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Training Services → Beyond the Basics®
Advanced Techniques in Project Management
The Problem
Most project management training today is either introductory in nature or focused on helping students to pass an exam. While PM certification certainly has its merits, training of this kind generally does NOT prepare anyone for the significant issues that project managers routinely face in real world projects. Experienced project managers already know the basics; they need insights into the more difficult challenges that they face every day in truly complex and high profile projects.
The Solution
Advanced Techniques in Project Management (ATPM) is a novel advanced project management training program that begins where most PM training ends. This course of training assumes that attendees are familiar with the PMBOK® and that they have substantial project management experience. The goal of this program is no less than to raise the bar and bring attendees' project management practice to a new and much more effective level. This is accomplished by providing students with hands-on training in a series of advanced concepts, tools and techniques, and best practice that have been shown to drive project success.
The Program
ATPM is advanced PM training composed of an initial 2-day course, Foundation for Project Success, followed by a series of workshops, each of which lasts 1 or 2 days. Foundation for Project Success establishes both context and framework for the workshops that follow. During this course, many of the most significant issues in current project management practice are raised and solutions are proposed for each. These solutions are examined in detail in the workshops. This format allows participants to start with the Big Picture and then focus on solutions for the specific issues that they most commonly encounter during their projects.
Class format is truly multimodal, with a mixture of exercises, simulations, group discussions, individual discovery and lecture. Ample time is provided for hands-on exercises, class discussion and application of advanced concepts to real-world problems. At the end of this course, even highly experienced practitioners can walk away with a long list of actionable steps they can use to bring success to their projects.
Who should attend
This program can benefit project managers and team leads who are looking for guidance that is not found in the standard project management curriculum, as well as managers of project mangers; functional managers with project responsibility; and Project Management Office staff.
Prerequisites
This program of training assumes experience in the role of project manager. It is not required that attendees complete any specific project management course in advance of the program, but completion of Effective Project Management or Project Management for Technical Professionals is helpful (see the Project Foundations curriculum).
Training Program Outline
3010-01 Foundation for Project Success – 2 days
This course is a prerequisite for all ATPM workshops. Any combination of ATPM workshops may be packaged together with the Foundations course. We can help you to create a curriculum that best suits your organization's needs. Topics covered during this two day course include:
- Project Portfolio Management as the underlying context
- How projects support strategy
- Project and product lifecycles
- Projects as Business Value Delivery machines
- The project as seen through many eyes
- Expanding the role of the project manager
- Where Project Success comes from
- How each project role contributes to success
- Moving beyond the "science" of PM
- Knowing your stakeholders
- Importance of managing expectations
- Organizational Adoption
- Project Stewardship
- Defining success and assigning accountability
- Articulating issues; Proposing solutions
- Project Management as part of a bigger picture
- Next steps
Workshops
- 3010-10 Stakeholders – Identification and management
- 3010-11 Requirements Definition for the PM – In depth look at a vital process
- 3010-12 Organizational Change Management – Overcoming resistance to change
- 3010-13 Earned Value – Turning on the Lights
- 3010-14 Project Cost – Keeping cost in check
- 3010-15 Project Leadership – Getting the best out of people
- 3010-16 Project Risk – Finding opportunities
- 3010-18 Transition – Delivering the goods
Program Packages
The following pre-defined program packages are available:
- 3010-50 ATPM: Focus on Project Cost Containment (4 days)
- Foundation for Project Success
- Project Cost
- Earned Value
- 3010-55 ATPM: Focus on People in Projects (7 days)
- Foundation for Project Success
- Stakeholders
- Organizational Change Management
- Project Leadership
- 3010-60 ATPM: Focus on Project Delivery (5 days)
- Foundation for Project Success
- Transition
- Organizational Change Management
Learning Approach
- A highly experienced instructor will use interactive lecture format, numerous hands-on exercises, team activities, group discussions, individual discovery and other techniques to drive home the essential points of this material.
