Reflective Portfolio on B2B Mobile App Development Dissertation Project Completion PDF

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Reflective writing on the completed dissertation project...

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Critical Self-Reflection on Dissertation Project Completion

John Olumide Agbede (74108206)

8/29/20

Management Project (17265)

1 Executive Summary This Reflective Portfolio, part two of the Management Project Module, involves a critical selfreflective writing that summarizes the insights and experiences I gained during the process of completing my dissertation project in which I applied a project-based consulting approach to assist my client to meet the requirements of developing a Business to Business Mobile Application. Acting as a business consultant to my client (Company X is an SME who provides food products to the catering trade) involved going through the following sequential steps:  Identification of the aims and objectives that satisfy the client requirements;  Developing models that support these objectives, justifying the theoretical perspectives of the chosen models, and applying industry information that supports these assertions;  Preparing an A3 map – a problem solving report which condenses the project information onto a single page in an easy- to-read, graphical format;  Developing the Gantt chart for project communication and schedule management; and  Power-point presentation that summarizes the key elements of my management project, in a bid to convince my client that my approach is the best that meet their requirements. These personal accounts are summarized into five vignettes with specific examples of critical self-reflection and reflexive processes used to inform decision making, show insight and provide perspective; a reflection on personal experience from undertaking steps highlighted. Introduction presents the project overview, discusses the learning goals and expectations, plus the learning methodologies applied. Chapter two discusses how the business requirements were identified, while the third chapter focuses on how I was able to apply my ethical principles and values in reaching the specific aim and objectives that meet the client’s requirements, as well as how they reflect corporate social responsibility. Chapter four points out how importantly the Gantt chart helps outline the main tools and timeframes of the project completion, while what I have learnt from experience and what I will do differently going forward, whether by identifying similar or different requirements in my business environment and following same or different process, will be reflected in the fifth chapter. In summary, Kolb's Experientia l Learning Cycle is followed in this reflective writing because it is germane to knowledge enhancement in that, according to Kolb (2015), "it helps to think about new experience, reflect further, draw new conclusion, and perhaps decide to adapt to one's practice again." Key words: Reflective Learning, Experiential Learning Cycle, B2B Mobile Applicatio n, Requirements Elicitation, Business Requirements Identification Process, Gantt chart, A3 Map.

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Table of Contents 1.0. Chapter 1: Introduction………………………………………………………………3 – 4 1.1. Study Learning Goals and Expectations…………………………………………4 1.2. Learning Methodologies…………………………………………………………4 2.0. Chapter 2: Assumptions for Business Requirements………………………………..5 – 6 3.0. Chapter 3: Roles of Ethical Principles and Value……………………………………….7 4.0. Chapter 4: Time Management……………………………………………………….8 – 9 5.0. Chapter 5: Learning from Experience and Moving Forward………..…………….10 –11 5.1. What went so Well……………………………………………………………..10 5.2. What did not go so Well – Learning from Experience……….………………..10 5.3. What I will do moving Forward………………………………………………..11 6.0. Chapter 6: Concluding Remark…………………..………….…………………………12 References………………………………………………………………………….13 – 15

Critical Reflective Portfolio on the Completed Dissertation Project

3 Chapter 1 :

Introduction

Marketing and operations management are two main functions within any organization. Both of them are responsible for providing goods and services that satisfy the customer needs and expectations, and ultimately defines the performance of the organization. Hence an organizations must ensure proper collaboration, alignment and understanding between these business functions. Giving my current professional push in manufacturing sector, currently plant manager aspiring to manage an entire manufacturing site operations, it is imperative I understand the marketing function from the perspective of customer needs as the fulcrum upon which the performance of my organization stands. As a result of the SWOT analysis of my organization’s opportunity for business growth, and looking forward to providing consultancy services to Fast Moving Consumer Goods Industry as a future career aspiration, it was not a difficult choice to make in selecting “Client Five Project – App Development” as my Management Project dissertation which requires the application of the theories and practice of project management and consultancy skills. This module builds on the research methodology skills and requirements of critical debate established throughout the program and shows how these key skills are vital within a business context to ensure rigorous decision making. The course also aims to enable an evidence-based approach to problem solving within an organization, impacting in the students the capability to manage complex projects in various dynamic business environments in entrepreneuria l contexts, leadership and management of change. This reflective writing demonstrates the progressive order of 16 weeks of learning and growing while acting as a business consultant to my client in the process of eliciting the requirements for developing a B2B Mobile Applicatio n. This document is the output of the need to sit back and reflect on the activities carried out in the process of requirements elicitation – looking at what went well and what did not go so well during and after in order to learn from the concrete experience. Kolb (2015), in his video titled “Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle”, pointed out the importance of reflective practice based on the idea that we learn from our experience while practically carrying out an undertaking and greatly contributes to our wealth of knowledge professionally. This reflective portfolio focuses on how the process of completing my

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dissertation will assist me to apply this concrete experience to future business operations, and identifying how this learning process expanded my critical thinking capacity and developed my skills as a future business leader. “Criticality in practice is aided by natural curiosity, but it is not without need of refinement and guiding” (Morley, 2007; Beyer, 1984), so as a naturally curious person, I have channelled my natural propensity for the search of knowledge into an academic pursuit. This reflective portfolio offers a selective account of my personal experience in developing

business consultancy

skill while completing

the requirements

of the

Management Project Module.

