Understanding Project Management

This course is a comprehensive course enabling those who are new to project management to develop an excellent understanding of methods, processes, and the benefits of using a project management approach. This course does not provide international certification, but it does provide supervisors and administrative staff with the following skills:

• The fundamentals of completing projects on time and on budget
• How to improve idea presentations
• Techniques and tools for planning and tracking a project
• Exploration and practice in project management techniques
• How to use applications for PERT diagrams, Gantt charts, network diagrams, and flowcharts
• Essentials for communication, teams in project environments, and more

Course Topics:

Session One: Course Overview

Session Two: What is a Project?

Session Three: Project Management Basics

Session Four: Pre-Assignment Review

Session Five: How Can Projects Help Me?

• The Benefits of Projects
• Case Study: Mary Marvelous

Session Six: A Project’s Life Cycle

Session Seven: Selling a Project

• Tom Peters
• The Priority Matrix

Session Eight: Preparing Your Project

Session Nine: The Role of a Project Manager

• A Project Manager’s Skills
• Key Skills

Session Ten: Project Goals

Session Eleven: Laying Out the Project

• The Statement of Work
• Individual SOW
• Project Planning Worksheet
• Writing Reports

Session Twelve: Project Risks

• Risk Tolerance
• About Risks
• Reducing Risks

Session Thirteen: Contingency Planning

Session Fourteen: What Really Needs To Be Done?

• Beginning to Plan
• Preparing a Basic Schedule
• Other Scheduling Factors
• Scheduling My Project

Session Fifteen: The Work Breakdown Structure

Session Sixteen: Planning Tools

• Two Basic Tools
• PERT
• Gantt Charts
• The Network Diagram
• The Flow Chart

Session Seventeen: Budgets

Session Eighteen: Teamwork

• Why is Teamwork Important?
• Building a Winning Team

Session Nineteen: Developing Teams

• Four Issues to Address with Project Teams
• Team Development

Session Twenty: Putting it Into Practice

• Decision Information
• Individual Action Steps

Session Twenty-One: Communication Tips

Session Twenty-Two: Closing Out a Project

Session Twenty-Three: Team Meetings

Session Twenty-Four: Presentation Primer

Session Twenty-Five: Project Presentations

• Recommended Reading List
• Personal Action Plan