The four (Sasha, Kolya, Yura, and Ira) said \u201cyes\u201d and we started.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kickoff Meeting<\/h2>\n
In the room, there were people who had many executed projects in different fields under the belt \u2013 in banking, building, logistic, production, consulting, IT. Moreover, two of them already had the PMP<\/a> certificate and another one was preparing for certification.<\/p>\n As a first step, we have recollected the project management theory. We\u2019ve found the PMBOK<\/a> course presentation and appointed Sash\u0430 to be our lecturer. \u041d\u0435 was preparing for PMP<\/a> testing those days and had the freshest knowledge compared to us. And of course, it\u2019s useful not only to read the materials before exams but also to retell them. So we listened to, elaborated, put questions and answered, interrupting each other.<\/p>\n Great! We\u2019ve refreshed the theory.<\/p>\n It was only five of us so we decided to prepare 5 documents:<\/p>\n Each participant was responsible for one document, but the primary elaboration we did together.<\/p>\n On Google Drive<\/a> we created a group folder, put there the GPMS.Kit templates<\/a> we needed and started elaboration. The first document was the Project Charter<\/b>. We\u2019ve named the project \u201cPetros. Yo-Ho-Ho\u201d<\/i> and began to fill it by sections:<\/p>\n 1. Project purpose<\/p>\n 2. Measurable project objectives and related success criteria<\/p>\n 3. High-level requirements<\/p>\n 4. Assumptions<\/p>\n 5. Project constraints<\/p>\n 6. High-level risks<\/p>\n 7. Items of expenditure<\/p>\n 8. Project approval requirements. The project is considered as successfull if:<\/p>\n The third document was the Project Schedule<\/b>. We decided not to stew our brain and not to waste time on MS Project Server<\/a> creation and used well-established cloud-based project management system Smartsheet Project Management<\/a> due to its user-friendly interface, the possibility of collaborative work, the connection from anywhere in the world and the absence of additional applications \u2013 we could use it via a browser. Everyone got access. Kolya was assigned as a project administrator. He immediately transferred the diagram into the WBS-structure and began to fill it in. As the ideas about what we had to do before climbing occurred all the time, so the diagram was filling in within the whole Kickoff Meeting.<\/p>\n Two remaining documents – Procurement Management Plan<\/b> and Communications Management Plan<\/b> \u2013 we have just discussed and decided not to fill out. I was responsible for \u201ccommunications\u201d and Yura \u2013 for \u201cprocurements\u201d.<\/p>\n We were so enthusiastic so we even have bought the tickets to Ivano-Frankivsk and back via Ukrzaliznytsia web-site<\/a> without leaving the office. Yura planned to go from Odessa and others – from Kyiv. Generally, we have worked fruitful and finished our meeting with a great mood and anticipation of an interesting project and climbing.<\/p>\n Sasha organized the group on Skype<\/a>, so you could conduct video conferences. The invitations to the call-conference were sent via Google Calendar<\/a>. Every 3-4 days in the evening we connected for half an hour and fixed the progress of project development. If someone put the brakes on preparation, he or she got an electronic-kick.<\/p>\n Between the call-conferences, according to plan and at the off-laze time we performed the project tasks, noted the execution in Smartsheet<\/a>, updated documents on Google Drive<\/a>, selected the missing equipment, searched information for transfer from Ivano-Frankivsk to Kvasy and accommodation, handled the procurement, found the information about search and rescue service, forestry areas, transport, connections. In general, we prepared for the expedition in every possible way.<\/p>\n The Procurement Management Plan<\/b>, given in the PMBOK<\/a>, didn\u2019t suit our needs, so we replaced it with an Excel table.<\/p>\n And in such an unhasting way we got to the first major milestone of the project – Go\/No-Go Decision. It\u2019s a critical decision point when you think about whether to go on with a project or to make a pause in its execution or maybe abandon the project and stop its execution at all.<\/p>\n From a psychological point of view, it is the culmination of the project. The case is that even the presentation of the project result doesn\u2019t cause so strong emotions as taking responsibility for the decision to move on or not when the lives or health of other people depend on this decision.<\/p>\n And exactly such a moment came in our project. Who could know that snow showers and hurricane wind would occur within most of Ukraine at the spring equinox, on March 22, 2013? According to the Hydrometeorological Centre of Ukraine, 60 mm of precipitation has fallen in Kyiv within three days (March 22-24), about 55 mm \u2013 in the northern regions of Ukraine, and 35 mm \u2013 in the western regions. There was nothing of the kind over the whole 132-year history of the meteorological observations.