This class provided me with an experience that changed my perspective on consulting. I have always been driven by projects and the ability to help systems and organizations grow. This project took that drive and added a deep level of passion. We were able to not only research and see Caras’ work but live it while visiting Puerto Rico. Being on the island and understanding the state of politics through their eyes, the history of Bomba and the environmental tragedies they have faced and still face today brought the project to life in a way I’ve never experienced. While it can be a hard experience to be so invested in a project that will eventually end, I am so happy to have had it. Two of the hardest lessons I learned throughout this experience are to mitigate scope changes and navigate not having adequate skills for the project. These lessons were highlighted in the Top Project Team Challenges article.
This article defines “scope changes” as a problem that occurs when the project management lets the project scope extend beyond original objectives. While meeting with Michael – the CEO – in Puerto Rico, it was very easy to be excited by new ideas and turn that momentum into additional deliverables. Upon returning home, we quickly felt the pressure of the extra deliverables we had discussed with Michael. In hindsight, I can understand that each additional deliverable could have benefitted from more time, but I am still very proud of what we contributed.
Another challenge we faced as a team was navigating “inadequate skills for the project”. Top Project Team Challenges defines this as when a project sometimes requires skills that the project contributors do not possess. While Sofia and I are marketing majors, we all entered this project never having applied course concepts in this way. We didn’t know how to even begin recommending actions we had never taken. We combatted this challenge by speaking to professionals and peers who had experience in these areas to guide our first steps and committing to extensive research to educate our recommendations. It was also very helpful to understand all the different roles at Caras that may pertain to our project, and who we should reach out to when we came to a crossroads.
As I reflect on my previous blog posts, I realize I had braced for an extreme language barrier and a large pivot in the project after speaking with Michael for the first time. Now, I can speak to these expectations in hindsight. About the language barrier, this proved to be a slight barrier in country – specifically with our key contact Adriana – however, it was encouraging to see how quickly we were able to adapt to the language capabilities of the people we met along the way. I could engage in simple Spanish conversation, and we quickly adapted our dialect to simpler English if we could sense confusion or talk in our normal cadence if someone showed a high level of English fluency. As for the expected pivot within our project, we were pleased to hear Michael was on a similar page to us for most of our deliverables, and he only wanted to refine our target audience a little differently.
As I let go of this project and look toward the future, I can point to many transferable skills I developed during this course – one of them being my ability to adapt quickly and draw pieces of actionable insight from a large amount of information. This was best displayed while meeting with Michael two times in country. After our first meeting, we were quick to break up his needs into a few additional deliverables and present this direction to him the next day. This required a understanding the project, understanding the end vision Michael had, creating organized steps on how to get there, and deciding what was doable for us within this timeframe. In addition to the second meeting with Michael, the spontaneous meeting with marketing team directly after was also a test of our adaptability. Because of the spontaneity of this meeting, we had to fully understand the project well enough to know which questions were not only beneficial to our progress but would be helpful to specifically ask the marketing team all within five minutes. During this meeting we were able to effectively use our time and gathered wonderful insight on their progress so far through their Puerto Rican social media and their capacity as a marketing team. This skill is very important within my professional life because I would like to be a consultant in the future which requires this adaptability and effective synthesis of information on every project.
This project feels so important, and I think Caras appreciates it the same way. Funding is what empowers Caras to do the work it does, and, with the state of government funding right now, this project couldn’t have come at a better time. Being able to deliver such strong work for such an important scope feels empowering. I believe our project will continue Pitt’s good reputation and the strong relationship between Caras and Pitt. Being a part of this long-term relationship was so special because we were so well received by Caras. They treated us as family. I could feel a sense of depth knowing Caras trusted us to work on a project that counteracts one of their biggest vulnerabilities. As I look forward, the knowledge that our project will be continued over many years gives me the motivation to finish strong and invest in the next group of Pitt students.
Within a professional interview, I will pitch this experience as an example of how I am driven by opportunities to improve organizations. I will talk about how I was tasked with diversifying the donor portfolio of a non-profit organization in Puerto Rico with little prior experience. I can use examples of how my group adapted to the feedback the CEO gave us, used our resources, and managed our time effectively to exceed expectations.
The three most important pieces of advice I would give to the next class are to understand the strengths of your teammates and keep them in mind when delegating tasks and entering new situations, create a structured timeline and a weekly meeting time as early on as possible, and compile all of your resources from Pitt and Caras before you start so that when you hit a road block you have a list of people that could potentially help you through. We will provide a list of the people we found to be helpful! HAVE FUN WITH IT! This experience will push you as much as you push yourself 🙂
The last reflective thoughts I have…
I feel so connected to Puerto Rico in a way I never imagined I would be. I feel as though I have a new understanding about what I value in a community, and I recognize that my preferences do not have to be dictated by the societal norms I was raised around. It feels good to be sad leaving a project. I am happy to have had the opportunity to invest myself in part of a larger continued project between Pitt and Caras con Causa.