- We will build on your prior experience in this topic, while providing you with numerous advanced tools and techniques that you can put to use as soon as you get home.
- You will receive a Student Guide for each section of the program. These guides will help you follow the material, take notes and retain what you learned so that you can apply it on your job.
- Training includes instruction in the use of advanced Project Management templates.
Why should I take this course?
- Find solutions to problems that you face in your projects every day.
- The exercises in this project course will give you the hands on experience you need to put the tools presented to immediate use.
- Any experienced project manager can obtain insights that should help them solve common and persistent problems.
- All participants take home a set of tools and techniques to help them deal with all aspects of project planning and execution.
- Take this Project Management course and learn how to avoid the problems that business managers most often encounter in their projects.
- Project Management Training presents a variety of concepts that can make you more effective in almost any work that you do.
ATPM Workshop Details
All workshops last 1 or 2 days. The course Foundation for Project Success is a prerequisite for all workshops.
3010-10 Stakeholders – Identification and management (1 day)
A technically perfect project can still fail if the customer is not pleased. As project managers we must put on our best customer relations hat and learn the techniques that help us to identify, understand and manage our key stakeholders. This workshop presents those techniques.
- Stakeholder identification
- Communities analysis
- Stakeholder support analysis
- Stakeholder profiles
- Communication Plan
- Good Meetings Practice
- Effective Expectations Management
[ Back to Workshops List ]
3010-11 Requirements Definition for the PM: An in-depth look at a vital process (1 day)
We all understand that without complete and correct requirements our chances of project success are slim at best. This workshop details the steps that are necessary for successful requirements elicitation, documentation and control. All material is IIBA® compliant (see www.iiba.com)
- The Requirements Definition Process
- Roles and responsibilities
- The Requirements Management Plan
- Requirements elicitation and refinement: Tools and Techniques
- Meeting facilitation
- Categories of requirements
- Challenges in Requirements Elicitation
- Business analyst contribution to management of the project
- Requirements analysis activities and tools
- Validation and Verification objectives and techniques
- Documenting requirements
- Requirements management
- Solution assessment activities by project phase
[ Back to Workshops List ]
3010-12 Organizational Change Management – Overcoming resistance to change (2 days)
Technical projects tend to create organizational change. When reaction to change is not taken into account, otherwise perfect projects can abruptly become severely challenged as users refuse to adopt new tools, business process or other project output. This workshop explains how to plan technical projects so that Organizational Adoption of project deliverables is a key component.
- Impact of organizational change in technical projects
- Resistance to change
- Causes of poor organizational change management
- What happens when resistance to change is not managed well
- How not to manage resistance to change
- Create a Framework for Change
- Organizational change toolkit
- The Organizational Adoption Plan
- Managing organizational change as a project
- Conducting a Readiness Assessment
- Implementing the Organizational Adoption Plan
- Building acceptance of change
- Post-Implementation steps
[ Back to Workshops List ]
3010-13 Earned Value – Turning on the Lights (1 day) We have all heard that Earned Value (EV) makes accurate project status and accurate cost and schedule forecasting possible. However, EV has a reputation for being a bear to implement and use. Fortunately, this does not have to be the case. This project management workshop explains how to implement Earned Value in a simple manner so that it can be used in almost any project.
- Value of EVM
- Use of EVM in monitoring projects
- EVM terminology
- Project performance statistics
- Forecasting
- Planning to use EVM
- WBS as EVM foundation
- Building a schedule that supports EVM
- EV measurement baseline
- Measuring Earned Value
- Project cost baseline
- Impact of project change on use of EVM
- Monitoring project performance
- The Cost performance index (cpi)
- The Schedule performance index (spi)
- Forecasting final cost and schedule results
- Implementing EVM in your projects
[ Back to Workshops List ]
3010-14 Project Cost – Keeping cost in check (1 day) Every project is an investment. As such, it is essential that cost be kept to a minimum as one step in maximizing project return. This PM workshop explains how to work with project cost from the point of early cost estimates through execution of the project. Attendees leave with critically important tools that can be used in any project.
