For more information email info@ifonlytraining.com
Home / Course / Project Management Principles for Engineers

Project Management Principles for Engineers

Introduction

This 3 day programme gives an in depth insight into the skills needed by a project manager. The programme draws upon industry best practise from a variety of market sectors The programme utilises a combination of lecture based learning, practical exercises and peer level discussion in order to drive home the essential concepts and practise of project management.

Who Should Attend

Participants who are, or about to be, engaged in or running a project will be able to boost their contribution to a successful project outcome as a result of attending this course.

Benefits

As a result of participation the delegates should be able to::

  • Describe the six key tasks of project management
  • Determine whether a project is heading for failure and is missing some critical success factors.
  • Judge if the scope of the project is bounded.
  • Assess the work definition, estimating, scheduling, reviewing, earned value measurement and risk management processes used on the project.
  • Evaluate the extent to which the project covers motivating, reporting and conferring.
  • Select and develop methodologies included in the course to improve the performance of your project.

The programme explores in detail the critical areas of project management focus in order to assure project success: Topics specifically addressed in the programme are:

  • Project Management Definition
  • Scoping
  • Work Definition
  • Estimating and Costing
  • Scheduling
  • Controlling and Reviewing principles
  • Reviewing and Controlling Schedules
  • Risk Management
  • Leadership and Motivation
  • Conferring

These are expanded in the programme outline below.

Advanced Project Management – Programme Outline – Day 1

Programme Topics

Learning Outcomes
Project Management Context
  • What is a project?
  • What is project management?
  • Project management imperatives
  • Project, product and other life cycles
  • Life cycle processes
  • The six key tasks of project management
 Define a project and project management

Compare the differing forms of project life cycle with the full product life cycle

Evaluate a life cycle process for your project

Describe the six key tasks
Why Projects Fail
  • Examples of failure
  • Commercial project failure metrics
  • Commercial project failure causes
  • Defence project failure enquiry findings
  • Project failure cause summary
  • Opportunities for recovery
  • Critical success factors
  • Alignment of critical success factors and the six key tasks of project management
 Identify project failure

Recognize the extent of project failure

Evaluate whether projects are heading in the direction of failure

Judge the optimum time for project recovery

Structure projects to succeed
Scoping
  • Capturing customer and user needs, wants and dreams to determine project scope
  • Converting needs, want and dreams to Essentials, Aims and Wishes
  • Managing Essentials, Aims and Wishes
  • Progressive elaboration of candidate solutions
  • Agreeing the architecture of a solution
  • Managing scope change
 Describe a process for agreeing project Essentials, Aims and Wishes

Plan to control project requirements

Discriminate between candidates to arrive at an agreed solution

Plan the route to project closure

 

Advanced Project Management – Programme Outline – Day 2

Programme Topics

Learning Outcomes
Planning – Work Definition
  • Work break down structures
  • Determining the project work breakdown structure
  • Aligning work and organisation breakdown structures
  • Work break down change management
 Describe work breakdown

Formulate a work break down and control account structure

Integrate changes into the project
Planning – Estimating and Costing
  • Estimating quantity of work to convert work package inputs to outputs
  • Handling assumptions and risks
  • Two stage estimate appraisal
  • Top down estimate appraisal
  • Prices costs and budgets
 Operate a qualitative integrated risk and opportunity management process
Planning – Scheduling
  • Activity definition and sequencing
  • Deliverables and milestones
  • Activity durations
  • Scheduling methods
  • Shortening a schedule
 Integrate scheduling with work definition and costing

Select appropriate project milestones

Judge the most suitable scheduling method for your project

Evaluate how to or how not to shorten your project schedule
Reviewing / Controlling – Reviewing
  • Review process
  • What to review regularly
  • What to review periodically
 Judge whether a review has been successful and decide what to do if it hasn’t

Decide when to review what
Reviewing / Controlling – Schedules
  • Types and objectives of schedule reviews
  • Who should attend which reviews
  • Schedule review agenda
 Plan and organize motivating and informative schedule reviews

 

Advanced Project Management – Programme Outline – Day 3

Programme Topics

Learning Outcomes
Reviewing / Controlling – Earned Value Measurement
  • Budgets and actual and committed costs
  • Earned value and budgeted cost or work scheduled
  • Measures of cost and schedule variance and work an cost to project completion
  • Project financial performance dashboard
 Evaluate project progress by comparing hard financial performance information with softer information from schedule and other reviews
Reviewing / Controlling – Risk Management
  • Risk and opportunity concepts
  • Qualitative and quantitative risk and opportunity assessment
  • Risk and opportunity management process
  • Risk and opportunity spreadsheet
 Operate a qualitative integrated risk and opportunity management process
Motivating
  • Why motivation matters
  • Project manager task and team roles
  • Project manager leadership characteristics
  • Town meetings to complement reviews
  • Groups, teams and super teams
 Explain the dramatic effect of improved motivation

Evaluate how to effectively devote time to differing roles and develop strengths for leadership and motivation

Distinguish between informal and formal motivating opportunities

Facilitate the construction of high performing work teams
Reporting
  • Need for reporting and communication
  • Communications plan and matrix
  • Report format, distribution and release
  • Summary reporting for stakeholders
  • Advantages of using a balanced scorecard
 Implement a communications plan serving the needs of all those involved with or observing the project
Conferring
  • Why confer as well as report?
  • Keeping the project sold
  • Customer and user feedback
  • Managing stakeholder community changes
  • The power of using gurus
 Make well informed decisions that are easy to implement