Post-mortem Project

Had I taken this class before I was hired as a monitor/coordinator for a local company, maybe I would have stayed in the position longer. However, I learned a lot through the process.

I was hired to implement programs, coordinate activities and contracts from grant money for four different social service agencies.  I was the first person in this position, and this was the first time the company I worked for won the RFP (Request for Proposal) for this type of contract work.  As the monitor and coordinator, I was to perform many various duties, implement projects, and manage directors, supervisors, and their staff.  The directors did not want me to come into their agencies and make changes to their method of performing the contract work, even though they agreed to do so in their proposals. But, it was my job to assist them in modifying their programs to adhere to the federal regulations.  The job was super stressful and because I was out of the office most of the week, I put in many extra hours. But as we all know, you don't get paid overtime on salaried jobs, and of course, the money did not equate to the duties. Needless to say, I didn't have that job very long.

While working with this company, I created tools that helped keep me organized and contributed to the success of the program.  Each agency was responsible for submitting many reports that was submitted in various formats.  I held a meeting with each agency director, to teach them how I wanted  information submitted.  I purged forms that held duplicate information when possible.  I worked with the IT department to develop a program that would be useful for information gathering for the contracting agencies.  Finally, I was able to get the agencies to function  universally.  By that time, I was pretty burned out.

One of the missing parts in this one-man show was help from other people. The only assistance that I had was for someone to take telephone messages for me when I was out of the office. I asked for help, but was told money wasn't available for additional staff.  

According to Greer 2008, a Project Plan should have been created. The plan would have shown my director the work efforts necessary in order to produce the deliverables required of the position. Most likely, there wasn't any type of  needs analysis completed by anyone once the RFP was awarded.  At least one more person was necessary to complete administrative roles while I was out of the office. If I wouldn't have been in a hurry every time I visited the agencies, I could have developed better working relationships which would have helped to make the project more successful.