Project Management (4 days)
Why
This Course
Today's successful Project Manager effectively applies project management
tools, techniques, and inter-personal effectiveness. This workshop provides
discussion and case study application in each of these four areas. At
the same time, it helps you establish a foundation for improved quality.
Participants learn to plan for successful projects, while establishing
strategies to complete them in less overall time.
This class blends seven modules from our Modular Project Management program.
It applies a realistic case study project, while developing a greater
understanding of the "soft side" of project management, or what
it takes for people to strive for excellence. We also offer a 5-day Intact
Team Training version of this class, where participants use their
current project as a case study; this version requires additional
pre-work.
 Truncated
Learning Objectives (contact us for the full set)
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Discuss the vital signs a Project Manager
manages; begin a project successfully, defining the business problem
or opportunity, performing early estimates, setting resource requirements
and a preliminary schedule. |
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Use the Work Breakdown Structure in a
teambuilding process to organize and define a phase's delegatable
work packages; describe the needed roles in a project, and their impact
on quality. |
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Analyze the communication and teambuilding
role of team members' thinking and social styles. Discuss the benefits
of an improved understanding of the differences between team members. |
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Discuss the characteristics of a really
good activity-level estimate; identify the unique benefits of Assumptions
Based Estimating; use different levels of effort and duration estimating
methods to improve communication of the factors that affect estimates. |
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Discuss how an effective Project Manager
applies motivation, an understanding of the corporate culture, and
leadership skills to improve team effectiveness and produce successful
projects. |
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Produce more reliable and useful project
schedules, using PERT and Gantt charts to show ways to get any project
done faster and improve the use of available staff. |
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Apply a tracking method that produces
useful reports and provides advance notice of problems; control
change
while retaining responsiveness to your customer; bring projects to
successful closure and identify ways to evaluate the results. |
Audience
This workshop is for Project Managers, leaders, customers, managers,
and key team members of medium-to-large projects; those lasting three
months to one year. It is also applicable for larger projects, because
it shows why and how to break them down into smaller, more successful
ones. Other, shorter-duration workshops in our curriculum may be more
appropriate for those who work on small projects, or are participants
in projects.
Course
Outline (4 days)
1. Initial Planning
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Today's Challenges; The Vital Signs of
Successful Projects; The Document of Understanding |
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Defining the Problem or Opportunity; Setting
Project Scope and Objectives |
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Early Project Estimating; Project Type
Analysis; Project Life Cycle Phases and Deliverables |
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Establishing Project Duration and Milestones |
2. Phase Structuring
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A Phased Planning Approach; Identify Activities
For Project Phases |
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Organize Using Work Breakdown Structures;
Roles and Responsibilities in the Team |
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Project Organization & Support;
Project Manager Role; Planning Project Management Activities |
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Delegation and Ownership;Quality and
Customer Involvement; Quality Reviews |
3. Personal Styles: Communication
and Teamwork
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Thinking Styles and Communication; Sample
Profiles; Impact on Tool and Method Preferences |
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Social Style and Team Performance; Improving
Teamwork, and Maintaining Excitement |
4. Activity-Level Estimating
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Attributes of Good Estimates; The Factors
That Make Estimates Wrong |
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Levels of Estimating Rigor; Assumptions
Based Effort Estimating |
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Developing Duration Estimates; Guidelines
For Estimating Project Management Time |
5. Leadership and Teambuilding
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Understanding Motivational Needs; Corporate
Culture and the Successful Project Climate |
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Leadership Styles and Productive Teams;
Teambuilding and Consensus; Consensus Exercise |
6. Phase Scheduling
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Precedence Analysis: How To Get Any Phase
Done Faster; Evaluating the Trade-Offs |
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Gantt Charts For Resource Analysis and
Refined Project Scheduling; Other Charting Tools |
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Today's Project Management Software Support;
Improved Scheduling Summary |
7. Status Tracking, Control
And Closure
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Tracking the Vital Signs; Components of
an Ideal Project Tracking System |
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Minimum-Effort Project Tracking Methods:
Quality, Duration, Effort and Assumptions |
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Project Progress and Status Reporting;
Controlling Change and Customer Satisfaction |
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Six Different Ways to Successfully End
A Project; Project Closure |
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Criteria for Post-Project Evaluation;
Evaluating Project Success; The Final Exam
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