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve faced the classical risk – very dangerous and theoretically impossible. Participants of our training had a stroke of luck! It\u2019s a great success and an incredible experience to face such a situation in the educational project.<\/p>\n There is one of the most important recommendations for risk identification in project management: the prohibition against criticism of the ideas. It\u2019s implemented in order to consider even improbable and fantastic risks and put them on the Risk Register. That\u2019s why we have discussed a variety of risks, but none of us could imagine, that risks would grow to the level which would keep us from meeting the most important requirement of our Project Charter \u2013 \u201cto return home fine and happy\u201d. According to information from the Carpathians Search and Rescue Service \u2013 Petros and Goverla mountains were closed for tourists. There was a lot of snow in the mountains and the period was avalanche-hazardous. Besides that, the warming was coming. Of course, we could go but at our own risk. In addition, we had to warn the rescuers by phone in advance but keep out of their sight; otherwise, they would make us go back.<\/p>\n In the end, we had to decide what restriction would help us to mitigate such risk events. According to the PMBOK<\/a> the balancing of the following competing project restrictions is part of the project management:<\/p>\n So we could:<\/p>\n By a majority of votes, we have chosen the first variant.<\/p>\n However, during this Go\/No-Go Decision stage we have lost two fighters. Under a specious excuse of the absence of tickets from Odessa to Simferopol, Yura has neutralized his wife’s indignation due to his \u201cleisured\u201d study of the project management and refused to go. Kolya, who has a part of healthy fatalism in his world perception, has blown off the expedition, referred to a lack of money for the excess fare for the tickets.<\/b><\/p>\n So it remained three of us and we started our travel.<\/p>\n April 12, we were slow and lax, collecting our things. When it remained 15 minutes before leaving I remembered that I had downloaded the maps for the navigator in the office, but I forgot my laptop with them there. So I had urgently to download them at home once more. It took forever to upload them on the device via USB, so we ran to metro lathery. On the way, I have remembered that I had printed the maps and, of course, I had forgotten them at home. But if I had gone back to take them, we would be late for the train for sure. Well \u2013 we were going to the mountains without maps \u2013 the real project managers, shit\u2026<\/p>\n In such a way, saying a quit curses, we went by metro and then ran to the train. I called Sasha, who was waiting for us at the carriage for a long time (because we had all the tickets), picking nails nervously, and asked from what side of the train our carriage was. And of course, we ran in the opposite direction – communications, shit…<\/p>\n Five minutes before the train departure we ran into the carriage, honestly telling Sasha that we have never done this, that we always prepared in advance and in general we were very punctual!<\/p>\n And we went to Crimea!<\/p>\n Sasha slept in the next compartment; his neighbors were big-bellied men. They wanted him to drink with them, but Sasha got out, proposing his place in the compartment to one of the blimps. After that, they leave him off. But they snored notably at night!<\/p>\n The morning was sunny and cheerful. Ira got up off her shelf in the compartment and said: – Oh, I had pain here in the hand all the night – showing on the wrist, and I answered: – And I had a pain in my leg just in the same place. I\u2019m sure, climbing will be successful!<\/p>\n We arrived to Simferopol soon after 10 a.m. First of all we dropped into \u201cVertical\u201d<\/a> store to buy a map and check with rescue<\/a> service. We\u2019ve bought the map but couldn\u2019t check with rescuers, because we had to emailed them about out expedition in advance and only after that to check in the store. That\u2019s nonsense! But we have bought a miracle JetBoil<\/a> mug!<\/p>\n We got into a shuttle bus and went towards mountain pass \u2013 to the touristic station Sosnovka- there was the start point of our climbing route.<\/p>\n We were absolutely right when decided to go to the Crimea instead Carpathians. Sunny weather, birds, flowers \u2013 perfect! And as a counter, there were snow, rain and fog at Goverla those days. Yech!<\/p>\n Having started from Sosnovka about 12 p.m. noon, we\u2019ve got to the lower plateau of Chatyr-Dag by 2 p.m. We weren\u2019t in rush, slowly moved through the cloud, met with the local tourists who hiked about the locality, collected garbage and wild garlic. We also collected some garlic with a pleasure \u2013 natural vitamins after all!<\/p>\n Soon after 3 p.m. we got to the touristic station Tochka. We felt hungry (it\u2019s due to appetizing savor of the garlic), so we had some instant soup with garlic and sandwiches with paste and follow it with tea. I picked up the iron mug and noticed that a napkin had stuck to it and didn\u2019t drop off.