The Accidental Project Manager

Home Courses Our Courses The Accidental Project Manager

- The Accidental Project Manager -

Course Overview

Throughout almost every Australian organisation, project management skills are needed to improve the day-to-day processes of their operations. Have your managers and employees worked in a project team, or managed a small project? If so, this course is about giving employees solid knowledge of the basics of project management, including “managing small-project” techniques.

During this practical course, participants learn how to apply project management methodologies that cover all of the critical steps in a project management life cycle; including how to plan, organise and accomplish projects with ease, using proven project management processes and structures.

The Accidental Project Manager training is valuable for people who need to use project management at work. Everyone will leave this course with templates, tools and processes to help them understand and manage projects and incorporate these techniques into their work activities.

Key Learning Outcomes

Why having basic project management skills are critical for today’s managers and employees
What are the key characteristics of all projects?
Understanding the key terms and stages
Defining key project stakeholders
The key attributes of a project manager
The responsibilities of the project manager
Identification and analysis of key stakeholders
The importance of project planning
Discovering the elements of a project scope
Developing a Work Breakdown Structure

Establishing the project schedule and baseline
The triple constraints that affect all projects
Using GANTT charts and scheduling tools
Effective techniques for estimating work
How to avoid project “scope creep”
The best way to track progress and variances
Developing a project risk matrix
The importance of effective project reporting
How to end your project
Project handover to the client and close the project

Training Outline

Morning Session

The benefits of project management
The differences between projects and programs
Characteristics of a well-defined project
Essential project management terminology
The project management organisational structure
Aligning project objectives with business objectives
Setting the project’s objectives and goals
Scope definition and requirements for a project
The 5 stages of a successful project explained
Defining the scope of every project (in terms of business, technical, and operational objectives)
Understanding the critical concept of the “triple constraint”
An introduction to time-cost-scope trade-offs
The project management lifecycle
Learn the various phases within each project
The planning phase
How to effectively define a project
Developing a series of “conditions of satisfaction”
Create a POS (project statement of work)
The cornerstone of project management – the work breakdown structure (WBS)
The importance of the WBS
Best practice approaches for using a WBS
The correct way of creating your WBS
Criteria to verify the accuracy of your WBS.
Project scheduling – estimating the work
An introduction to project “work packages”
How to identify critical stages and milestones
Accurately schedule project tasks and activities
How to properly estimate time and cost under uncertainty

Afternoon Session

Risk estimating and mitigation using proven risk assessment tools
How to balance the needs of the project while taking risks into consideration
Using Excel® for project charts, diagrams and project tools
GANTT charts for measuring and monitoring each project (Excel® templates included)
What are the PERT charts and CPM diagrams
Defining every project’s “critical path”
What is a critical path
Meetings, reports and change controls
An overview of a project meeting
An introduction to typical status reports
How to manage project stakeholder expectations.
Using charts and diagrams
Project meetings’ reporting and documentation
Project modification – change management
The project closeout
The essential steps in closing a project
Signing off on the project’s deliverables
Getting your client’s final approval
The initial handover
The post-implementation audit
Formal acceptance
Documenting the project
Securing final approvals and buy-ins
Finalising any outstanding obligations
Conducting post-implementation reviews

Training Options

We realise every client is different. You may have only half a dozen people to train, or perhaps you’re running a conference and want a guest speaker or a trainer to undertake a high impact, short breakout session.

Whatever you have in mind, we want to help you achieve your training goals. Let’s start a conversation and find out what’s happening at your place and what you want your people to be able to do differently as a result of training. If you’re on a tight budget, we get that as well. Rest assured, we are good listeners, and we are here to help you achieve your outcomes.