Tough Mission

A manager who was assigned to establish a new heath and beauty store in a third world country shared his experience of the establishment. His mission was challenging and his experience was good as a reference of project management.

The mission was assigned in the beginning of September while the deadline was the beginning of December. He was just informed with a single statement of aiming at store establishment in the selected country and no more information else. Before his first visit to the country, he had prepared the following action items:

• Action of the very first visit
• Consultation
• Project plan
• Questionnaire for understanding

After his first visit, the following facts was known:

• It was really a developing country
• GDP around USD1000 pa
• Flooding is common
• Some product price level is similar to HK. e.g. shampoo sold in supermarket

The next action is to include:

• Draw high level system diagram and architecture diagram. They must have been validated.
• Identify key stakeholders (local business, HK PIC, his director)
• Request his director to be responsbile for esculation to top management
• Draft Plan in place
• List risks & issues, critical tasks (such as hardware delivery lead time vs stick to existing hardware)
• Status update to local business owners and headquarter director
• Close communication by 1 on 1 resolution
• Determine milestones
• Inter-company transfer
• Interim workaround
• Group level reporting for supply chain KPI
• Project risks
• Issue logs
• Action items
• Integration test plan
• Setup checklist
• Gap analysis

Finally the mission was accomplished successfully. He shared the below lesson learnt:

• Culture difference (e.g. local people can come to office very early but leave office on time)
• Key stakeholders, Esculation
• Get support from influencing people
• Identify risks and issues