Background

This introductory course is for entry-level project managers. The course will present the classical foundations of project management and an introduction to modern project problems based on research and experience. The course discusses first the processes of initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and closing, together with the standard knowledge areas of scope, cost, time, integration, quality, risk, etc. However, to prepare the participants to a modern, business-focused more advanced approach, the course is using more developed frameworks for planning and preparing for project success, which are based on combining both project effectiveness and efficiency. It also includes a research-based chapter on best practices, including lessons learned from great projects and the implications for young project managers.

40 PDUs
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PMI Talent Triangle Share of PDUs:
Business Leadership Technical
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Course Objectives

  • Characterize the concepts and roles of project, project manager, and project manager’s responsibility. Use the classical concepts; and build a basis for applying a modern concept
  • Learn how to perform initiation, planning, organizing, execution, monitoring and controlling, closing
  • Learning the roles of a leader – team building, motivation, and conflict resolution
  • Understanding the most important success factors of projects, and learning lessons from the greatest projects of all.
  • Prepare students for the next step on their development as well as for a business-focused approach.

Who Should Participate

 

Young project managers or team members preparing for their first job as project managers.

Course Outline

 

1. Introduction to Project Management

  • What is a Project (and what is it not)?
  • How to Define the Word “Project”?
  • Why do we Need Projects
  • Projects Examples – By Industry, Technology, Life Cycle
  • Course Outline – What we do in this course
  • What project management – as a job, and as a profession
  • Project lifecycles
  • Is There a Problem With Projects Today?

 2. Project Success

  • When is a Project Successful?
  • The Traditional Triple Constraint
  • Achieving Project Effectiveness and Efficiency
  • Project Success - a Multidimensional, Strategic Concept
  • Business Dimensions
  • Managing Stakeholders

 3. The Project Manager’s Responsibility

  • Balancing Effectiveness and Efficiency
  • The Three Phases of Any Manager’s Responsibility
  • How to Start a Project? Defining Why, What, How, and When
  • Background, Product Definition, Project Definition
  • Project Lifecycle – Phases and Activities
  • Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Leading, Monitoring, Controlling, Reporting
  • Roles and Skills of a Project Manager
  • Effective Communication
  • Managing Uncertainty
  • The PMBOK Guide Areas – According to 6th Ed.
  • Project Management Process Groups - According to PMBOK Guide 6

 4. Project Initiation

  • Project Charter
  • Identifying Stakeholders
  • Project Kickoff Meeting
  • Project Initiation Document

 5. Project Planning

  • What do we Plan, When, and How Much
  • Revising Project Definition: Why, What, How, When
  • Project Scope
  • The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
  • Cost Estimation and Budgeting
  • Scheduling – Critical Path
  • Resource Allocation and Leveling
  • Milestones and Stage gates
  • Risk Management
  • Other Plans – Communication, Procurement, contracting, etc.
  • Planning and Re-planning – The Adaptive Approach
  • The Use of Software

 6. Project Organization

  • Why we Need an Organization
  • Traditional structures – Functional, Pure Project
  • The Matrix Organization
  • How to Survive in a Matrix

 7. Project Leadership

  • The Role of a Leader
  • Team Building
  • Motivation
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Team Communication
  • Career development for project leaders

 8. Project Monitoring and Controlling

  • The Planning, Monitoring, Controlling Cycle
  • Managing Project Communication
  • Project Reviews
  • Project Internal Meetings
  • Project Reports

 9. Recent Developments in Project Management

  • Earned Value
  • Critical Chain and Theory of Constraints
  • Agile project Management – Scrum
  • Spiral Development
  • Toward Strategic Project Management and Leadership

 10. Best Practices and Best Projects Lessons Learned

  • Preparing a Project for Success
  • Critical Success Factors for Projects
  • Best Practices in Project Management
  • What Makes Great Projects – The Common Story of all Greatest Projects
  • How to Make Your Project Great