A two-day workshop
This programme concentrates on the core planning skills needed to develop sound practical project plans in a team environment. This enables the plan to be modified should requirements change or difficulties arise.
The programme also gives participants the confidence to practise those skills and apply them in the work environment and deliver their projects more successfully in the future.
learning objectives
- Break a project down into manageable sections and ensure nothing is left out
- Understand and apply estimating techniques to develop realistic estimates
- Sequence work effectively and carry out critical path analysis to determine project duration and which tasks to pay closest attention to
- Manage project risk effectively to protect project value
- Monitor, control and re-plan the project to best keep it on track
- Close out the project and ensure the project comes to an orderly end
Expert trainer
Derek is an independent project, programme and project risk management consultant and trainer with more than thirty years’ experience in multiple industries including oil and gas, construction, IT, finance, nuclear and automotive as well as the public sector.
Session outline
1. Introduction
- Self-introductions and personal objectives
- Course objectives
- Sharing of project issues
2. Project management concepts
- Characteristics of a project and what should be kept as operational responsibilities
- Understanding the triple and quadruple constraints – and their limitations
- Prioritising requirements through the MOSCOW technique
- Product v project life cycle
- Key project roles and responsibilities – the importance of sponsorship and clarity of roles
3. Starting a project, and the importance of the terms of reference / project brief
- Avoiding the pressure to ‘just do it’!
- The importance and benefits of planning
- The best time to learn!
- Initial project documentation – the BOSCARDI approach
4. Breaking the work down
- Understanding alternative breakdown structures such as the product breakdown structure and work breakdown structure
- Guidelines for creating a work breakdown structure to ensure the full work scope is identified
5. Estimating
- Alternative estimating techniques and associated confidence levels
- Further considerations – loss and resource factors
6. Organising the work
- Use of network diagrams to develop a clear sequence of work
- Critical path analysis and calculating the project duration and task float – and usage
7. The management of project risk
- Understanding the nature of project risk
- The risk analysis and risk management processes
- How to best manage threats and opportunities
- Running a risk workshop
- Using the risk register
8. Scheduling the work
- The importance of the Gantt chart and understanding its limitations
- The Gantt chart layout and using alternative views such as the tracking Gantt
- Using alternative dependencies
9. Resource issues
- Assigning resources and resolving resource overloads
- Crashing and fast-tracking your project and potential issues to look out for
10. Controlling the project
- The control cycle and alternative feedback mechanisms
- Alternative progress reporting
- Assessing the impact
- The importance of re-planning
- The benefits of control
- Change control – the importance of impact analysis
- The steps of change control and the use of the issue register
11. Closing the project
- The project closure checklist
- Reviewing the project – things to avoid
- Developing meaningful lessons and ensuring they are applied effectively
- The post-project review – its importance to the organisation
