EFFECTIVE REQUIREMENTS OF DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT

Numerous studies have revealed roughly 40 percent of the cost of a project is related to poor requirements development and management.  If we consider a $5 million project, these studies indicate we are actually allocating $2 million dollars just to cover rework.  There is a better way.  We will show you how.

• Understanding and applying the Requirements Process
• Identifying and energizing stakeholders during requirements development
• Gathering, eliciting, documenting, and baselining good functional requirements
• Identifying needs vs. wants
• Identifying levels of requirements
• Applying applicable industry best practices in requirements development
• Developing requirements using “A Day in the life” or similar user focused approach
• Analyzing and negotiating requirements
• Prioritizing requirements to eliminate “gold plating”
• Validating requirements to satisfy stakeholder needs
• Creating requirements trees for collecting and managing hierarchical requirements
• Developing good performance based requirements (non-functional requirements)
• Decomposing requirements into component specifications and scope documents
• Developing quality requirements that can be acceptance tested
• Managing changes and tracking requirements

A COURSE IN RISK MANAGEMENT

• Risk and Organizational Culture
• The Risk Management Process
• Risk Analysis
• Attributes of good risk analysis
• Types and sources of risk
• Tools and techniques for identifying risks
• Integrated cost, schedule, and technical risk analysis
• Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis
• Good Decisions and Good Results
• Making decisions under uncertainty
• Probability based analysis
• Benefits of a decision analysis
• Using Expected Value to make decisions
• Utility as an index of worth
• Risk Response Development
• Contingency planning
• Risk avoidance techniques
• Risk response control

IMPROVING PERFORMANCE WITH EARNED VALUE ANALYSIS

• Understanding EVA and its components
• Applications and uses
• Trend Analysis
• Statistical significance: small and large projects
• Variance from plan
• Early response method
• Corrective action evaluations
• Comparison of variances
• Cost/schedule variance analysis and relative %
• Proactive management techniques
• Critical Path and Schedule Correlation to EVA
• Development of the schedule
• Activity and task relationships
• Critical Path
• Milestones and EVA
• Limitations and issues with EVA
• Creating a performance management system for a project and an organization
• Developing and interpreting multi-level variance reports based upon earned value management
• Using EVA in scheduling tools (ABT, Microsoft Project, Primavera)
• Earned Value and the Project Office

AN EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• Project management, "just another fad?"
• Increasing the bottom line profit
• Advantages and disadvantages of project management
• Applying project management in the organization
• Portfolio management and project management
• Explaining the portfolio, the program and the project relationships
• Maximizing assets, strategies, and resources
• Selecting and prioritizing projects
• Project management processes and principles
• Project Management as part of the business process
• Tools and techniques
• Project and Enterprise impact
• Project Management Reporting
• Pulse of project and enterprise health
• Proactive Management
• Common tools and techniques
• Project Management – Theory of Constraints
• Identifying the real problems
• Cause and effect relationships
• Project Management Competence
• The successful project professional
• The successful project team
• The successful project organization

PROJECT MANAGEMENT: AN OVERVIEW

• Understanding the relationship of projects to business
• The concept of business
• Projects in business
• The Guide to the PMBOK
• Defining a project
• Defining project management
• Organizational influences
• Project stakeholders
• Project selection process
• Benefits of project management
• Applying the project life cycle
• The project management processes
• Explaining the nine project management knowledge areas:
• Project Integration
• Project Scope Management
• Project Time Management
• Project Risk Management
• Project Communications Management
• Project Human Resource Management
• Project Procurement Management
• Project Cost Management
• Project Quality Management
• Utilizing common project templates

PROJECT PLANNING & SCHEDULING

The following topics are covered in a two to five day framework (length of class reflects the depth of coverage of material):

• Kicking off the project
• Determining the elements of the project plan
• Determining project rigor using risk analysis
• Creating communication plans
• Defining the project stages 
• Reviewing and incorporating the Scope Document
• Defining the project stakeholders and their role on the project
• Applying the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Preparing the Statement Of Work (SOW)
• Creating an Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) and Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)
• Applying resource management techniques to optimize schedules
• resource leveling
• crashing,
• fast tracking
• resource loading
• resource heuristics
• Prioritizing work efforts
• Estimating overall productive capacity of project team
• Utilizing network diagramming techniques to assist in schedule development
• Analyzing deadline dates and the risks involved
• Applying the Critical Path method and PERT Analysis Method
• Estimating budgets in terms of work days
• Assessing the impact of cumulative risks on the project
• Establishing customer acceptance and balancing constraints