- Cost planning
- Effective estimation
- Preliminary and detailed budgets
- Budget components
- Managing baselines
- Change management
- Setting and changing baselines
- Predicting cost
- Earned Value forecasting
- Phase gates
- Cost control
[ Back to Workshops List ]
3010-15 Project Leadership – Getting the best out of people (2 days)
All of us intuitively understand the value of good leadership. In our profession, we have found that a project manager's skill as leader is one of the primary indicators of how successful his or her projects are likely to be. Leadership is critical in project management. This workshop helps attendees understand the essential characteristics of the good leader and helps attendees to see how they can strengthen their leadership skills.
- Characteristics of Manager vs. Leader
- Roles and Responsibilities Clarity
- Leading Virtual / Matrix Teams
- Situational Leadership
- Conflict Resolution and Management
- Coaching and Mentoring
- Delegation
- Communications Leadership
- Strategic Planning and Change
- Motivation and Inspiration
[ Back to Workshops List ]
3010-16 Project Risk – Finding opportunities (1 day) The PMBOK® makes it clear: risk can be negative or positive. If this is true, why do we tend to find many more threats in our projects than opportunities? Is it the case that opportunity is rare in projects? Or are we simply unable to recognize them when they appear? This workshop digs deep into the nature of risk and reveals that, while opportunities are actually common in projects, they may not be where we tend to look. Attendees are shown how to identify and exploit project opportunities.
- An updated model of risk
- Sources of risk
- Risk identification techniques
- Risk register for opportunities and threats
- Issue management
- Secondary risk
- Calculating the Contingency Reserve
- Seven Step Method for Finding Opportunity
[ Back to Workshops List ]
3010-18 Transition – Delivering the goods (1 day)
Every project is done to create some form of Business Value (BV). However, BV is generally not produced until after the project has been completed. Nevertheless, in order to maximize BV delivery we must plan and execute projects using delivery of Business Value a guiding principle. This workshop explains how to do this by defining and using a new project phase that spans project and product lifecycles: Transition.
- The product lifecycle
- Overview of the Transition process
- Transition Roles and Responsibilities
- Aspects of Transition in a typical IT project
- Preparing for Transition
- Implementation - Executing the handoff
- The post-delivery checkup
- Reporting the results to management
- Mapping your current Transition process
- Using the Transition Checklist to evaluate your current process
- Complete a Transition Plan for an ongoing project
- Critical Success Factors for Transition
[ Back to Workshops List ]
Every course and workshop in our Project Training program is fully customizable. We can deliver the training program you need onsite and at an attractive discount. Call us toll free in the US at 1.800.877.8129, or +1.919.495.7371 International.
All Project Management training courses from CVR/IT Consulting are fully compliant with the latest release of each relevant PMI® standards document such as the PMBOK®, Standard for Portfolio Management, and others.
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Course Information
Course ID: 3010
Duration: Initial course, Foundation for Project Success, lasts 2 days. Students may then choose from any of the workshops in the ATPM program.
Class size: 6 - 24
Includes:
· PMP® certified instruction
· Student Guide
· Participation Certificate
· 12 PDUs for Foundation for Project Success
· 6 or 12 PDUs for each follow-up workshop completed
Download this course description as a printable PDF document.
Pricing Information
On-site discounts are available.
Ready to enroll?
Fill out the Training Request Form online or call 1-800-877-8129
(+1 919-495-7371)
Questions? Please feel free to Contact Us
Training Providers:
License this courseware! Call 1-800-877-8129
(+1 919-495-7371) for more information.
Discounts for New Customers!
For a limited time, first-time customers will receive a 20% discount on the cost of any course or workshop. Click here for details.
Announcing 30% off any second course!
For a limited time, any customer can receive a 33% discount on the second of two courses or workshops. Click here for details.
Public Session Training
Many of our courses are available in public sessions at training facilities around the US. Check out Fast Lane, our partners in training.
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