Experience is the best teacher!
Overview
This fast-paced 4.5-day workshop goes beyond project
management tools and techniques. Participants are guided by an experienced
coach (instructor) through a sophisticated project simulation. The result
is a rich experience that challenges participants to integrate leadership
and teamwork skills with planning and control skills. The experience
includes short briefings, computer simulation, coaching, role playing,
assessment instruments, group discussions, and action/reflection.
Participants work in teams of 4 to accelerate development of their project
leadership competencies. They make collective decisions regarding
management of the project, leadership of the virtual technical team
members and teaming with a broad range of stakeholders, including vendors,
consultants, senior management, and customers.
The "Real" Project and the "Real" Payoff
In addition to the above virtual project, participants
undertake a "real" project in parallel. They must apply management,
leadership, and teamwork competencies to their own participant team to
complete the workshop
within real time, resource, and quality objectives.
Inevitably, true behaviors emerge, providing a powerful opportunity to
observe, reflect, and provide/receive valuable feedback.
Who Should Attend
The program is designed for: project, product, program managers; project
leaders and administrators; team leaders and members; field staff members;
project, design, industrial and manufacturing engineers; sales, operations
and functional managers; systems analysts; software and systems
developers; human resource executives; supervisors; information technology
professionals; research and development managers; marketing directors;
project support staff, or others involved directly or indirectly with
projects, for virtually every industry that needs more than just project
fundamentals.
Learning Objectives
Participant teams practice project management
processes and tools during the entire project lifecycle including
initiation, planning, execution/controlling, and closing. Participants
will develop skills using processes and tools including:
*
Defining/clarifying project descriptions
* Defining/clarifying business objectives to be achieved by the project
* Defining Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for major milestone deliverables
* Defining high level role responsibilities for the WBS milestone
deliverables
* Defining activity plans for WBS milestone deliverables
* Estimating time durations and costs
* Defining Project budgets
* Making Project start-up plans
* Leading team members with varying personalities, skill sets and experience
* Analyzing project progress using control charts and earned value
* Leading Vendors, contractors/consultants
* Meeting quality requirements
* Supporting performance needs of team members
* Meeting schedule commitments
* Meeting customer needs
* Facilitating effective meetings
* Reporting to management
* Making trade-off decisions involving many project factors
Past participants say they developed skills in how to:
Develop Defensible Project Plans
* Define
project purpose, objectives, requirements, and constraints
* Build project schedules
* Plan resource allocation
* Manage project uncertainties
* Plan for quality
* Build justifiable budgets
Deal with
typical project situations:
* Design problems
* Vendor delays
* Specification changes
* Morale and personal issues
* Staff pull-aways
* Absenteeism
* Quality problems
* Resignations
* Overtime issues, etc.
Apply PM
Tools and Techniques to Effectively Plan, Track, and Control Projects
* Plan
* Trac/Control
* Understand the benefits and capabilities of project management software
Improve
Project Team Performance
* Understand how teams work within the dimensions
and stages of team development
* Assess team strengths and weaknesses
* Apply process observation and feedback
* Team-building methods
* Manage team differences
* Build team involvement, commitment, trust, and consensus
* Facilitate the team process-removing blockages, managing meetings,
problem-solving
Improve
Interpersonal Effectiveness
* Give and receive personal
feedback
* Understand your social/communication style
* Develop followership/knowing when to follow
* Influence the project process and outcomes
* Manage relationships beyond the project team
Analyze
Project Information and Report Status and Needs Clearly
* Establish a project control system to
manage work in progress
* Develop project control information – project metrics, reporting,
monitoring work, meetings, informal discussions – to predict project
variances
* Track and monitor direct and indirect measures of project objectives
* Balance attention to appropriate project detail while keeping an eye on
the big picture and outcomes
Make Complex
Project Trade-off Decisions
* Integrate
the best plans for resources, risk management, scheduling, quality
management, and costing to build a consistent project strategy
* Balance various resources available – contractors, internal staff,
vendors, technology, and training – with project requirements to optimize
implementation efforts
* Continuously prioritize work efforts during the project life cycle
* Evaluate alternatives to address project variances during implementation
and diagnosing the outcome of the alternatives selected
* Analyze project trade-offs during execution to achieve project priorities
* Accept and manage short-term consequences to ensure beneficial long-term
results
Decide When
to Focus on Task and When to Focus on Process
*
Understand the interrelationships, connections, and consequences of
project issues and subsequent project decisions during execution
* Address both task and process factors at appropriate times to address
project problems
* Build both people and work outcomes into project success criteria
Overall Benefit:
Participants develop deeper skills, understanding, and
appreciation of the true competence of project leaders: The ability to
integrate complex, underlying management, leadership, and teamwork systems
inherent in projects.
"The best learning experience I've ever attended ...
... well worth my time"
powered by a
Management Worlds ® Computer
Simulation
