Project Post Mortem

Ok... so I don't really have a real project that I can share with you all. But in our textbook Portny et at(2008) in chapter 1 talked about how baking a cake can be considered a project, since they defined projects as temporary endeavors that result in some type of product or service. So here goes...

The Conceive Phase
Last weekend my friend and I baked a carrot cake. I wouldn't necessarily say that the project was a failure, but one of the steps could have gone a little better. I guess I can be considered the project manager of "Project Cake". So as project manager and baker extraordinaire, I was approached by my friend (upper management) with "We're baking a carrot to take to Mo's for dinner on Sunday". Of course, I was caught off guard because it was random. But I went along with the idea anyway.

The Define and Start Phase

These phases were combine because it was just the two of us. The unknown of the project was the recipe. My friend had lost it the last time we made a carrot cake. The project was scheduled to start on Sunday and end that same Sunday before 6pm. There was no projected budget. As long as it was within reason. The stakeholders were me, my friend and Mo (the consumer). The An analysis of the resources (the ingredients) was done in the store. The defined tasks included going on line and finding another recipe, getting the ingredients from the store, and making the actual cake and baking it.

The Perform Phase
The tasks were actually further broken up and assigned in this phase. My responsibilities included finding the recipe and mixing the cake batter, and making the frosting. My friend was to grate the carrots and ice the cake. We both went to the store together. The the oven balked the cake. Now the issues:

• some of the cake decided it wanted to stay in the pan
• the frosting was a little too thin for the cake
• there wasn't enough batter for 2 9in pans
• we bought duplicate ingredients

The Close Phase

The cake was completed with in time and within the budget. The consumer (Mo) was happy. The cake turned out great despite the issues. In fact, I just had a piece an hour ago. It's even better now than it was on Sunday. All of the issues were solved but they were not anticipated. They were my fault (except the cake sticking to the pan. I greased and floured both pan thoroughly!) The frosting I could have whipped a little longer til I got the consistency that was suitable for the cake or the frosting could've been put in the fridge to chill. As far as the batter, the recipe I used called for a 9x13in pan. So I made another batch of batter and cut the recipe in half. The duplicate ingredients could've been prevented if my friend had written down what we had already instead of going by memory. For future references we decided to get the spray oil with the flour in it for the pans and add pineapple.

Reference

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc