Project Management

Success Factors in Project Management

Project based work is here to stay. Its effective and strategic management can and will determine profitability, sustainability and business success. Supporting the maturity of individual skill sets and organisational parameters in project management is, at this stage, a one-way street. Based on international best practices and global standards like PMI’s and ISO 21500, this training will reform and transform your project managers and their team in an unprecedented way.

The workshop, can be combined with individual Project Coaching for key players as well as Project Management Consulting for Stakeholders.

Project Management Essentials

Value of the seminar for the participants: Being able to plan and manage a small to medium size project.

Successful participants will be able to support the Managing team of their Organisation to select and evaluate projects. In addition, they will be able to plan a project and follow up their plans to successful execution. They will be able to manage a team and communicate with the project stakeholders.

The Seminar covers the following subjects:

  • Initiating a project
  • Planning a Project and specifically
    • Identifying Stakeholders and eliciting their requirements
    • Breakdown the project into work-packages
    • Schedule the work to be done
    • Minimize Threats and Maximize opportunities
    • Select the most appropriate contractors and manage the project contracts
  • Understand their responsibilities for executing the project and
  • Monitor & Control the project so they complete successfully on time, budget, specifications.
  • Complete the work and deliver the results to the appropriate entity.

The seminar follows the Best Practices of the Project Management Institute, the ISO 21500 Standard (Guidance on Project Management) and the PM2 European Methodology on Project Management.

Project Initiation Project Governance and Stakeholder Identification

Usually, projects are initiated when there is an issue to be resolved, or an opportunity to be captured. However, not all issues or opportunities are important enough to invest money, time and resources. So, it is important to evaluate if the project idea is aligned with the company vision, mission, priorities, if it is beneficial and if there are available resources and expertise to implement it efficiently. The appropriate project manager and team should be selected and the business environment and stakeholders should be taken into account. All the above belong to the initiating part of the project.

The participants of this seminar will be introduced to the initiating processes, through a series of best practice presentations and experiential workshops, as described below. In addition to that we are going to discuss the important issue of Project Governance.

Planning the work

Even a small project is a serious investment for the performing Organization. So, careful planning is important, in order to evaluate the ROI, to ensure control and to minimize project related risks. The team needs to understand the undertaken tasks and to be able to describe the work estimate the time and cost parameters.

Essential to this is the project analysis, using the “Work Breakdown Structure” or WBS, so the team can develop the Work Packages (WPs) needed to complete all the requirements. After the WPs are described, then we need to think about the time and cost in detail. The tool for that, is the Project Schedule. Project Scheduling consists of sequencing the work and estimating the durations of the activities we need to perform. Scheduling is combined with resource and cost estimation.

The participants of this seminar are going to experience the value of Work Breakdown Structure Analysis (WBS analysis), Creation of the Work Packages, Development of the Activities, Sequencing the Activities and estimating resources, duration and cost per activity.

Being Proactive in Project Management. Three important areas to invest in: Risk Management, Team Development and Procurement Management

Projects are related to uncertainty. Today’s environment is highly complex and volatile. As a result, every project has risks and will face a number of issues. The answer to that reality is to be proactive and prepared. We cover these issues with three highly focused seminars:

  1. Risk Management: Risks are uncertain events, that if they happen, they will have a positive (opportunities) or a negative (threats) effect on important project objectives. Successful participants of this seminar will be able to identify important opportunities and threats and then to develop strategies to maximize opportunities and minimize threats.
  2. Team Development: Each project is a team effort. The project team interactions, is a complex issue, and there are a lot of parameters that can improve or decrease the team’s performance. This is taken care of the team management and team development strategies. Successful participants of this seminar will be able to develop selection and development strategies for their project teams.
  3. Project Procurement is also a decisive factor of project success. Successful participants of this seminar will be able to plan procurement: What we need to procure, by whom, with what selection criteria, under what kind of contract and who is going to monitor and control all issues until the successful completion of the contract.