End of Term

Briefly discuss the major things you learned in the course.   
As you reflect back, what was the most challenging, the most rewarding.   
How will you apply what you learned in your current or future work?

During the span of this class I have learned many new concepts and ideas and had others refreshed or elaborated beyond my basic understandings.  Communicating with people seems straight forward and is something that we have been doing since babies, and with that the nuances that are necessary for proper communication often times get lost.  As you get involved with global team members the skills required increase exponentially.  

What I found the most challenging and the most rewarding was understanding how to handle international teams from a PM perspective.  The concepts presented throughout the course lay down the fundamentals, but I feel the more challenging part will be putting it into practice in the real world.

In my current job I do not have that much exposure to international teams, however I realize from this class that listening and ensuring proper communication techniques will help to avoid confusion or wrong assumptions.  

Additionally, all of the software in the world (virtual meetings, teleconference, virtual worlds, etc) is useless from a business perspective unless the PM is capable of effective communication.  For a message to be understand it has to be delivered clearly and concisely.  Naturally, communication is a two way street and the PM needs to be able to express in no uncertain terms expectations from the team.  

I plan to utilize the material learned in this course to help make myself a better communicator all facets of my life.  At home I am a project manager of sorts when it comes to gathering my team (my sons) to complete tasks.  Often times my communication methods are not effective and I have to regroup the team and reissue the steps that need to be completed to achieve our goals.  Certain times there is a communication barrier that needs to be overcome (ie 3 yr old) that necessitates a different communication style that what was used with the 7 year old.  Having the flexibility to craft your message to different audiences should allow a PM to be more successful.   

Mid Term

What topics have you found especially interesting, and would like to follow up in more detail?

Conflict resolution always seems to be very interesting to me.  I don't experience that much conflict in my work life, but deal with it daily with kids at home.  I am amazed at the principles that can be used across work and home when it comes to this subject.

What are the three main things, that are new to you, you have learned in the course so far? 

 I am not sure that anything has really jumped as a new to me so far.  Conflict resolution and building trust were two topic areas that I could certainly dig deeper into.

What are your reflections on this course, how well is it meeting your needs?   Which assignments were particularly useful?   Which ones were not?

So far everything has been what I have come to expect from the Bellevue online courses, which is great material presented in a way that is easy to understand, digest, and synthesize into meaningful discussions with others.  The case study was rather interesting because while I have read numerous case studies before in other classes I have never written my own.  Of course, having the latitude to create my own case study made it less intimidating as well.

Reflect on your use of technology and explain how it can facilitate communication in virtual settings.

The use of technology and its role in facilitating communications in virtual settings cannot be understated.  Prior to the advancements in technology global teams were limited to telephone calls and expensive on site visits.  Technology has brought the world closer together and allows us to communicate with anyone, in any country, at any time.  

Week 1 Learning Journal

As I get into the swing of things with another class in my Masters in project management endeavor I am reminded of how much I procrastinate.  This character flaw is apparent in other aspects of my life, but none so clear as with school work.  You can procrastinate other things like yard work or laundry, but at the end of the day school work is all that is left to do.

I am eager to get into the material for this class and after reviewing the syllabus I find a couple of the objectives familiar territory.  Specifically, describing the characteristics and challenges of global projects and applying PM practices to global projects.  These would seem like obvious extensions of the basic ideas we have been working with.

There is one course objective that is not completely familiar to me and that is formulating communication strategies for team members in different countries.

I am most concerned with timelines and simply getting my work done within the appropriate time.  There also seems to a be a group component so I have a bit of anxiety when it comes to making sure I do my fair share. In an online environment it seems that team collaboration can be somewhat sketchy to facilitate.

This course will ideally provide me with tools that I can leverage within my professional career.  It is much more common today to deal with business contacts across international boundaries.  Having the knowledge and leadership skills to navigate challenges that come with a global project will be invaluable.

I am probably most excited to get into the collaborative tools portion of the course.  I like tools and am always interested to see what the latest and greatest gadget is and what it can do for me.