PROJECT EXECUTION, CONTROL & CLOSE-OUT

• Project Execution
• Setting the project plan in motion
• Using diagnostic tools:  time/cost trade-offs, resource optimization
• Leading, communicating, negotiating, solving problems, influencing results
• Conducting skills assessments, holding status review meetings
• Practicing the dimensions of team work
• Making critical decisions regarding project status
• Utilizing work product reviews to monitor product quality
• Project Control
• Implementing and executing issues/change control processes
• Measuring and testing for quality control
• Implementing information management systems
• Using status reporting, status meetings, and program reviews and Earned Value
• Analyzing and modifying schedules
• Managing cost change control/ overall budget in terms of work days
• Implementing performance measurement/reporting systems
• Executing risk response and control
• Overall Change Control
• Creating and managing  a complex issues management structure and to utilize the structure to perform change management
• Utilizing a change management process to manage changes and change requests throughout the life of the project
• Determining the impact a change request has on the current project, future projects, and other projects currently in the project portfolio
• Project Close-Out
• Managing processes of project administrative and contract closure
• Archiving records, performing lessons learned, creating the final project performance report

PROJECT TEAMS & LEADERSHIP

• Understanding the dynamics of people and project teams; why they follow, why they don’t
• Leading vs managing the project
• Using the environment to influence success on a project
• Applying team building techniques to project scenarios
• Use of Bill of Rights
• SMART Goals
• Conflict Resolution (with customers, colleagues, team members)
• Building commitment among team members
• Developing negotiation skills
• Conducting effective meetings and briefings
• Co-managing projects
• Defining roles and responsibilities
• Avoiding confusion among team members
• Encouraging and building competence of individuals, teams, the organization
• Using rapid problem solving techniques such as brain storming and analytical hierarchies
• Operating in a political environment
• Building commitment among team members
• Utilizing the GPMG project manager development model

MULTI-PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• Defining multiple project stakeholders, their needs,  and their roles
• Managing multiple stakeholder demands
• Applying the project management life cycle to numerous projects at one time
• Managing resources and schedules on multiple projects
• Integrating requirements  and analyzing time/cost trade offs of multiple projects to obtain the optimal solution
• Understanding and managing cumulative risks on multiple projects
• Applying optimization techniques to multiple projects to maximize the organizations goals, not necessarily the project goals
• Applying the standardized Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Appling schedule development  and resource management techniques for multiple projects

COMPLEX PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• Defining the multi-staged complex project
• Understanding and applying the project management life cycle to complex situations
• Creating the management plan
• Defining and analyzing  the project stakeholders, their roles, and the relationships
• Using planning packages
• Understanding estimating errors in complex projects
• Using the Earned Value Method
• Assessing and managing risks on complex projects
• Information management on large projects
• Making critical decisions regarding success and project trade-offs
• Managing multiple Work Breakdown Structures (WBS) on complex projects
• Creating an Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) and Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) for complex projects
• Appling schedule development techniques
• Utilizing methods for resource allocation and cost estimating/budgeting to develop a plan for cost control and management
• Analyzing time/cost trade-offs on large projects
• Applying cost management philosophies to complex projects
• Using the WEB to manage project information
• Managing contracts (solicitation, selection, and execution)
• Using lessons learned to improve the project management processes

PMP EXAM PREPARATION

The course provides insights into what the certification exam covers.  It goes over key concepts that are likely to be included in the examination.  It also provides tips and numerous exercises on how individuals should prepare for the exam. Specifically, the course will cover each of the nine PMBOK Guide knowledge areas with suggested readings to augment each knowledge area:

• Project Integration Management
• Project Scope Management
• Project Time Management
• Project Cost Management
• Project Quality Management
• Project Human Resource Management
• Project Communications Management
• Project Risk Management
• Project Procurement Management

In addition, the application of these knowledge areas as they relate to the five project management processes of initiating, planning, executing, closing, and controlling will be covered in some detail.

INTEGRATED PROBLEM SOLVING & DECISION MAKING

• Applying ASQ Lean Six Sigma concepts and principles to problem identification and problem solving.
• Properly identifying and categorizing problems.
• Determining the magnitude, probability of occurrence, and impact to the surrounding environment of the identified problem.
• Assessing the data and determining what potential alternatives should be considered.
• Developing business cases and assessing the financial impact of the recommended solution.
• Exercising leadership responsibility regarding problem identification and problem solving.