving

myselfenoughtimefortheamountofworkthatIhavetodo.Icameacrossthisbiasmy

firstsemesteratASU.Ihadsignedupfortwoclassesandalabformyfirstsessionlast

fall.Ihadplanned/projectedthatthelabwouldnottaketomuchtimeformeto

complete.Buhler,Griffin,andRoss(1994)statesthatpeopleusuallyfallshortaround

theirpredictionsonhowlongthingstakebutweregreatatmeetingthedeadlines.This

wasthecaseasIfoundmyselfdrawingsrocksforaGeologylabuntilmidnightsoIcould

turnitinontime.Ihadpredicteditwouldtakemeanhourbutinrealityithadtakenme
THE JOURNEY

closeto6hourstocompletetheassignment.Unfortunately,Ididnotlearnfastenough

duringthatsemester.Ifellvictimtotheplanningbiasthewholesessionandsurvivedthe

courseworkloadwithnosleep.Imetthedeadlinesbutwashorribleatpredictinghow

longitwouldtakeme.

FortunatelyIhadmoreexperienceonbalancingandplanningalltheworkloadfor

ASUandmylife.TheplanningIusedforthisclasswasfocusedaroundtryingtocreate

someconsistencyaroundmyworkschedule.Intheretailsectoryoulearntoliveina

worldwhereyouhavenoconsistencyaroundwhatandwhenyouwork.However,I

foundthatthemostcrucialaspectthatbegantoleadtomysuccessinprevioussemesters

wastogivemyselfWednesdaysandSundaysoff.Mydaysoffgavemeaccesstodo

schoolworkwithfreshenergy.Herrolen(2005)discusseshowaddingbuffertimesinto

thesoftwaresystemsallowforthepossibilitytoaccountforthetimeneededifsomething

goeswrong.ThatiswhatthesetdaysofWednesdaysandSundaysallowedmetodo.

DuringtheotherdaysIhadtosplitmyfocusonbeingatworkandalsoreadingsformy

othercourse.Whicheverdeadlinewasduenextrequiredmyimmediateattention.The

bulkofmydayoffwasutilizedintotheassignmentthatwasduesoonest.Utilizing

growthmindsetandlearning/beingmotivatedfromthefeedbackallowedmetolearnhow

tobestutilizemytime.Learningtousetherubricallowedmetofocusonwhatthegoal

wasfortheassignment.Itcreatedthescopeforthepaper.Wiefling(2007)statesthatthe

firsttemptationthatanyprojectmanagermustovercomeisthetendencytostartworking

ontheprojectbeforethegoalsareclear(pg.46).Myinitialpaper,mybaseline

assessment,Ijustbeganwritinganddidntreadtherubric.Ididntknowwhatmygoal
THE JOURNEY

wasforthepaper.Thefeedbackallowedmetolearntousetherubricasthescopeofthe

project.Aftergrading,Ilearnedtousetherubricasfeedbacktoincreasetheaccuracyof

mypredictionofhowlongitwasgoingtotakemetowriteapaperforthisclasswhile

meetingthedeadline.Theinvestmentofthetime,energy,andmostimportantlygrowing

mygrowthmindsetiswhatIwasbeingrewardedfor.

Forcingmyselftofacemyfailuresandallowittomotivatemetodobetternext

timeisthebiggestaccomplishmentthatthisclasshasgivenme.Learningfrommy

mistakesallowedmetochangetheprocessthatIwasusingpreviously.Thecasestudy

ofcreatingahelpdeskforASUseemsliketheperfectexample.Theknowledgeand

experiencegainedfromlearningfromthemistakesfromcreatingahelpdeskforthe

businessschoolgavethePMtheabilitytobetterpredict/plantoreachthedeadline.The

PMcreatedasystemthatwouldintegrateintotwoenterprisesystemsthatwerenotyet

created.Thegrowthmindsetoflearningfromfailureallowsapersontobetter

predict/planfornexttime.However,theTitanicwasacasestudythatshowswhathaving

alackofagrowthmindsetcanleadto.Ismaychosenottolearnfromsomeofthe

failuresoftheOlympicandproceededtofallvictimtohislossaversionbias.Ifhehad

learnedfromhisfailureshewouldhavemadesomechangestothedesignoftheTitanic

aftertheOlympicwasintheaccident.IfIhadfollowedinIsmaysfootstepsIwould

havenotgrownandjustkeptpushingforward.Mygradewouldhavesunklikethe

Titanic.UtilizingasimilarmindsetfromthePMinchargeofthehelpdeskatASU

allowedmetolearnfrommymistakesandreachtheendofthisclasswithhopefullya

greatgrade.
THE JOURNEY

Aprojectcanbeanything.Itdoesneedtohaveagoal,aplan,andaplantodeal

withanythingthatwillmostlikelygowrong.Thisclasshastaughtmethatthereare

projectsallaroundus.Wearegivenprojectsbyourbossesatworkandbyourpartners

athome.Workisprojectizedbecausetherearesomanythingstodoanditisfasterto

divideitup.Certainaspectsoftheprojectcanbecompletedatthesametime.Ifthere

arefivestepstoaprojectitispossibletocompletesteps1through3atthesametime.

Thesefirstthreestepsallowtherequireditemsneededtocompletesteps4and5.Ifwe

didntprojectizetheworktheneveryoneonateamwouldhelpcompletestep1.Once

finishedthewholeteamwouldmovetostep2.Wewouldcontinuethestepsuntilwe

wouldcompletetheproject.Thiswouldbecostintensiveandalsotakeforever.By

utilizingprojectsthePMcanfindthecriticalpathtocompletetheproject.Utilizingmy

keylearningsfromthisclasswillhelpmeineveryaspectinmylife.Thegrowthmindset

oflearningfrommymistakes,planning,andacknowledgingmybiaseswillallowmeto

keepgrowingasapersonandhopefullyasaleader.
THE JOURNEY

References:

Buhler,Griffin,&Ross.(1994).Exploringthe"PlanningFallacy":WhyPeople
UnderestimateTheirTaskCompletionTimes.JournalofPersonalityandSocial
Psychology.

Dweck,C.S.(2008).Mindset:Thenewpsychologyofsuccess.NewYork,NY:
BallantineBooks.

DeReyck.(2010).EffectiveProjectPlanning:MakingtheMostofProjectPlanning
Tools.ProductionandInventoryManagementJournal.

Halvorson,&Rock.(2015).BeyondBias.StrategyBusiness.

Herroelen.(2005).ProjectSchedulingTheoryandPractice.PRODUCTIONAND
OPERATIONSMANAGEMENT.

Wiefling,K.(2007).Scrappyprojectmanagement:The12predictableandavoidable
pitfallsthateveryprojectfaces.SiliconValley,CA:ScrappyAbout