Fundamentals of Project
Management
Assignment - 2
Submitted by
Name: Schaheer Saleem
Enrollment no.: 01-398211-065
Class: MS(PM) - 1C
Department of Management Sciences,
Bahria University, Islamabad
Movie: The Martian
What was the purpose of Project Initiation?
The purpose of initiating the project was to survive the harsh and
inhospitable environment of Mars while using the limited supply of food,
oxygen and supplies, to possibly meeting with a return mission to
Mars in four years. So Mark Watney initiates this project in-order to survive
and to be rescued by the team.
Briefly explain the Planning Process of Project?
Mark Watney the botanist is presumed dead after being hit by debris
during a dust storm is left stranded as the team is unable to rescue his body
before the ship needs to launch to avoid misfortune. Mark Watney is a very
good planner, so he plans his survival, communication to support him and
journey back to Earth.
He plans his survival by turning his attention to longer term planning like
growing four years’ worth of food on a planet where nothing grows, he
calculates how many calories he'll need each day and how much food he
needs to grow, he needs water to grow plants and he plans a way to
communicate with NASA to tell them he's still alive.
The importance of planning comes up in the movie as stated in the phrase
“you do the math”. The movie teaches you to use facts where you have
them, educated guesses where you don’t.
What was the strategy behind project execution?
The strategy behind project execution for Watney was to solve one
problem and then solve the next one having kept this in mind he manages
to cultivate food and survives by scavenging parts of previous missions, as
there is no liquid water on Mars he needs water to grow up those potato
chunks. To make water from rocket fuel he uses chemistry but it takes him
a couple tries to get it right, though. To communicate with NASA to tell
them he's still alive he gets Pathfinder operating again, then beams a
message back to Earth using the spacecraft's rotating camera and Watney
comes up with a special code (based on the hexadecimal system) to speed
up communication with NASA. He soups up a rover with extra solar panels
to make the vehicle's battery last longer and digs up a radioactive
plutonium battery to help power the rover and keep himself warm on Mars'
bitterly cold surface. That was his strategy behind project execution.
Resources Name with the roles (project management) you think they are
performing for the project?
Mark Watney (Project Team Member): He is the main character and
he plays as a botanist and an engineer.
Commander Melissa Lewis (Project Sponsor): She plays the role of a
Naval officer and is used to making tough decisions.
Vincent Kapoor (Project Sponsor): He works at NASA as Director of
the Mars Mission.
Major Rick Martinez (Project Team Member): Martinez is the pilot
responsible for controlling not only the Hermes aircraft but also Mark
Watney’s launch vehicle.
Dr. Chris Beck (Project Team Member): Beck is the team’s doctor. He
is responsible for the daring rescue in which he exits the spacecraft
on a tether and uses it to pull Watney in.
Beth Johanssen (Project Team Member): She is a computer specialist,
with a strong background in programming and communications.
Teddy Sanders (Executive Sponsor): He is the administrator of NASA.
He has the authority to approve or deny requests for funding and
resources.
Alex Vogel (Project Sponsor): He represents the European Union.
Bruce Ng (Project Sponsor): He is the director of NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory.
Mitch Henderson (Project Sponsor): He is Venkat Kapoor’s immediate
subordinate.
Rich Purnell (Project Team Member): He is a physicist who generally
calculates course corrections.
Guo Ming (Executive Sponsor): He is the Director of the China
National Space Administration, Guo Ming has responsibilities similar
to those of Teddy Sanders at NASA.
Annie Montrose (Project Sponsor): She is the director of NASA’s
media relations.
Venkat Kapoor (Project Sponsor): He is the head of Mars operations.
Zhu Tao (Project Sponsor): He is the Under Secretary responsible for
the Taiyang Shen and other rocket launches.
In your opinion what was the outcome of project? Successful or Failed?
Briefly explains why?
The outcome of the project was success as Mark Watney survives the harsh
and inhospitable environment of Mars while using the limited supply of
food, oxygen and supplies in order to be rescued by his team. As you can
see effective communication is at the core of every successful project so
Mark relied heavily on communication and team work to tell NASA that he
was still alive in order to be rescued.