The Challenge
Most project management training today is either introductory in nature or focused on helping students to pass an exam. While PM certification certainly has its merits, training of this kind generally does NOT prepare anyone for the significant issues that project managers routinely face in real world projects. Experienced project managers already know the basics; they need insights into the more difficult challenges that they face every day in truly complex and high profile projects.

The Solution
Advanced Techniques in Project Management (ATPM) is a novel training program that begins where most PM training ends. This course of training assumes that attendees are familiar with the PMBOK® and that they have substantial project management experience. The goal of this program is no less than to raise the bar and bring attendees’ project management practice to a new and much more effective level. This is accomplished by providing students with hands-on training in a series of advanced concepts, tools and techniques that have been shown to drive project success.

The Program:

ATPM is composed of an initial 2-day course, Foundation for Project Success, followed by a series of workshops, each of which lasts 1 or 2 days. Foundation for Project Success establishes both context and framework for the workshops that follow. During this course, many of the most significant issues in current project management practice are raised and solutions are proposed for each. These solutions are examined in detail in the workshops. This format a llows participants to start with the Big Picture and then focus on solutions for the specific issues that they most commonly encounter during their projects. Class format is truly multimodal, with a mixture of exercises, simulations, group discussions, individual discovery and lecture. Ample time is provided for hands-on exercises, class discussion and application of advanced concepts to real-world problems. At the end of this course, even highly experienced practitioners can walk away with a long list of actionable steps they can use to bring success to their projects.

Audience:

This program can benefit project managers and team leads who are looking for guidance that is not found in the standard project management curriculum; managers of project mangers; functional managers with project responsibility; and Project Management Office staff.

Prerequisites:

This program of training assumes experience in the role of project manager.

Course duration:

2 days

Course Outline:

3010-01 Foundation for Project Success – 2 days

This course is a prerequisite for all ATPM workshops. Any combination of ATPM workshops may be packaged together with the Foundations course. We can help you to create a curriculum that best suits your organization's needs. Topics covered during this two day course include:

• Project Portfolio Management as the underlying context
• How projects support strategy
• Project and product lifecycles
• Projects as Business Value Delivery machines
• The project as seen through many eyes
• Expanding the role of the project manager
• Where Project Success comes from
• How each project role contributes to success
• Moving beyond the "science" of PM
• Knowing your stakeholders
• Importance of managing expectations
• Organizational Adoption
• Project Stewardship
• Defining success and assigning accountability
• Articulating issues; Proposing solutions
• Project Management as part of a bigger picture
• Next steps