Project Management In The Custom Woodworking Company, hereafter known as "Woody's," there were numerous project management problems that appeared from the very beginning, and they only got worse as the product was carried out. The Woody 2000 project was not well conceived, and that was the first problem encountered. When a project is going to begin, it needs to be thoroughly planned out first (Wideman, 2001b). There was little planning that took place with this project, as it was suggested and seemed to snowball from that point. Before Woody knew what was happening, a budget was proposed and there was a meeting with the engineers who were going to add to the building (The Custom Woodworking Company, 2012). Even then, the project started off badly. Originally, the desired plan was to move the company's location to a huge facility where rapid expansion could take place. However, Woody and his wife did not want to undertake that.

Due Diligence and Arguing Their Case

While the idea of staying put was unpopular, they were persistent and they prevailed. That was basically the only thing that was done right through the entire case study. Once the decision had been made to stay in the same facility, it came with the nearly forced caveat that the building would be expanded. The reason behind this was their son John's idea that there would be a bigger need for the custom cabinetry the company offered. He encouraged them to expand the facility and the different offerings to customers, and really would not take no for an answer. While it appeared that he was only trying to help the company be more successful, in reality he was pushing his ideas on his parents and their employees. They were having a difficult time simply putting their foot down and saying no, and it seemed as though they just went along with John's ideas even if they did not think they were completely right for the company. They trusted John and the people he brought in to work on the project.

While it makes sense that they would trust their son, they did not do any of their own due diligence about the project itself. They agreed upon a budget, but that was where they lost control of the project. One person was assigned to do a part of it, and another person was assigned to address something else. Things were getting done, but there was absolutely no cohesiveness of any kind. On any project there needs to be one person in charge, and others who have assigned tasks need to report to that person (Gheorghiu, 2008). Additionally, each person needs to be kept in the loop based on what all the other people on the project are doing (Lavell & Martinelli, 2008; Wideman, 2001a). There should be frequent emails, and everything should be checked, re-checked, and documented. Woody and his wife should have had the final say on everything, since it was their company and their money, but they backed off and let their son handle things. That was a mistake, because John did not know how to run a project correctly and made a number of large mistakes that could have easily completely ruined the company in a short period of time.

Woody's True Objectives

The real objectives Woody had were to make sure the company continued to run smoothly and was prepared for his retirement in a few years. He would have most likely turned the company over to his son, who should have been taught to manage it correctly from an early age if inheriting it was the goal. However, Woody did not articulate this clearly and John was not prepared to manage the company or the project to expand the business (which actually was not even necessary). The choice of engineer for the project was also a poor one. John essentially chose the largest and most expensive company in the area, and only got the one bid for the work (The Custom Woodworking Company, 2012). That caused cost problems from the very beginning, with the estimate for the work coming in three million dollars higher than the budget Woody reluctantly agreed to. While the timeline was acceptable, it is important to note that most project timelines are underestimated (Wideman, 2001a).

Miscommunication

There were additional problems that appeared as the project moved along. The first was that the size of the building was incorrect for the production train that was...

However, the production train was changed mid-scope and was actually not even a necessary addition to the company. When there are parts of the project that are changed in the middle of the work, everyone else on the project needs to be notified of that right away (Wideman, 2001a; Wideman, 2001b). If that notification does not take place, problems like what arose for Woody can easily happen. Changing the size of the building would be an added cost no matter what, but it was particularly upsetting because the footers for that part of the facility had already been poured. The change meant the need to remove them and repour them in a different spot, thus raising the cost significantly (The Custom Woodworking Company, 2012). These are the kinds of issues that should be avoided in projects.
The End of the Project

Toward the end of the project things really went downhill. There were two large problems at that point. The first one was that Woody was already way over budget and was still having to pay out more money, but he was focused only on paying whatever he had to in order to get into the new facility and get the company back up and running. Because he was just throwing money at the problem, he had no real idea of how much he was actually spending and how far over budget he had gone. However, an emergency line of credit had to be taken out in order for the project to be completed, so he was heading into a serious problem with debt at that point. The second problem, and one that was compounding the problem of cost and debt, was that Woody was not able to meet production or fulfill orders for the cabinets customers needed and wanted due to the issues with the new facility.

Losing Money and Customers

That meant that he was not bringing in any money, and that dissatisfied contractors and customers were going elsewhere to get their cabinets. This not only hurt Woody's bottom line, it also damaged his reputation in the community. Until this took place, he had an excellent reputation for on-time work and good quality at a fair price. Taking on more work and adding to what types of work the company did may have sounded like a good idea on paper, mostly because John was convinced that the economy was growing in the area. He believed there would be rapid and continued growth of the construction industry, meaning there would be a bigger need for more new cabinets and countertops for a long time to come. No one verified this, though, or undertook any studies in an effort to determine if it was actually true. That led to another problem with the new facility in that it really was not needed. Once it finally got up and running, Woody had already lost quite a few of his customers. Those that remained loyal did not provide him with enough work to use the new facility to its fullest potential, so it was a huge amount of unused space.

The Decline in Local Construction

The cost of building it and the cost of operating it were not offset by the amount of work Woody had. To add insult to injury, the construction trade in the area declined strongly and that meant a lot less work for Woody and his company. Had studies been undertaken that would have indicated the likelihood of this taking place, Woody would have most likely avoided building the new facility at all, and would not have lost business or been hurt significantly when the economy and construction industry in the area slowed down. There were too many people on this project who did not know what they were doing, and there was not enough control and focus by one person. Additionally, the one person who had the most control, John, did not know how to handle the project properly. That led to issues with the project that quickly became too numerous to count.

Project Considerations

While there are not necessarily right or wrong answers as to how someone should handle a project of any size, there are some considerations that should be made (Wideman, 2001a). These include making sure there is one manager for the entire project, and that he or she is very well qualified for that role (Lavell & Martinelli, 2008). Just taking on a project because one has big ideas and a vision for the future is not a realistic way to handle things when there is a company at stake…