Have you ever been involved in a project where the goals were unclear or impossible, the specs kept changing, or resources were given and taken away? Much of what affects a project cannot be helped, but there are many obstacles to productivity and success that can be prevented, anticipated, or eliminated.

“Everybody knows” you’re supposed to communicate when working as part of a team, and “everybody knows” what happens when we make assumptions and don’t take the time to check them out with others. Everybody also knows how much it can cost – in time, resources, customer satisfaction and team morale. But knowing all this doesn’t always ensure that people do communicate or check out assumptions, or even that they have the skills and framework within which to do so.

Using a mix of presentation, group interaction, experiential exercises, and applying all the steps to your own projects, this powerful 2-day course gives you and your team the common framework, skills, methodology, and language to generate the accountability and superior results you know are possible. It gives you access to real data – not just opinions or “gut feelings” – that you can use in your interactions with project sponsors and customers to negotiate and set expectations for achievable results.

Objectives

• Introduction - Project Team Simulation Exercise
• Define and Organize the Project
• Project Initiation and Team Definition
• Project Objective and Priority Matrix
• Project Team Planning Meeting
• Project Infrastructure Checklist
• Validation Meeting with Sponsor

Day 2 – Plan and Manage the Project

Plan the Project

• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Dependency Diagram and Critical Path Method (CPM)
• Optimization Plans
• Risk Analysis and Management Plans
• Validation Meeting with Sponsor
• Set the Project Baseline
• Begin Change Management Process

Manage Progress to Plan

• Collect Status Information
• Identify and Analyze Variances
• Reports on Progress to Plan
• Close Out the Project
• Project Retrospective and Team Meeting