1.1.

Study Learning Goals and Expectations

A study may be described as a systemic analysis to get new information on a given subject with functional consequences (Easterby-Smith et al, 2008). From the outset, the prospect of the module providing more insight into consulting, knowing the requirements of becoming a business consultant myself and the journey to take to get there in order to help me understand client's need and how to meet them, was very exciting. Hence, my learning goal was to master the underlying principles of applied management research and developing the capability to be able to critically apply a range of business related tools, theoretical frameworks and concepts to provide solutions to business challenges.

1.2.

Learning Methodologies

In my burning desire to grasp the main module concepts because of its potential significa nce in defining my career as a potential business consultant, I chose to follow a deep learning approach suggested by (Richardson, 2005) that is based on understanding the course materials and seen as the most recommended all through the time spent learning in the module. This has been achieved through careful reading of course materials and instructions, research into industry-related projects and reports, reading of relevant studies, papers and reports. Differe nt learning approaches were deployed including:  Discussing with my peers via the USW VLE and diverse self-managed social platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, and emails to get their insights into the topic  Reading very insightful and related journal articles  Watching tutorial videos on YouTube  Using reflective learning to internalize understanding as Boxer (1980) advised

Critical Reflective Portfolio on the Completed Dissertation Project

5 Chapter 2:

Assumptions for Business Requirements

In Week 4 of the module, I understood that every project has a set of objectives and goals to achieve, because they establish clear intentions and actions for the development and implementation of the project. The development of the B2B Mobile app was a new project outside the company’s specialism, the business requirements were not clearly stated in a predetermined view, and hence it was incumbent on the business consultant to help determine the requirements of the project. However, in our peer discussions, we established that the first and most critical stage for determining the business requirements was to set clear objectives of the study, and that these objectives are dependent on the aims or goals the business wants to achieve. The criticality of clear business requirements definition to the project success called for the need to first have the Kick-off meeting and Client Briefing, as reflected in the Gantt Chart developed, to discuss with the business representatives to have a better grasp of the fundamentals through the business needs description, high level requirements, and scope and objectives definition and clarification respectively. The B2B App is expected to ensure a competitive level of service by making the client visible to customers, creating a direct marketing channel, providing value to their customers, building brand and recognitio n, improving customer engagement, standing out from the competition, and ultimately helping to cultivate customer loyalty. According to Goldsmith (2004, p. 3), “business requirements achieve value by meeting business objectives”, hence the above mentioned business goals were clues to identifying clear objectives that helped me achieve the business’ requirements. Having also meticulously studied through Client Five Project Brief, which clearly requires the consultant to provide a report bid outlining how they would produce a study that outlines “a scoping study to determine the necessary requirements of developing a business app for the Company X”, and through interaction with my peers via the discussion forum on the Virtual Learning Environment and through our (Student’s) WhatsApp Platform, I also found out that a Scoping Study, a process of summarizing a range of evidence in order to convey the breadth and depth of a field (Levac, et al., 2010), is most perfect to determine the business requirements from the established objectives. Scoping Study is used when the Client is interested in finding out what factors may

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be relevant in a different business activity, and the process requires analytical re-interpretation of the literature reviews (Davis, et al., 2009). I have realized through this study that if the business requirements are not clearly defined, one would end up wasting tremendous time and resources without achieving the exact business needs, a situation Faisal (2018) describes as a risk of mismatch between what has been designed and what is actually needed. The best predictor of project success was that the requireme nts were good, together with the requirements being managed effectively (Verner, et al., 2005), and focus should be on the main categories of requirements - business requirements, system requirements,

stakeholder requirements,

technology

requirements,

etc. for successful

implementation. One take away for me, amongst many others, is developing my capability in being able to clearly identify requirements based on the business goals and summarizing all the information necessary to meet a business needs: requirements set the tones and parameters for the system to be developed.

