a) Why did Uni Books Publishing struggle? b) What were the specific PM solutions that were introduced by IU Student Najam that worked
Uni Books Publishing was started two years ago by two friends, Saleem and Waseem, who met in
college while studying in Philadelphia, USA. In the new business Saleem focused on editing, sales
and marketing while Waseem did the electronic assembly and publishing of books for Uni Books.
Their business was successful and profitable in the first two years, largely due to contracts from
two big businesses.
In their third year they got very busy thanks to their third major customer, a local college that needed
customized eBooks. They hired several part time employees to help them with their publishing
business. But by the end of third year of operation, Uni Books started experiencing critical
problems. They were:
• unable to leverage all the new employees effectively
• unable to deliver eBooks to their customers on schedule
• unable to provide quality text time and money was being spent fixing defects in their products
• unable to control costs their business was not profitable in the third year.
Uni Books saw a significant rise in issues, a lot of unpleasant “surprises” were cropping up; business
was down as new resources were hired, also some of the projects were poorly estimated. The local
university was unhappy as their eBook products reached campus late for use by professors and
student.
In some cases, the books were a week or two late. Since the courses must start on schedule and
students need their books at the beginning of their courses, the new lucrative college customer was
unhappy. One of the new part-time employees hired by Saleem and Waseem, IU Student Najam,
had taken a project management course at college. IU Student Najam was excited about the
discipline of project management and had intentionally selected a job with Uni Books Publishing
as he saw an opportunity to polish her project management skills.
One fine day, Saleem invited IU Student Najam, for a lunch meeting. He was aware that IU Student
Najam was familiar with project management and wanted to hear what he had to say about the
problems he and Waseem were facing. Over lunch he questioned why their small business which
had operated and implemented projects so successfully over the first two years was being
challenged significantly now. He specifically listed the problems they were facing and asked for
input to solve them. IU Student Najam asked for more time to research all the issues but noted that
Uni Books, while being innovative, completed projects without a roadmap or a project plan and
lacked a disciplined approach to project management. he noted that Saleem and Waseem did not
use any project software for scheduling, and they did not use tools or techniques to estimate, budget
or to communicate with stakeholders. Finally, they had no processes in place to manage project
risks and quality. Impressed with this and other conversations, Saleem asked IU Student Najam if
he would consider joining them as a project associate or project manager on a full-time basis to
help them introduce project management practices and help them tide over their current crisis. IU
Student Najam accepted the offer! he has several key skills he is an excellent communicator with
very good interpersonal skills and detail oriented. Within the first three months in her new role as
PM, he introduced formal project management processes, created a PM manual, and trained the
employees to get the work done well. Within nine months IU Student Najam had fully turned things
around. Due to proactive risk analysis and risk response planning, surprises and issues reduced.
Communication with stakeholders was enhanced. Waseem and Saleem noted that the company was
delivering projects on schedule, the quality processes worked, and customers were happy with the
products! Comment on the following aspects of the case study:
a) Why did Uni Books Publishing struggle?
b) What were the specific PM solutions that were introduced by IU Student Najam that worked?
c) What kind of suggestions would you give to Waseem and Saleem if you were the PM?
d) Are you aware of other similar start-up businesses that struggle in a similar manner? How did
they overcome the challenges?
e) Uni Books Publishing is a technology intensive business, but IU Student Najam is not technically
knowledgeable, will he continue to be a successful project manager?
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