This is the student’s first encounter with the simulation. After playing the simulation, students will generate a short debrief summary that responds to the following assignment questions:
As you play the simulation, try to discover how varying decision parameters (target scope, team size, team skill level, amount of outsourcing, target completion date, overtime, and allowed time in meetings) affect project outcomes (tasks completed, cost incurred, productivity, new problems discovered, project completion date) and team attributes (morale, stress level, rates of mistakes).
What causes each effects did you identify?
What might explain the causal relationships you’ve discovered?
What strategies did you attempt in managing your projects? What worked? What didn’t?
What assumptions underline your emerging ideas about managing projects in the simulation? In other words:
What change would prompt you to reconsider the approach you’re discovering is best for managing projects?