Critical Reflective Portfolio on the Completed Dissertation Project

7 Chapter 3:

Roles of Ethical Principles and Value

The student dissertation project efforts in Management Project Module, just like the Research Methods, also has the Research Governance, to which I already accented to during the Research Methods Module, placing the responsibility of maintenance of high ethical standards in the research undertaken by its staff and students, whether supported directly by the University or funded by external sources, and is underpinned with common values of rigour, integrity and professionalism. The policy documents of the University’s Research Good Practice Code of Conduct was always my guide while working to create and maintain a culture of research that fosters and supports honesty in relation to the scoping study, including in the presentation of goals, intentions and findings, reporting on methods and procedures in using and acknowledging the work of other researchers, and in conveying valid interpretations and making justifiable claims based on findings (University of South Wales, 2019, p. 5).

I took my time to study the client’s project brief in order to understand the aim and the motivation for the project, and this serves as the pedestal for me to understand the project deliverables. The recommended requirements investigation methods were based on industry information, case studies, and scientifically proven theories and models. And in order to fulfil my client’s expectations and needs, I did further investigation by also studying and applying literatures relevant to the topic under study, but acknowledged and recognized the intellectua l properties through both in-text quotes and references in order to avoid incomplete informa tio n that could potentially cause any harm/business loss to my client, or attract legal sanction due to violation of intellectual property rights. The basic ethical standard for the adviser means not to abuse the trust of the client (Mingaleva, 2013), I understood the importance of not divulging highly confidential information about my client to a third party, not hiding important discoveries from my client, while also ensuring that the results of the study is beneficial to the society at large as a way of fostering corporate social responsibility. Therefore, every meeting and workshop would only be attended by company trusted and sponsored company executives, treating all information strictly with highest confidentiality. To maintain my client’s trust, I also made sure I did not advise my client beyond my level of professional expertise or apply untested/unproven principles by declaring any areas of potential or actual conflicts of interest and taking steps to resolve them, and acting with integrity in a way that would help us maintain the professional relationship beyond the project duration.

Critical Reflective Portfolio on the Completed Dissertation Project

8 Chapter 4:

Time Management

The increasing salience of time requires the need for better incorporating it in theoretical models and project implementation. For better time management, for instance, this dissertatio n Management Project course came in modular form as the course contents are organized by weeks, thus creating a one-directional flow of what the students should do and receiving feedbacks from the tutor. I did manage to devote two hours daily to all educational related activities. Strict adherence to this work organization helped me avoid unnecessary multitasking and skimming which could potentially reduce my efficiency and effectiveness. This experience has taught me a lot about how important it is for project leaders to plan and schedule their activities, giving insight into time-consuming activities, changing time expenditure, and increasing workday efficiency by teaching people how to make a daily planning, how to prioritize tasks, and how to handle unexpected tasks. One critical tool for effective time management on a project is the Gantt chart. Considered as the most valuable in traditional Project Management and the most commonly used tools (Gelbard et al., 2002, p. 467; Jugdev et al., 2013, p. 537), the Gantt chart represents the plan of time, resources, and tasks to be executed, and also serving as the basis for costing these elements. The need for the Gantt chart is further emphasized by Taylor (2008) and Rouse (2007) in that a project may have several activities and tasks spanning several months and depending on another, thus helping to organize and split up the work in the projects and enables dynamic control over the actual process; the Gantt chart has not deviated from its origina l usefulness of helping to visualize project schedules as created in the early 1900s by Henry Gantt. So it is important to create a Gantt chart that outlines the main tools and timeframes of the completion of my study as it provides clarity to the stakeholders on the project and make them easily understand where teams are in a process, and also helps the team members understand task progress as a communication tool and manage tasks to timeline. I have realized also that one of the greatest assets of the Gantt chart is that it helps the teams understand the overall impact of project delays, hence can foster stronger collaboration while encouraging better task organization. While it is good to define certain timeframe for future actions, it is also critical to constantly update the progress of tasks schedule on the Gantt chart during implementation. Sometimes, it becomes difficult to accurately define the time it will take to complete a task, and there may be

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no opportunity for any slack time built into the schedule. More so, depending on the team and the influence of the project manager, there is the tendency to focus work at the front of a task timeline or at the tail end of a chart segment, and sometimes a successor activity cannot start because the predecessor is yet to be completed. In spite of these abnormality, I believe that listing down certain timeframes for future actions will positively impact the way of dealing with tasks, and as one grows with experience, the accuracy for time and task estimation increases.

Critical Reflective Portfolio on the Completed Dissertation Project

10 Chapter 5: Learning from Experience and Moving Forward The closest I had gone towards consultancy in my entire career was to make presentations before my former company leadership while trying to defend justifications for an internal promotion opportunity, however this dissertation project has widened my career and academic horizon. I am passionate about business consulting now and raring to go as opportunities come by. Going through this entire process of consulting for my client was taxing and rewarding at the same time, with immeasurable wealth of knowledge. I am therefore super-charged to go through the process of requirements elicitation/identification anytime, whether in my work environment or for an external client, depending on the peculiarity of the case or the type of client project – whether an evaluation feasibility or scoping st...