ITM423 Systems Acquisition Systems Development and Project Management

Module 4 Reflective Essay

ITM423: Systems Acquisition Systems Development and Project Management

To begin with, I truly enjoyed all of the lessons throughout this course and what it had to offer in the way of advancing my current knowledge of the dynamics of Systems Acquisition, Systems Development, and Project Management.  In my current position I take part in several projects a year and have not had the opportunity to manage an entire project by myself due to the lack of training and certification although this course did shed much light on the reasoning behind certain project wide decisions were made of which I truly didn’t comprehend the logic behind. I found this course to be extremely informative and it has helped me to gain a better understanding of another aspect of the information technology field that I am apart of and of which I can now make better informed suggestions throughout the life of a project.

With regards to my work in the class I feel that given the amount of hardship that I was presented with during this semester dealing with an extremely ill parent, traveling to Florida and basically packing up my mother’s house and moving her up to Virginia Beach to live with my family, I have performed rather well given the circumstances. Dr. Achim had been more than accommodating with his understanding of my situation and to afford me the opportunity to submit my course work later than the end of each module as the time constraints that were pressed upon me were great.  Given the fact that I have been attending Trident University since August 2014 and completing this semester leaves me with a total of 8 more classes until I complete my Bachelor Degree I have gained a strong school work ethic, take my schooling very seriously and was driven to not fall behind to where I would need an extension in order to complete all course work.

As for any topics that I might not have fully grasped, I did not find any.  As I stated previously, in my organization I participate in several projects a year and I am also proficient in Information Technology (IT) of which I am certified in four of the five certifications and working towards becoming an IT Expert.  Project management has become something of a passion of mine so once I started to gain the knowledge that this class had to offer I soaked up the information like a sponge.

I have already been able to implement the teachings of this class into my current position. I have been able to discuss project plans with the various project managers and have been able to take part in more decision making meeting where my input is valued and my coworker actually come to me for advise of the explain certain key decision. I plan to continue my studies and I am currently in talks with my management to acquire the training to become PMP certified.

My overall goal was the gain more knowledge of the Systems Acquisition, Systems Development, and Project Management and to better understand the who, what and why within the PM world. I feel that I have fully met the objectives, have a better understanding of all of the material that has been prescribed and can successfully execute them throughout my career.