The first question that we asked ourselves was: What actually distinguishes a project and when can a work task be called a project? We came to the conclusion that the task to be accomplished had to be a one-time project, limited in time, with limited resources, a certain complexity and a clearly defined goal.

In our case, the main objective was to arrange and conduct interviews on business ethics with companies abroad. The aim was to find out how they were structured in terms of sustainability and business ethics. Further objectives were the planning and implementation of a cultural programs for leisure activities. An internal goal was to adhere to the budget.

Before the planning phase, the lecturer informed the students of the task and the corresponding goal. Subsequently, three teams were formed, each of which was to propose a suitable city for the project. When selecting the project location, it had to be considered that a budget of 1,500 EUR (set by the students) could not be exceeded, that a leisure program could be designed and that travel safety had to be taken into account. The following three cities were presented by the respective groups:

• Zagreb
• New York
• Paris

All three cities and presentations were very interesting and the decision was difficult. After a short meeting and coordination, New York was happily agreed upon.

In the second step, the organizational and management structure was defined and the tasks to be implemented were assigned to the various groups. First, the project manager was appointed. Due to personal reasons, the project manager had to take a break shortly before the flight to New York and unfortunately the trip took place without him. Still, event managers for leisure activities and cultural highlights, designers for the creation of a logo and the website, a project coordinator for route planning, a treasurer and a secretary were installed.

An important topic was also the determination of the procedure up to the beginning of the journey. Project milestones were fixed and dates for webinars were arranged. The attendance times in Munich were used for personal meetings on the topic of international projects.

Trello was chosen as the project management platform. The progress of the project is also visible to everyone in the form of protocols.

A uniform template was developed for the cover letter of the companies in New York. This template was used by each team member to establish contact with companies. This responsibility was on all shoulders and everyone was involved in arranging appointments with well-known companies.

A questionnaire was created for the content of the meetings, which was later used as a discussion guide during the interviews.

The implementation covers the entire journey: from the departure to New York, to all dates and events within the journey, to the return to Munich. This was the main part of the task.

All company dates were fixed prior to the beginning of the journey, but days and times were still open on the part of the companies. They wanted to decide at short notice. For this reason, we used agile project management. This allowed us to react to changes at short notice. If necessary, the group was divided into different dates. The leisure activities were adapted according to the scheduling and the local location of the companies.

There was a constant agile exchange of information and communication among each other. Some meetings were held late in the evening or early in the morning. In the meantime, the interviews were recorded in writing on the basis of the questionnaire. Equally agile was the provision of food for breakfast.

Besides all the work, the fun factor was not neglected. We laughed a lot and were highly motivated. That promoted the cohesion of the group.

Further points were cultural highlights, such as the 9/11 Memorial Museum or the Rockefeller Center. These activities were planned before the trip, but the actual dates were flexible due to the company dates.

The control in our project included the evaluation of the results of the company visits, the completion of the documentation in the form of short reports, the filling of the website with experiences from the trip and the collection of costs including the travel expense report. Furthermore, a webinar with the responsible lecturer took place in the form of a feedback round.

On the last day of our stay in New York, a meeting was called in which the tasks for the final completion of the project were determined and distributed within the team. The target date for submitting the document was 31.10.2019.

• A goal must be defined and known to all
• Every project team needs a leader
• It is important that each project member is responsible for a specific area.
• A strategy and process for implementing the project must be developed.
• Every project member needs to know who is responsible for what
• A constant exchange of information and a constant target-performance comparison in the form of regular meetings is unavoidable.
• Milestones must be set before detailed time planning can take place
• Changes must be responded to quickly and purposefully
• Team members must understand each other at the working level
• Constructive criticism within the team and also from outside is important for the learning process and the implementation of the project.
• In order to make a project successful, project members must be able to react flexibly to various situations
• The different strengths of the individual team members should be used as best as possible
• Respectful interaction among team members is essential

As already described in the introduction, projects can be defined by specific characteristics. In the following table, the most important project characteristics are explained in detail:

Source of table: https://mediencommunity.de/system/files/wbts/projektmanagement/le01/11_projekte_und_ihre_merkmale.html