Question One: Evaluation Type
The ideal form of evaluation for the instant project is a formative evaluation. By definition, formative evaluation is a type of evaluation that makes monitoring and evaluation an integral part of project planning and implementation. Formative evaluation begins at the planning stage where the project plan is developed ( Boulmetis & Dutwin, 2014). The project planners are supposed to envisage and anticipate how the different segments of the project will materialize once the project is underway. The planners will then use the information developed through the anticipatory study to adjust and advance the project plan to make it better and reduce risks. During the process of project implementation, evaluation and anticipation continue and the information generated thereby used to constantly adjust the project specifications and implementation process ( Boulmetis & Dutwin, 2014).
The words “it was later discovered” are a common motif in the case study and among the reasons why the objectives of the project were either not achieved in totality or cost more time and finances than anticipated. The project implementers realized great flows in the project plan when they were already implementing it. The wide scope of the project with moving parts in the US and Europe made it difficult to make major changes when the project was already underway. It would have been much better had these contingencies been realized and handled at the planning stage, which would have been the case under formative evaluation. Further, when the contingencies were discovered, they impacted the project adversely. Some of which cost the project too much time, heightened cost, and made some objectives hard to achieve. Changes would have been made in the project plan to accommodate these adversities, and a formative evaluation process would have enabled the making of these changes.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Question Two: Learned Lessons
The first crucial learned lesson is that project planning and project implementation differ significantly. What seems to be an excellent plan may turn out to be a disaster at the implementation stage. Seeking to understand how secondary factors on the ground may affect the parameters of the project plan is thus crucial. Among the main reasons for the delay in the project, increased costs, and failure to achieve some objectives emanated from unexpected contingencies. In the next project, the project planning stage should have several virtual simulations. Issues such as differences in laws between the different countries and time factors would be realized at the planning stage and factored into the project plan. Surprises would thus be avoided leading to better project implementation.
Human resource-based projects relating to existing companies are subject to changes in the organization during the pendency of the project. The project plan should envisage such changes and create avenues for it to be amended as and when these changes come into play. After the project was already underway, several new instructions came including the addition of more countries under the US division. Such changes caught the implementers unawares and led to major delays. In future, the project plan is both open-ended and based on a formative evaluation to avoid such eventualities caused by sudden change in instructions.
Coordination is key to projects that are done in a wider geographical area, more so when different teams are operating under different jurisdictions. A proper system of coordination should be put in place so that team managers and members should be on the same page, despite being in different places. During the pendency of the projects, many experts spent a lot of time moving from the US to the UK and back because of lack of poor coordination between the two teams. The lack of coordination also affected the quality of the eventual system created. A combined supervisory team and a proper plan to handle coordination will be part of the future project plan.
References
Boulmetis, J., & Dutwin, P. (2014). The ABCs of evaluation: Timeless techniques for program and project managers (Vol. 56). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons
