Project Management Fundamentals

$1,895.00

Duration Three Days

Description

Course Description

Project Management Fundamentals covers the range of fundamental methods and techniques project managers need to effectively initiate, plan, execute, control, and close projects.  Students explore approaches to developing partnerships and managing the expectations of various stakeholders, including business and technical partners, management, and team members.  Hands-on workshops provide opportunities for applying tools learned in class to address challenges throughout the project life cycle, regardless of the size and nature of the project.

Throughout the course, students are invited to consider and discuss the implications of the concepts taught for their organizations and project environments.  A range of learning techniques provides a safe learning environment, including lecture, facilitated discussion, group work, individual exercises, and role play.  The highly interactive nature of the course exposes students to team-building strategies and gives them practical project team experience.

This course provides a structured approach to managing projects that allows for flexibility in order to earn stakeholder trust and achieve project success.  Concepts, tools, and terms used are consistent with industry best practices and are aligned with the processes described in the Project Management Institute® A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide).  The practical application of those best practices and standards makes Project Management Fundamentals certain to enhance any project professional’s ability to positively influence project outcomes.

Pre-Requisites

None

Audience

This course is designed for any project professional involved in projects who stands to benefit from hands-on practice of project management best practices, including project managers, business analysts, subject matter experts, business customers, managers, and team members.  Those looking for robust discussion of real-world experiences, as well as application of all of the tools learned will find this three-day format particularly helpful.  Although designed with project professionals new to project management in mind, experienced professionals are guaranteed to find value in confirmations and reminders of best practices.

Format

To help assimilate the tools and techniques learned, there is a mixture of individual and group exercises throughout the course.  A lively role-play and case study help reinforce concepts learned. Students will need to be prepared for a high level of participation.  Each participant will receive a comprehensive student guide complete with examples and workshop solutions.

Outline

Project Management Concepts and Framework

  • Distinguish between projects and products
  • Discussion:  Biggest project management challenges
  • How project get initiated and project charters
  • What is included in the PM Plan?
  • Templates: Charter and PM Plan
  • Defining project success
  • Discussion: What contributes to project success or failure?
  • What PMs do and what PMs need to know
  • Project approaches: Waterfall, Incremental, Agile
  • Plan-driven versus change-driven projects
  • Choosing the best project approach – tailoring the project

Managing Stakeholders Relationships

  • Discussion: What are stakeholders and how are they related to projects
  • Stakeholder exercise
  • Common project stakeholders and their roles and responsibilities
  • How to create and use a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)
  • Defining key stakeholders on projects
  • Getting commitment: ownership and buy-in
  • Partnerships and trust
  • Stakeholder workshop and Introduction to case study

Defining project scope

  • Discussion: Asking questions
  • Scope statement considerations
  • Linking projects to business vision
  • Scope statement essentials
  • How the Statement of Business Need is instrumental in getting buy-in and ownership
  • Team exercise: Developing a good problem statement
  • Defining project objective, actions, and deliverables
  • Key Scope Statement components
  • Team workshop:  Role play and developing scope statement for the case study

Risk Management

  • Defining project risk
  • Things we know and things we don’t know
  • Project risks over time
  • Role and responsibilities of key stakeholders regarding project risk
  • Assessing identified risks
  • Developing responses to identified risks
  • Components of a good risk register
  • Risk management and baseline commitment best practice
  • Assumptions and constraints
  • Team workshop: Creating a risk register for the case study

Estimating and Scheduling

  • Class exercise: challenges in estimating and scheduling
  • Why bother planning?
  • Progression of estimates
  • Providing estimates to others and getting estimates from others
  • Estimating techniques (analogous, parametric, bottom-up and rolling wave)
  • Decomposition: best practices for estimating
  • Developing a deliverable-based and task-based work breakdown structure (WBS)
  • The distinction between effort and duration and how they are used
  • Sequencing tasks: dependencies, logical relationships and using project network diagrams
  • CPM techniques and concepts: forward pass, backward pass, critical path and float
  • Team workshop: Decompose deliverable, estimate activities, develop schedule

Tracking

  • Discussion: tracking versus micromanagement
  • Why track?
  • Tracking as Big Brother or Big Helper
  • Tool-independent tracking
  • Top 10 tracking tips

Communications Management

  • Class exercise: role play and observation
  • Communications model
  • Complexity of communications and implications for project
  • Communications and culture
  • Implications of culture for project management practices
  • Communication barriers on projects
  • Requirements for effective project communications
  • Non-verbal communications
  • Media choices
  • Analyzing stakeholders and project communications planning
  • Template: Communications Plan
  • Closing phases and projects checklist
  • Lessons learned best practices
  • Team workshop: Creating a communication plan for the case study

Quality Management 

  • Defining quality
  • Project and product quality
  • Costs of quality
  • The three quality processes and their role in project management
  • Team Workshop: Creating a quality plan for the case study

Managing Scope Changes

  • Scope management vs. “scope creep”
  • Why “scope creep” occurs
  • Strategies for avoiding scope creep
  • Team workshop: Develop a process for handling change requests for the case study project

Team Development

  • Team development considerations
  • Leading versus managing the project team
  • Understanding how teams develop
  • Strategies for resolving conflict on project teams
  • Forms of power and when to use them
  • Celebrating successes
  • Best practices for recognizing team members
  • Celebrations that work!

Final workshop

  • Finalize group project
  • Present project to class

HANDOUTS

  • Scope Statement Solution
  • Risk Management Plan Solution
  • Communication Plan Solution
  • Oven Activity Lists
  • Oven Deliverable

Key Project Management Steps and Deliverables Laminate