Project Management - Personal Reflection Essay

Introduction

This personal reflection essay is to summarize the experience I had in my Project Management class and how I intend to apply the lessons learned in my own life.  The three areas I focus on are affect, behavior, and cognition.  The affect section of this paper describes how I felt throughout this course, the behavior section describes how this class has changed the way I behave, and finally the cognition sections outlines what I learned as a result of this course. 

Affect

The three emotions that best describe the feelings I felt throughout the course of this class were: sadness, excitement, and fulfillment.

Sadness: As we spent time learning about Operation Underground Railroad, I couldn’t help but feel sadness for not only the victims of this horrific industry, but in humanity itself.  I never knew how big of an industry child sex trafficking is and I’m sickened to think that there is enough demand in this world for children to be used as sex objects that this horrific industry is able to thrive. 

Excitement: The more I learned about everything O.U.R. is doing to eradicate sex trafficking, the more excited I felt about helping them succeed.  Learning new PM tools and being able to apply them in the real world, and toward a cause that I strongly believe in, was extremely exciting. 

Fulfillment: There is not a better word to describe the way I felt when looking at Jeremy’s face while MJ presented the donations she was able to obtain than fulfillment.  Even though I didn’t have anything to do with the donations, I felt somewhat a part of what was being delivered.  The PM tools we learned were able to add real value to O.U.R. and that was extremely fulfilling to me.

Behavior

I am an extremely motivated and impatient person, and as a result I tend to act before I think when I’m excited about something.  The biggest thing this course was able to do for me as far as changing my behavior goes, was cause me to think more critically before acting.  As this course progressed, I noticed myself thinking about problems and situations at work and home in much more in depth before moving to action.  As an example, I’m currently in the middle of a home remodel.  In the past I would typically pull out the hammer and start pounding before really knowing exactly what I wanted to accomplish.  This class changed that behavior and has caused me to break projects down into smaller, manageable projects and put plans in place in order to carry out these smaller projects.  This is very uncharacteristic of me but I’ve enjoyed having more structure to my endeavors as a result of this course. 

Another area where my behavior has changed as a result of this course has been with the way I communicate with others.  Through studying different case studies, discussing chapter summaries in class, and working with group members, I noticed I’m beginning to change the way I communicate with people.  I’ve always understood the importance of effective communication but this course reiterated its importance.  Communication is an area I believe to be critical regardless of the role you hold, or the industry you work in, so being able to become a better communicator is absolutely critical in order to succeed. 

Cognition

The most important thing I’m going to take from this course is this knowledge I obtained.  From the tools discussed and implemented to the theory behind why certain methods are more effective, I feel like I have more knowledge and ability to succeed in managing projects.  The tools I feel were most impactful to me were the work breakdown structure and the Gant chart.  Breaking items into smaller manageable tasks and making sure these tasks are accomplished on time and on budget are two areas that I have always struggled with.  I hope to apply these two tools in my professional and personal life so I can become a more effective project manager.   

Conclusion

I feel far more equipped to take on new projects and tasks in my life as a result of this course.  From the way this course made me feel, to how it changed the way I behave, to the things I’ve learned, I have had enriching experience in this course and hope to carry these feelings, behaviors, and knowledge throughout my life. I would recommend this course to anyone wanting to learn to become, not only a better project manager, but a better person in general.