- Ha! Did you see that? I\u2019m a shaman! Even gravity can\u2019t stop me! Sasha took his mug from the table. There was nothing under it so correspondingly nothing stuck to it:- I have nothing\u2026- Did you really expect to raise a table?<\/p>\n Having eaten and laughed, we went to the allocated room (UAH 75 apiece), left our things there and moved our boots to conquer upper Chatyr-Dag.<\/p>\n There were the spring flowers across the plateau. Among other objectives of our project there was one sub-goal – to find crocuses and photograph them. There were a lot of windflowers everywhere but Ira managed to find the crocuses already on the upper plateau \u2013 they were small, scraggy and frosty.<\/p>\n The clouds ran down into the valley and the beautiful spring sun delighted us during the entire climbing \u2013 we even sweated pretty well. By 5 o\u2019clock we have reached the first summit\u2013 Angar-Burun. From the summit we had an amazing view on the North and South Dimerzhi. The mountains were floating above the clouds which covered the bottom of the Alushta Valley.<\/p>\n After a short rest, we went towards the mountain Eklizi-Burun – in fact it was the highest point of the Chatyr\u2013Dag mountain group \u2013 1527 m. Sasha decided not to smoke during trekking, so his young parasitic organism wanted to eat all the time, what he actively did.<\/p>\n Recommendations (for myself \u2013 for the second summit, for other groups \u2013 for the first summit):<\/p>\n The documentation for the described expedition you can find here: facebook.com\/groups\/ExpeditionPM\/files<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pmdoc.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/1621-496728083734371-1676717304-n11-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>And now attention! The project mission is to climb one of two two-thousanders of the Ukrainian Carpathians. A pause\u2026\u00a0Who has got off? Nobody, everyone is still here! So we have 4 possibilities: Hoverla (2061 m), Brebeneskul (2035 m, and there is two a bit lower two-thousanders – Hutin Tomnatik and Rebra \u2013 next to it), Pop Ivan Chernogorsky (2021 m) and Petros (2020 m). After a micro-discussion we have chosen Petros on all hands.<\/p>\n\n
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<\/a>The second document was the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)<\/b>. Actually, here it is:<\/p>\nPreparation<\/h2>\n
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<\/a>Go\/No-Go Decision<\/h2>\n\n
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<\/a>Well, we are going to Crimea! And 500 m difference in Chatyr-Dag elevation we will compensate in summer when we climb on Bulgarian Musala. Its elevation is 2925 meters and this is 425 m higher than we need for the second peak.<\/p>\nExpedition<\/h2>\n
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\n CHANGE<\/b><\/th>\n GROUNDING<\/b><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n \n Correction of one of the main project objectives \u2013 we changed the summit and even the mountain group. Petros was changed for Chatyr-Dag (the Carpathians \u2013 for the Crimean Mountains)<\/td>\n Extremely high avalanche risk in the Carpathians. The risks raised up to the level which didn\u2019t allow us to meet the most important requirement of our Project Charter \u2013 \u201cto return home fine and happy\u201d. We had to choose what restriction would help us to mitigate risk event. We decided to change the scope\u00a0and to climb lower and warmer summit \u2013 Chatyr-Dag mountain in the Crimea (1527 m).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Tickets exchange: Kyiv \u2013 Ivano-Frankivsk to Kyiv – Simferopol<\/td>\n Due to summit change<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Two participants abandoned the expedition<\/td>\n Effect of Social Commitment<\/i> risk. One member was kept out by his wife, the other one was in short of money, as he told us.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Correction of the Procurements Plan<\/td>\n Change the direction of the expedition (returning of the already bought tickets and buying the new ones), the revision of the food plan and all necessary personal, group and leased equipment. In general, the financial limit of the project was sustained despite of changes.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Correction of the Communications Plan<\/td>\n Searching of the new contacts (rescue services, accommodation, etc.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n A sheep was replaced by a chicken and wine \u2013 by brandy.<\/td>\n Due to the fact that our team lost in the mountains, we hadn\u2019t time to visit a restaurant before train departure. Moreover the team got wet due to heavy rain and no one wanted wine. Everyone wanted brandy! So we\u2019ve bought a grilled chicken and a bottle of brandy and sacrificed all this to the gods of project management by eating into ourselves.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n \n
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<\/a>By 6 o’clock in the evening we climbed the summit and shot an evidential photo.<\/p>\n