Example Of Reflective Writing

Planning and implementing a project can be termed as challenging yet exciting process.  The entire process is challenging because of a number of reasons including time and resources constrain, working with others. However, the process is also very exciting as one learn a lot of new things.  In this essay I am going to reflect on the entire process of planning and implementing the project we as RB group undertook. As mentioned earlier the process of planning and implementing a project is challenging.  Actually, I have never in my life been involved in a planning and implementation of a project. This was therefore my first experience.  The first challenge I encountered   was time management. As it is well known, proper time management in any project is crucial in order for the success of the project (Lester, 2007).In, the project specification we had planned the time frame of the project which was reviewed and approved as viable.  However, when it comes to implementation of the project the time run out so fast and at one time we were behind the schedule.  Although, each of the group members was solely responsible for the delay, I personally spend much of my time researching for the project and this lead to slow implementation of the same and as I result we missed slightly missed the deadline.   Had I tried  to balances my time between  researching   and  executing my other roles which was  coding I could have not experienced much  pressure  as far as time was concerned and the project could have been completed  on time.  From this experience, I learned the needed to give each and every task in a project equal attention for proper time management.   In any project, Budgeting is essential.  Proper budgeting   lead to implementation of the project without problem related to resources constraint. On the other poorly developed budget can lead to delay in implementing the project mostly caused by resources constraint (IPMA, 2016). Although we managed to implement the project within the budget, we were almost out of fund due to poor budgeting.  We had identified all the resources we needed to implement the project, however, we did poor research when estimating the cost of acquiring those resources and this almost lead to resources constrain. For instance, we underestimated the cost of acquiring Server that we needed.  When it comes to implementation, we were shocked to realize the price for the server was much more    than we had budgeted.   We had to re-direct fund from other activities so that we can have enough cash to purchase the servers.   From this experienced, I learned the need to conduct well informed estimated when preparing the budget. Also, I learned that since budget is based on estimate, it is important to include a certain percentage of the budget ‘say 10 percent’ as miscellaneous cost so as to caution when the estimate turn out to be inaccurate.  In future project, I will approach the budgeting process very careful and I will utilize all information available to come up with estimates to improve the change of get them accurate. I will also ensure the unforeseen circumstances are well covered and reflected by the budget in order to avoid cases of inadequate funding like the one we almost experienced in this  project.   One of the areas that we as team did very well was to implement the team as per the technical   specification.  The   completed project is exactly as per the technical concept we had developed and documented.  However, to achieve this, proper planning and close monitoring had to be in place. As a team, we had to consult widely and review our technical concept to ensure it was as required.   From the entire process of developing the technical concept and implementing the same, I learned the needed to consult widely and always to stay focused to the plan.  I have come to appreciate the need to have the well developed and document plan to provide guidance through implementation. If we could not have the plan in place and well document, it could have been impossible for us to implement the project as per the technical concept and specification. Working in a team is an experience of its kind. In this case, we have to work as team for the completion of our project. That mean we have to plan and executed the project altogether.   As    always said, an effective team should always make decision together (Mindtool, 2016) and that was the case with our team. We had to consult each other   and make the decision together.  However, while I participated in the decision making process I was too confirmative. I didn’t want to appear as the    only person objecting others team member ideas and suggestion and I was therefore quick to confirm them even if I felt they were not right.   This surfaced later to haunt the group. For instance, when we were developing the budget for the project, we had given one of our team members the role of researching for the market price of acquiring servers to be used in the project.   The member did come to us with a figure which we actually included in the budget despite my reservation about the price (which I didn’t speak about). When it comes to the time of acquiring the server, we experienced difficult time because the amount we had allocated in the budget was not enough to acquire what we needed.  We had to re-route amount located for other resources to the acquisition of the servers. Although we were able to find ways to cut cost on other resources we were almost of budget by the time of completing the project.   Had I not conform to the member idea, we could have done proper research to ensure we came up with accurate figure when preparing the budget and we could have not experienced the problem.  From this experience, I learned the need to be critical to other people idea and suggestions when working in a team   so as to improve the quality of decision made by team. When working together as a team, communication is an important element that cannot be ignored.  As mentioned by (Bowen, 2013)  Communication breakdown between team members always result to poor working relation or uncompleted work.   While planning the team code of conduct to be applied in our project, communication was given a key consideration. All the members were required to attend the meeting which was to be done through Skype as each of the member residents in a far distance from each other.  Although we also planned for our communication schedule,   we as team, failed to take into consideration unforeseen circumstance that would affect our communication.  At the end, we encounter a number of challenged including slow internet connection among other which forced us to reschedule or resort to other method of communication.  This affected how we communicated hence the progress and achievement of each of the project milestone.   Had we taken into consideration all factors likely to impacts on our communication, we could have developed a more effective communication plan.   This experience taught me the needs to pay consideration to external factor when planning so that a well informed plan can be put in place. In every team working arrangement, participation of the member is   very paramount.  Failure by some members to participate actively leads to delay and challenges achieving the common goals being pursued by the team (Farrington, 2016). Fortunately, each of the members of our team participated actively to the project.   Naturally, I am a person who always likes to take a back seat especially when working with other.  However, it was different in this project and there are two factors that actually motivated me t participate actively throughout the entire project.  First was the size of the group.  Our team was very small and this put everyone on frontline since their contribution was very crucial for the entire project.  Due to the smaller size of the group, I felt that my contribution to the group was easily visible and acknowledged. Secondly, the process which we used to allocate role and responsibilities played a key role in motivate my participation in the group. Members were allocated role and responsibility according to their preferences and personal ability. I therefore felt at ease executing my role since they were within my ability and I also like what I was doing.   From this I not only learned and appreciate the facts  participation of each  member  in group is important, but I also learned several factors that would motivate people to actively participate in their  team activities. These factors include group size and role allocation.   The Smaller the team, the more an individual is willing to participate actively. Also, when team members are allocated roles   that they like and matched with their ability they will participate more actively to the group actively. This lesson learned in this case will help me in my future roles especially where I am involved in creating or leading a group or team. It will specifically help me improve members’ participation in group activities.   In conclusion, I can say that the entire process of planning and implementing the project conducted by my team not only give me platform to put the knowledge and skills I have learned through my course into practice, but it has also challenge given me an opportunity to learn more skills and knowledge beyond what I taught in the course including team working skills. Generally speaking, the project has prepared me to become a better professional ready to handle similar projects in future at a professional capacity.