2 DAY TRAINING
THE BASICS OF PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
BASICS of Project management
1.1. Objectives
All participants will learn about project-based working by getting hands-on experience of a number of techniques. The training is aimed at making participants capable of defining a clear project goal, preparing the project, designing a clear plan, assessing risks, identifying stakeholders and planning how to work with them, ensuring the project is correctly monitored and making adjustments where necessary and finally evaluating a project and analysing the ‘lessons learned’ for the following project.
During the two days of training, several aspects of project managers’ leadership skills will be trained. There are no specific modules dedicated to these topics since leadership occurs in all stages of a project (Getting resources; Involving team members in planning; Communicating clearly on objectives, milestones, scope and tasks; making sure that tasks are executed properly through good delegation; Rewarding team members).
1.2. Technical aspects (2 days)
1.2.1.
Introduction - What is a project? And what is project
management?
- Definition of a project
- Success and fail factors of a project - The role of the Project manager - The 4 phases of every project
1.2.2.
Phase 1: the start-up phase – the foundation for a successful
project
o Which actors play a role in project work? What is the specific role and task of a customer? And of a project manager? And of the project team?
o What does the customer want?
o EXERCISE: ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
Using a practical situation participants carry out a root cause analysis to identify various options and to propose possible projects.
o Formulate clear objectives: how is a project goal defined. Clarification of the problem. The SMART project goal.
o EXERCISE: FORMULATING OBJECTIVES
By means of a practical case study, participants are given the task of formulating the objective. The techniques for formulating a clear objective are applied and the participants gain a clear insight into what should and should not be included in an objective.
o The Project Charter
1.2.3.
Phase 2: The planning phase – who does what when.
Backgrounds when creating a project plan in terms of the goal,
need, approach, completing a project plan.
o Characteristics of good milestones
o The POST-IT process as a method for developing a milestone plan
o EXERCISE: SETTING MILESTONE PLANS IN A TEAM FOR A FICTITIOUS CASE STUDY
The participants are given another case study to which they apply the POST-IT process to come up with a milestone plan. The group then evaluates this milestone plan to see whether it meets the characteristics of good milestones.
o Defining the scope
o The Work Breakdown structure
o EXERCISE: OWN PROJECT: DRAWING UP OBJECTIVES AND MILESTONE PLANS AND EVALUATING THE WORK OF OTHERS
This exercise is generally given as homework to start the following training day with an evaluation of everyone’s work. The participants now work with their own project and in doing so apply what they have learned so far.
o Mapping responsibilities and network analysis o Building a Gantt chart
o Preparing a cost estimate
o Determining the critical path + estimating the duration o EXERCISE: INTEGRATED PLANNING EXERCISE
information can be used to prepare a detailed project plan with optimised planning and budgeting of the plan.
o Risk management: solving problems proactively. Identifying risks and preparing possible actions.
o How does the planning phase end? How brief or extensive should a project plan be? How do you formalise the project plan?
1.2.4.
Phase 3: Starting the implementation, the kick-off meeting (who
takes part, what is the purpose and how do you make it a
success)
o From kick-off to acceptance
o REPETITION EXERCISE: FILM ABOUT PROJECT MANAGEMENT: THE WORLD RECORD
A short film about an attempt to break a world record summarises the training session: participants note what they have gained from the training.
o The project organisation: roles & responsibilities o EXERCISE: GROUP DISCUSSION
In a group discussion, we map the different responsibilities: who does what in the project organisation. And what to expect from each other.
o Start-up meeting of a project team: how do you approach it
o Rolling wave planning and effective to-do lists: define tasks and monitor implementation in a motivated manner together with the team
o Holding effective team meetings
o EXERCISE: NEGATIVE BRAINSTORMING & ROLE-PLAY
In a negative brainstorming session participants look at what a meeting can disturb or what irritates participants. We use role-play to look for possible solutions.
o Reporting: what should be included in a report? o Hot-button issues and the task of the project manager o Keeping the devil’s triangle in balance
o Monitoring, adjustment and control o Help: too much work
Delegate & control o Help: too much work
Combining a project and operational tasks.
1.2.5.
Phase 4: The closing phase – the importance and value of this
phase
o Why close? o How to close?
o EXERCISE: CREATIVE CLOSING
Creativity is important throughout the entire project process. Even at the close.
Participants are given a brainstorming task: how can the project managers ensure that the end of their project can represent a good start for a new project?
o How to evaluate the project and the team? o EXERCISE: SELF-EVALUATION
The participants evaluate facts they have brought from their own experience. o Drawing up an individual action plan
