Project Management for Non-PMs

Are you responsible for routine tasks that are expected to be delivered by specific dates? Do you also get larger tasks assigned to you to complete? Do you feel that some tasks could have been done better sometimes? You are not alone. These days, almost everyone is being tasked with small projects, and even though the projects appear small and routine in nature, they are still important and their impact is felt by the whole organization.

The solution is to view these tasks as projects and manage them the way project managers manage their projects. This course was designed with you in mind. It goes over the key concepts of project management in a gentle and fun way. It walks you through all the key steps from when the project is first initiated or requested, to how it is planned, executed, monitored and then finally delivered and closed.

You will learn by practicing each concept immediately after the instructor has explained it to you. You will work in small groups and apply simple techniques and proven methods in project management that have been used by millions of project managers around the world. You will feel confident that you can take ownership of your next big task and succeed.

This course is composed of short instructor led lectures, followed by practical hands-on group workshops and exercises to practice the concepts being covered. As such, a good deal of participation is expected from students.

Course will be conducted over a period of 5 days, starting from 8:30 AM and ending at 4:30 PM* daily, with allowances for short refreshment breaks, prayer time, and lunch break. *For in-house courses, timings can be customized by mutual agreement.

Project Management training for new PMs

PROJECTS IN ORGANIZATIONS

• What is Project Management?
• What is a project?
• Projects Vs. Operations – similarities and differences
• Value of Project Management and how you fit in
• Why do projects fail? And what is project success?
• Strategies, Portfolios, Programs & Projects – making sense of these common terms

The Project Organization & YOU

• Typical project roles and responsibilities
• Role of the Project Manager – Is this you?
• Critical skills for every Project Manager – Do you have what it takes?

INITIATING THE PROJECT

• Understanding what your task is about (developing the Project Charter)
• Ensuring you have the right team, as well as tools, data and authority
• Determining who needs to be involved (who are your Stakeholders?)
• Analysing your stakeholders and how they can impact your project
• Preparing for, and conducting, a project kick-off meeting

GROUP WORKSHOP – Attendees will work in groups to write a Project Charter, planning out project team requirements, and identifying and analysing the project stakeholder

PLANNING YOUR PROJECT SCOPE, SCHEDULE & BUDGET

• Determining your project requirements, and what your stakeholders and management need using common requirements gathering techniques
• Developing your final project scope
• Identifying the key components (deliverables) of your project scope using the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Understanding the step-by-step methods of preparing an effective project schedule
• Estimating how long your project will take to complete
• Estimating the budget and cash disbursements required to deliver the project
• Assigning the work of the project to your team

GROUP WORKSHOP – Attendees will work in groups to develop the project WBS, schedule and budget

DEVELOPING YOUR PROJECT COMMUNICATIONS, QUALITY & RISK PLANS

• Developing your project communication plan
• Determining required quality activities for your project & planning for them
• Identifying and recognizing potential risks that could affect project performance
• Analysing risks and developing risk response strategies and mitigation plans
• Developing contingency plans and estimating the required contingency fund (buffer)

GROUP WORKSHOP – Attendees will work in groups to develop a communication plan, quality plan and identify the project risks

IMPLEMENTING YOUR PROJECT

• Holding the Implementation Kick-off meeting
• Developing The Project Deliverables Acceptance Plan
• Implementing your QA/QC Plan
• Following up and updating the project with actual schedule & costs data
• Manage project risks, issues and contingency reserves
• Analysing performance and generating forecasts for the schedule & budget
• Creating project progress reports and holding effective project review meetings

GROUP WORKSHOP – Attendees will work in groups to simulate project implementation via a project management game. Each group’s project will be subjected to risk scenarios and they will be asked to react and bring their projects back on track.

CLOSING THE PROJECT

• Verifying completed project scope and accepting the finished deliverables
• Understanding what punch (snag) lists are
• Implementing the project hand-off activities
• Releasing project staff
• Performing project administrative closure activities
• Closing out the project documentation
• Finalizing contracts & invoices
• Capturing & documenting lessons learned

GROUP WORKSHOP – Attendees will work in groups to prepare a final report on their projects and present it to the rest of the attendees

At the completion of this training program, attendees will each be awarded PMI Endorsed Certificates worth 35 Professional Development Units (PDU’s).