Shubhaan Saxena: Experiencing the Project Management Lifecycle at the City of San Jose

During Winter Quarter so far, I have been wrapping up the workflow to automate the disbursement of the City of San Jose Office of Economic Development’s Storefront Assistance Grant. This grant is designed to help small businesses in San Jose revamp their exterior appearances, which would not only help the business but also help the city look more vibrant overall. I have learned many things during my internship experience that I have been able to tie back to my business education.

Firstly, I have gained experience with technical project management. I am currently taking the Systems Analysis and Design class at Santa Clara, where I have learned project management concepts at a theoretical level. It has been very interesting actually going through the entire project management lifecycle. I started with clearly understanding the requirements and business needs, followed by creating a workflow diagram to clearly visualize and explain the workings of my workflow, especially to more non-technical audiences. I added all the necessary functionalities, while simultaneously keeping constant communication with all stakeholders, such as my supervisor and the Senior Systems App Programmer, who was constantly helping me out when I encountered roadblocks. After building the workflow, I was able to present it to the office and go into the testing and production stages of the project management lifecycle. 

Another skill that I further honed is communication. I have been able to do this in many ways. Firstly, I learned the importance of conveying technical information to both technical and non-technical audiences. When getting on my weekly call with the Senior Systems Developer, I am able to use and discuss technical ideas, but it is difficult to do so while clearly conveying what I am trying to do. I have tried to approach my conversations with him by speaking concisely and avoiding throwing around too much technical jargon and rather trying to simply convey my ideas for the project. I also was able to explain my workflow to non-technical audiences, such as when I updated my supervisor about the progress and when I presented my project to the whole office during our weekly meeting. Again, I attempted to speak clearly and concisely, tried to completely steer clear of technical jargon, tried to use analogies that would be more relatable to the audience, and used diagrams to depict the workflow better.

All in all, it has given me a huge sense of accomplishment to finish the development stage of the workflow and get it approved. I am excited to start the testing stage and cannot wait to see it in action soon!

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