Overview:
The Challenge
Organizations run on technology, and technology projects are a primary source of technological innovation and growth. Because technical projects are crucial to organizational function and financial well-being, project failure can be a serious and damaging event. Nonetheless, the worldwide failure rate for Information Technology projects is approaching 30% (Standish Group). This is simply unacceptable. We need a robust project management approach that will ensure successful delivery and provide the long-term project value that we need.
The Solution
Project Management for Technical Professionals delivers practical, hands-on training in essential project management concepts and techniques that every technical professional must know. The course extends PMBOK® concepts with field-proven best practices that are effective in any project setting. Participants learn how to use the project charter to build a strong project foundation; use stakeholder analysis to identify project supporters; identify 100% of scope and use that as the basis for a comprehensive schedule and budget; maintain the integrity of project baselines with change control and proactive risk management; deliver meaningful status reports; forecast project outcomes; engineer the successful deployment of technical deliverables, and more. The importance of planning for post-project value (Project Value Management) is emphasized throughout this course.
The format is multimodal, with a mixture of lecture, numerous exercises and simulations, and group discussions. Learning is reinforced by having participants truly get their hands on the tools. All participants return to their workplace better equipped to conclude their projects with a successful delivery. Course topics include:
- Sources of project success and failure
- Product and project lifecycles
- Why technical projects are different
- Managing technical projects for realization of long-term value
- Building a collaborative partnership with stakeholders
- Providing estimates that work for you
- Using a charter to get buy-in on goals, scope and approach
- Setting and managing expectations
- Defining scope: WBS and requirements
- Projects within projects: changes in business process and the need for organizational adoption
- Developing a rigorous schedule, resource plan and budget
- Setting and managing project baselines
- Avoiding project procurement pitfalls
- Establishing effective communication
- Planning for long-term project value
- Building quality into deliverables; Quality Control strategies
- Preventing Scope Creep: Three change control strategies that keep scope, time and cost in balance
- Minimizing issues and maximizing opportunities through proactive risk management
- Keeping management informed: Using Earned Value Management for status reports and forecasts
- Delivering the goods: Planning and executing an effective Transition
- Administrative and contract closure
- Lessons Learned
Audience:
This course is of special value to project managers and team leads who want a solid, guiding PM framework; experienced project managers who want to add to their toolkit of tools and techniques; managers of project managers, and functional managers with project responsibility who want a deeper understanding of project management principles; and Project Management Office staff.
Prerequisites:
This course assumes some prior experience with project management, either as project manager or team lead.
Related Courses:
For a more in-depth study of critical Project Management concepts see:
Course duration:
4 days
Course Outline:
I. Project Structure
- Sources of project success and failure
- Why technology projects are different
- How the project environment impacts technology projects
- Essential PM Concepts
- Impact of human factors: Every project is a Human Endeavor
- Project and product lifecycles
- Project roles
- Creating value after the project: Project Value Management
- PM Methodologies
II. Project Initiation
- Value of viewing the project as an investment
- Use and benefits of the Project Charter
- Defining project and business objectives
- Importance of establishing preliminary scope boundaries
- Project constraints: keeping scope, time and cost in balance
- Project Manager authority
- Identifying, analyzing and managing stakeholders
- Importance of stakeholder participation in technology projects
- Creating useful estimates of time and cost
- Building a strong project foundation
III. Project Planning
- Defining Scope: Requirements and the WBS; the Scope Statement
- Iterative prototyping for better requirements
- Scheduling and the Critical Path; usefulness of gate reviews
- Resource planning: choosing the right team; ensuring stakeholder participation
- The budget lifecycle: Developing and tracking an effective, time-phased budget
- Procurement and contracts; avoiding procurement pitfalls
- Using deliverables quality to drive Business Value; Quality planning; quality audits
- Strategies for effective project communication; the Communication Plan; effective meetings
- Proactive management of Threats and Opportunities; risk identification and analysis; response planning; the risk register
- Recognizing when Organizational Adoption is needed; defeating resistance to change
- Setting project baselines
- Planning for long-term project value
IV. Execution and Control
- Building deliverables; Monitoring project work
- Managing the team
- Testing project deliverables
- Delivering useful status reports
- Forecasting with Earned Value Management
- Preventing scope creep: Tools and methods of change control
- Controlling cost and schedule
- Managing project baselines
- Transition planning: preparing for deployment to the customer
- Executing the Transition Plan
V. Successful Conclusion
- Executing the Business Value plan
- Contract and administrative closure
- Measuring project success
- Lessons Learned and continual improvement
Learning Approach
- A highly experienced instructor will use interactive lecture format, numerous hands-on exercises, team activities, group discussions, and other techniques to drive home the essential points of this material.
- You have the option of using your own, ongoing project as the focus of class
exercises. As a result, not only do you gain experience with the tools, but you
also learn more about your project.
- You have the option of using your own, ongoing project as the focus of class exercises. As a result, not only do you gain experience with the tools, but you also learn more about your project.
- We will build on your prior experience in this topic, while providing you with a structure and vocabulary to use in future projects.
- If you have modest project management knowledge, you will find that the clarity of the material and direct presentation style of the instructor will make the subject matter easy to understand.
- You will receive a Comprehensive Participant Guide which will help you follow the material, take notes and retain what you learned so that you can apply it on your job. Participants also receive a CD packed with high quality Project Management templates.
Why should I take this course?
- This course establishes the importance of keeping realization of Business Value as a primary focus of the project.
- If you are new to project management, the exercises in this course will give you hands on experience with all of the primary techniques required to manage a project.
- Experienced project managers will obtain a vocabulary and framework that lends structure and perspective to the wealth of experience they already have.
- All participants take home a set of tools and techniques to help them deal with all aspects of project planning and execution.
- Take this course and learn how to avoid the problems that project managers most often encounter.
Customize It!
- Have you identified specific problems with project delivery in your organization? The content of this class can be delivered with special emphasis on those topics of greatest concern.
- This course is also available in a three day format.
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