I think the biggest learning for me in this class came from the simulations. Working together with a group of people towards a “real world” goal is something that I do not have much experience with as much of my work has been either school related or solo work for a larger project. The little nuances of people being unavailable due to time zones or conflicting schedules was quite eye opening to me. Learning how to work around these issues and still complete the given task was probably the biggest learning for me. It also highlighted the importance of useful critique. Working together to combine ideas, taking the best from multiple ideas, to create a solution to the problem is quite a useful skill. Learning to not get too attached to my own ideas was important as whilst I think they might be the best path forward, I can be blinded by the fact that I have more of an attachment to them. Eventually I want to work on R&D teams in industry, so having these types of skills will be highly beneficial for me I believe.
I learned that communication is a key aspect to keeping a team and a project moving smoothly. This class especially taught that no matter how much you prepare for a project, something will always go wrong, no matter how big or small. The mini and actual simulations we did covered every aspect of the class, from the fundamentals of a project cycle to how we interacted with each other and vendors in order to appease the client. The project groups were also not the same, excluding one of them, which shows the real life aspect of not always working with the same team for different projects. I think this class did prepare me for industry well with all that we covered.
I learned that a PM is ultimately responsible for everything related to the project. While they may not have to do everything, i.e they can delegate to Subject Matter Experts, they are still the face of the project, which mean they will have a share of the blame! I find that challenging and rewarding. In my opinion, PMs are responsible for making sure the project gets to completion effectively and in timely manner. I love the supervisory aspect of this position. I could definitely see myself in that position.
However, I definitely see why PM position might not be suitable for some people. The job description comes with a very high inter-personnal skill which I feel that some engineer lack tremendously. They tend to be more of the technical aspect of the job that the other skill.
I am currently engaged in my first week of project management. I ventured to this forum because I thought it could be helpful to check out skills students have learned after matriculating through the course. I think it was nice to read those posts. Project management is so different compared to what I do professionally, it helps to have a place to go and learn a little bit. I suppose it makes it a little less intimidating.
As I am still an undergraduate student and have no experience in industry, I am very grateful to have taken this course before I graduate. Most, if not all, of my classes up until this point have been purely technical rather than experiential. This class has given me the tools for how to handle real life situations from a project management perspective. For group projects over the course of high school and college, I always enjoyed handling the management/organizational side slightly more than the technical side. I was on the fence in regards to choosing a master's program for next year, but this course was further confirmation to pursue my master's in Engineering Management!
There are several lesson learned in this class, raging from technical skills that can be utilized for proper project management and also the soft skills which are the backbone. One thing that I start utilizing in my career that was taught in this course was "thank You" emails. Until now I was under the impression that everyone is fulfilling their role that they are supposed to or being paid for so there is no need for me to say "thank you". However there are somethings that are done by several team members which they have to go out of their way for and showing them appreciation goes a long way. Another lesson which I really liked is the importance of proper planning. With proper planning everyone is more prepared for challenges that are encountered instead of scrambling for a solution. Having a proper plan allows them to strategize and respond properly.
Although it is not a skill, one of the best things I learned from this class was the importance of interpersonal skills. After the lecture in which Dr. Simon emphasized the importance of interpersonal skills in comparison to technical skills, I decided that it was something that I should implement when interviewing for full-time positions. During interviews, I touched upon my technical skills, but made it a point to also discuss my “people” skills and highlighted my extroverted personality. This proved to be a successful tactic since I believe it helped me be an overall better candidate, and directly resulted in a few offers. Other than this, project management skills in general are skills that can be used in all aspects within industry. The importance of planning and documentation is vital for not just major projects, but minor tasks as well. Overall, this class has helped me learn a lot, and has helped me to begin my career within industry.
Two important lessons I learned from this course was the impact the planning stage had on the completion of a project and the importance of interpersonal skills. As for the planning stage, I learned how an inadequate consideration of this stage can result in challenges arising that can either delay or result in your project failing. In relation to the planning stage, an introduction into the creation of items such as work breakdown structures, schedules, and network diagrams have shown me their importance in increasing the efficiency and feasibility in which a project is completed. Nonetheless, one of the most important lessons I learned in this course was the affect interpersonal skills play in relation to success. As mentioned in a prior post by @am2343, I also began emphasizing on interpersonal skills during job interviews following the lesson from this course and saw firsthand how it increased my standings as a potential candidate. In conclusion, I believe the lessons learned from this course will allow me to better understand and adapt to the methods, processes, and procedures implemented in industry.
The skills that I have learnt from this class is to listen to everyone on the team and think of multiple options that arise during the team meetings. Because this is important to develop coordination between the team to make sure that everyone is heard in a conversation. It is important for every employee to be heard when they input their ideas or want to make changes to an existing technique. This will help to build the team strong and productive.
Honestly, the most important skills this class develops are the communication and decision making skills. Both skills are helpful no matter what field or position you work in later and the decision. These skills are mainly developed in the simulations and partly in the mini-sims which is why I am glad that the course really emphasizes those parts as the “real-life” learning of the course.
From this class, I learned that communication and planning are key to a successful project. The simulations and mini-sims have shown that with proper communication and proper planning the problems that occur can be solved effectively.
I have been industry for a few years so this class was beneficial for me to understand different areas of project management. Everyone learns these on the job and they are different for each company, but I think this class did a great job at reinforcing what is the design process as well as provide insight on what parts of the management process I don't see while working.
One skill for everyone who is not currently employed in the medical device industry is being accountable for the work you need to do and understanding that there are times you need to be more flexible in working in a group. Not everyone has the same experience as it happens in real life, but collaboration still needs to occur with everyone continually thinking on their aspects of the project and what is still needed to get done. There also needs to be a large amount of thought before creating a response if you are unsure of a topic. There were a wide range of simulation topics that I needed to research prior to being able to respond to anyone and I think its a habit everyone should have when starting in the industry. No one is going to want to answer every question you may have so it is best to try to think through as much as you can until collaboration is necessary and providing thoughtful feedback/questions.
What I like the most about this class is the interactive part of it with all the simulations. The simulations gave the class a lot more value rather than just having the academics part of the course. We need to have more real life situations like this in other courses in order to gain this experience rather than having tests and memorizing information. Those simulations really put me in a situation not necessarily to be a project manager but at least to think like one and taught me how to be a team player with a different team every time. I also learned to think outside the box; sometimes the team is really focused on a solution and does not see the big picture. Maybe that solution is not feasible or it might take a long time, while there are other potential solutions that might work better if we think outside the box. These are just some of the soft skills that have be learned in order to be a project manager.
There are many skills learned throughout this class. The first and most important skill I have learned in this class is teamwork. Being able to work in a team is an essential skill most companies and startups require. Although this course helped me build my social skills to work in a team, this course directed me to be initiative and active in the team i.e., resourcefulness. The second skill I have learned in this class is planning, and how it plays a huge role in any project whether it is individual or team project. An efficient planning leads to an extraordinary outcome, and it helps the team to achieve its goals with less time wasted. Last of all, this course has taught me how to think critically throughout the given simulations and case studies by putting me in different situations with problems I need to solve. Honestly, I thought it will be difficult to learn or work in a team remotely (online) due to this COVID-19 situation; however, I managed to learn a lot from this course, and I managed to work smoothly in a team. This flexibility in learning and working in a team remotely is a great skill and experience I learned in this class, and a one I will never forget.
