The perfect project!

Overview

Over the past ten years more than 7,000 people have benefited from attending open or in-house versions of this very successful and popular two-day introduction to project management.

Training objectives

By the end of this course the participants will be able to:
  • Use a standardised framework for defining, planning and controlling projects
  • Appreciate the role(s) they play and define other people’s contribution to the project management process
  • Identify, manage and reduce risks within all types of project work
  • Use a range of tools with wide application, beyond formal projects

Audience

This two-day event will benefit anyone engaged in a project, particularly:

  • Project managers
  • Project team members
  • Staff who will soon be working on a project
  • Those with little project experience
  • Those who would benefit from a ‘refresher’

The programme is particularly appropriate to organisations which are operating outside the traditional project management environments and / or which do not have formalised project management processes or methodologies.

Format

This is a highly practical two-day programme, which involves:

  • Pre-course activity to be brought to the event (a brief activity to complete before the course to get the participants thinking about their involvement in projects)
  • Brief presentations from the expert trainer
  • Application of a practical project management methodology
  • Work on a case study
  • Discussions on current project management issues
  • Individual action planning

The training can be supported by any or all of the following materials and resources:

  • A training guide that supports participants during the course and can be a constant source of reference afterwards
  • Project Management Tips – an ’e-book’ delivered to each participant by email after the course
  • Project management templates – also by email
  • Access to a free email course
  • A free copy of Deliver That Project, a step-by-step guide on how to deliver your projects successfully
  • Access to a telephone help-line

Special features

A written course outline cannot do justice to this programme, so if you are tempted by it but want to see it in action first, why not ‘try before you buy’? The expert trainer runs his own consultancy, which presents open programmes on a regular basis, so if you want to sample the course first just give us a call and we will put you in touch.

The expert trainer

Ron is a highly qualified (BA (Hons), MCIPD, MPSA, PRINCE2™ Practitioner) independent consultant in project management. Formerly a Senior Training Adviser with Prudential Assurance, where he ran a range of development activities including project management events, he has been running his own successful consultancy for well over ten years, specialising in helping individuals and organisations deliver projects effectively.

Ron has delivered project management training and workshops to a wide range of organisations and at all levels (including boards of directors), always focusing on the need to demystify project management. He has developed a unique methodology for producing in-house project management systems, has coached individual project managers and worked with project teams. Ron has written extensively on project management and spoken at numerous conferences and professional association meetings.

His client list is particularly strong in the public and higher education sectors, although he also has many other clients in financial services, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, media, charities and professional bodies. Whatever the sector, the feedback from his training is uniformly excellent, eg:

‘Fabulous - best training I've attended. Great tutor and excellent study materials.’ AJ

‘The pace and content of the course were great – something difficult to get right when there is a range of abilities and knowledge within the group.’
CPCR

‘Course was well presented and pitched at the right level for all abilities of those present.’
English Heritage

Course outline

  1. Project initiation
    • Developing a business case
    • Benefits
    • Outputs from the project
    • Initial risks
  2. Project definition
    • Identifying relevant roles in the project management process
    • Stakeholder analysis
    • Having clear success criteria
    • Identifying the tensions – quality, cost or time
    • Having clear project objectives
    • Risk analysis
  3. Planning delivery
    • Work breakdown structure
    • Estimating time and cost
    • Gantt and milestone charts
    • Critical path analysis
  4. Delivery
    • Reporting – how?
    • Dealing with variations
    • Loose v tight control – how will the project be controlled?
    • Producing a robust monitoring and control system
  5. Project close down and review
    • Project review – how did we do?
    • Did we achieve our objective and meet our success criteria?
    • What did we learn and what lessons can be shared with others in the organisation?
    • Formally closing the project
  6. Review and close