Weekends with Archie

Leading by Example

February 25, 2007

This entry will be about the lessons i learned in project management. This Saturday, we finally had our defense in our capstone project in MIS.  And being the project manager, I had one of the most important lessons as a leader of a team - to lead by example.  Last semester, our group, the iTranscend Solutions, were regarded as the "best group so far" (quoted from Allan Ko) during the defense of our project plan.  Come second semester, during its implementation, the success of our project was compromised due to the delay in the project schedule.  I have to admit that I am not a techie person and I find system development very technical to me.  In addition, the resignation of our former project sponsor made a negative impact to the whole team, especially I guess to me as much pressure was put on what needs to be done next.  Hence, I was not able to participate very well in the development of the system including its testing where I have the primary responsibility.  With this in the process, siloism of roles and responsibilities was observed among the team members.  Eventually, there had been an observed delay in schedule and much of this can be attributed to poor coordination and communication among the members of the team.  The result was a system that lacks industry standards in terms of function and aesthetics, a major comment of the defense panelists.

Although the project can be considered generally as a success, the panelists made a comment about the lack of a certain vision beyond all possible measures that were set in the beginning.  This struck me most because as a person, I have known myself to be a visionary leader, someone who is driven to do things because he knows the cause and purpose of every endeavor, although this time, it was not exercised.  I guess there could be several factors involved like the lack of good rapport among the team members and also the lack of openness for constructive criticisms.  As for myself, I also had my own comments about the system even during its development, however, I was not able to air them out to the persons assigned since I think I detached myself too far.  I was afraid I had no right to comment or give feedback since I was not able to contribute much in the activity.  I believe I can be an effective project manager but only this time, I was not able to lead by example.  I realized that one of the things to lead effectively is to lead by example - to lead so that others may see what you see and to lead so that others may believe in what you believe. 

Nevertheless, I wanted to thank my colleagues in the iTranscend Solutions for a job well done the whole year round.  Nice working with you guys.

Coming soon, I have to study for my grand theo orals and the succeeding exams and projects for the next week.  Apparently, this IS my last academic year in my entire school life.  Wish me luck!


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