3-day Workshop

This program is an interactive workshop covering the complete project planning
and management process. It is designed to provide hands-on practice with the
tools and techniques of project management in a real-world setting. Participants
use real-world examples of projects from their own experience for the in-class
exercises. In addition, several topics involving the people skills needed to
successfully lead projects within an organization are added to the basic tools
and techniques.

Introduction
  • Definition of projects
  • Why projects are undertaken
  • The characteristics of projects
  • The “Triple Constraint” of time, resources, and output
  • Exercise: Defining the constraints for each project as they are
    known at this time
  • Characteristics of effective project leaders
  • At this point, participants nominate projects to use as working examples.
    The list is reduced to 3 - 5 projects and participants self-select onto the
    project teams of their choice. For the remainder of the workshop, these
    are the projects that are developed.        
  • Key players in the world of projects: project team, customers, sponsors,
    stakeholders
  • Exercise: Defining all known players for each project

Project Pre-Work
  • Researching the need for the project: Why this project? Why now?
  • Defining Needs and Wants
  • Exercise: A seven-step needs-analysis process applied to each
    project. Steps include:
  • Define the problem
  • Determine Needs (required) and Wants (desirable) and
    prioritize Wants
  • Determine the desired outcome of the project based on
    Needs and Wants
  • Develop options and alternative approaches
  • Compare options to Needs and Wants
  • Assess overall risks
  • Select an option
  • Developing the project goal
  • Exercise: Developing a goal statement for each project
  • Determining commitment and support needed for the project
  • Exercise: Developing a list of stakeholders and evaluating their
    commitment to the successful completion of the project
  • Determining the skills needed for the project
  • Exercise: Completing a Skills and Influence Matrix for each project,
    linking needed skills with individuals who are current or potential
    team members
  • Assembling the project team
  • Exercise: Developing strategies for obtaining the services of
    needed team members

People Skills for Project Leaders
Note: These topics are interspersed throughout the program as appropriate.
They are not taught as a single set. For example, the Negotiation piece may be
presented around Project Pre-Work or at several points during the Planning
presentations.  
  • The development and use of power and authority.
  • Exercise: Discussion of application.
  • Motivation.
  • Leadership.
  • Exercise: Leadership needs in various situations.
  • How teams grow and change over time.
  • Negotiation.
  • Exercise: Building a case for needed resources for each project.
  • Communication.
  • Exercise: Communication Style Self-Evaluation (take-home self-
    assessment; usually given out at the end of the first day and
    reviewed the morning of the second day).

Project Planning
  • Introduction to project planning and the Post-It® Planning Process
  • Framing the project
  • Exercise: Defining project phases
  • Planning major tasks
  • Exercise: Developing high-level project tasks and key decision
    points
  • Testing for validity
  • Exercise: Review the plan and adjust at the highest levels
  • Detailing tasks
  • Exercise: Adding detail and sub-tasks to high-level tasks; adding
    additional high-level tasks; reviewing the plan and adjusting the
    task sequence
  • Connecting people to tasks
  • Exercise: Identifying the levels of connection between team
    members and tasks
  • Scheduling the project
  • Exercise: Developing estimates of Task Time and Duration for
    each task and sub-task.
  • Identifying the Critical Path
  • Exercise: Determining the Critical Path through the project (both
    critical tasks and schedule)
  • Additional planning tools
  • Transfer planning
  • Exercise: Develop first draft of the plan to deliver the final output of
    each project; scheduling mid-point and final reviews of the
    transfer plan
  • Contingency planning
  • Exercise: Identifying potential risk points in each project and
    developing contingency plans for each

Project Implementation
  • Project kickoff
  • Exercise: Developing content of the kickoff meeting including both
    information and “cheerleading”
  • The cycle of project management; Monitor, measure, problem-solve,
    report
  • Status reporting and management reviews
  • Project team meetings, tools and techniques
  • Change control
  • Problem-solving process and tools

Project Closure
  • Documentation and training
  • Exercise: Defining documentation and training needs for the
    project outputs
  • Timing the transfer and implementation of project output
  • On-going support
  • Exercise: Developing a first draft of support needs
  • Completing the transfer
  • Project close-out
  • Post-project evaluation
  • Closing ceremonies
ProjectTraining.com
Providing Project Management
and Process Improvement Training
for over 20 years
Project Management in the Workplace (with People Skills)
"I've always found that
the best way to get a
job done is to find the
very best people and
then get out of there
way so they can do it."
     Theodore
     Roosevelt
     (1858 - 1919)
     26th President of
     the United States