Fundamentals of Project Management (2-Day)

The intent of this course is to provide organizations with more of their own trained people who can step comfortably into the demanding role of project manager.

Participants will learn how to plan, budget, and schedule all of the so-called "hard skills" critical to the success of any project. But they'll also discover another side to project management that's equally important. Namely, they'll get a thorough grounding in the behind-the-scenes skills it takes to champion a project successfully from start to finish. For instance:

• How to build a good working relationship between project manager and project sponsor
• How to recruit and hire the right people for a project team
• Tips on assessing risks and their consequences
• Ways to rebound quickly from setbacks
• Best methods to communicate progress

How We Present This Material

This training is presented in a 2-day format designed to allow the trainer to deliver a highly experiential program — including discussions, group exercises and hands-on practice to help drive home key project management skills.

Participants get their questions answered on the spot, receive "real-time" coaching, and benefit from the synergy of learning with their co-workers.

As A Result Of This Training

• More projects will be completed on time, within budget and with desired results
• People assigned to lead projects will do so with greater confidence
• The process will run more smoothly, and with greater autonomy
• Your people will be freed of the "crisis" mind-set that results from poorly planned and managed projects

Who Will Benefit Most?

• Self-taught or limited-experience project managers
• Leaders unaccustomed to managing employees who aren't their subordinates
• Project teams themselves, especially those that have stalled, lost enthusiasm or aren't producing as expected

Key Learning Points

• What you must do first: determining the project's goals and constraints
• How to lay out the tasks to be done, and how to build the right team to accomplish them
• Ways to assemble and manage an "on-loan" project team — how to get other managers to lend you their best people, and how to lead team members not ordinarily under your supervision
• How to develop realistic schedules and budgets
• Using Gantt charts and critical paths as planning aids
• Ways to optimize communication and efficiency within a team
• Keeping a project on track when problems arise
• What to do when it's time to deliver the product and wrap up the project

How To Begin Every Project With Your Eyes Wide Open

• Goals? Objectives? Desired outcomes? How to determine precisely what your project is expected to accomplish
• An 11-point checklist to make sure you and the project sponsor are on the same page
• Questions to ask that will bring any and all constraints — involving money, performance, deadlines — to the surface early on
• What work truly deserves "project" status — the pros and cons of project management

The Planning It Takes To Pull Off A Glitch-Free Project

• Work Breakdown Structure — what it is, how it works and ways to use it to consolidate and prioritize tasks
• Determining the time it takes to do a task — a nearly foolproof formula to help you arrive at a realistic time frame
• Gantt charts and critical paths: 2 scheduling tools that can help you spot potential conflicts and fine-tune your timing
• 7 steps to creating a budget that's realistic, manageable and flexible

How To Set Your Project In Motion

• Put it in writing? Call a meeting? Send an email? Set up a one-on-one? Your communication options and when to use which ones
• When you've got bad news — ways to soften the blow without sugarcoating the facts
• Ways to develop a "balanced team" — how diversity can add to innovation and lessen the dangers of "groupthink"

Why You Need To Keep A Close Watch On Your Project's Progress — And How To Do It

• The importance of meeting milestones and the domino effect of missing them by even a little
• Minding the money — how to cope with cost overruns and ways to minimize their effect
• Excuses and blaming; habitual lateness; "paralysis of analysis" and other red flags that your project may be heading for trouble
• "Crashing" a project: what it means, when to do it, how to predict its outcome

Closing Up Shop — How To "Deliver" Your Completed Project

• How to decide if your project has met all your objectives — key questions to ask yourself before making final delivery
• An 8-point checklist that can help ensure you've covered all the bases
• Abandoned projects: the "salvage value" to look for if for some reason your project gets scrapped midstream or mothballed upon completion

Critiquing Your Performance And Celebrating Your Success!

• What went right — and why? What went wrong — and how would you do things differently?
• Nothing can keep the project spirit alive within your organization quite like a celebration of your success. You'll come away with a wealth of ideas to reward team members; acknowledge your project's contribution (to your organization, perhaps even to your industry); and create the kind of good will that makes people want to be a part of your next project team.

CPE CREDIT

Fred Pryor Seminars and CareerTrack are registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit.

CPE certificates will be available 10 days after your event has ended.