Instructor’s Manual Abstracts
Issue 1 IM Abstract: A Project Management Crisis: Moving a Multi-Institutional Collaborative In-Person Sprint Online
Kimberlee Carter and Jane Gravill
Case Overview
This case is based on actual events that took place during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kim Carter, Professor in School of Business at Conestoga College, was the project lead for a multi-institutional collaboration project, along with her counterpart Marie Rutherford, from Georgian College. Months of preparation had taken place to get to this phase in the project. Carter and Rutherford had anticipated delays and challenges. Still, they did not anticipate a sudden stop to the project that would derail plans to the point that the resources would not be completed in time for fall delivery.
Carter’s first reaction to the team was, “this is only temporary, this can’t go on indefinitely; we will just take a pause and then get back on track in a few weeks.” However, as they learned more, it became apparent that it would take some time to get back to “normal.” Carter knew the Fall 2020 delivery would be remote, and access to digital resources would be essential. As this case closes, Carter and Rutherford had to re-evaluate the project plan and determine what would be possible, given the limited resources and shortened time.
Learning Objectives
By working through this case, students should be able to
- Apply a risk analysis framework to determine potential risk events, impact, appropriate risk response strategies, and minimum viable product deliverable(s).
- Develop appropriate risk response strategies based upon risk analysis results.
- Recommend and justify a project go/no go decision based upon risk analysis results.
Course Suitability
This case is positioned for use in introductory project management courses where theoretical framework concepts have been covered in prior class lectures. The instructor is ready to have learners apply those concepts to a practical situation. This includes courses that cover the project management framework from the Project Management Institute. Key topics covered in the case are project management principles and identifying and analyzing potential risk events to develop a revised project and contingency plans incorporating an agile approach.
Recommended Reading
Gray, C.F., & Larson, E.W. (2021). Project management: The managerial process (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
- Chapter 7: Managing Risk
- Chapter 15: Agile Project Management
PMI. (2021). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide) (7th ed.). Project Management Institute.
- Section 2: Development Approaches
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