Project Planning and Management

 

Delivery: 3-day workshop or onsite coaching

The lack of good project planning and management can lead to delays, cost overruns, unexpected obstacles and countless inefficiencies.

This workshop will illustrate how organizations can substantially reduce cost and schedule overruns, alleviate the chaos caused by over-commitment, and better understand and track the status of projects.

The techniques presented* are applied in the session to your current project work. (See testimonials.)


Project planning is a solid foundation for improving the development and maintenance processes.

 

In this workshop, senior managers, project managers and team members work together to develop plans, schedules and estimates. They also improve their abilities to identify and manage risks, negotiate, track and review accomplishments, and improve communication.

Once implemented, the practices taught will lead to:

  • better alignment of project goals and expectations
  • improved accuracy in estimation and scheduling
  • the ability to work with fixed deadlines
  • improved communication between management and the project team
  • a team approach to project planning that involves all relevant personnel

This workshop ties in directly with the Project Planning related sections of CMMI Level 2, and includes The Process Group's one-day estimation workshop.

 

 

WORKSHOP CONTENT

The workshop introduction addresses the importance and purpose of project planning. Managers and project personnel get a detailed idea of what can and should be achieved in the planning stage.

Those attending this workshop will learn how to implement successful project management within their organization. The topics covered include:

  • identifying the major components of a project plan
  • establishing requirements and negotiating goals
  • developing a work breakdown structure (WBS)
  • determining risks and setting priorities
  • formulating accurate estimates and schedules
  • negotiating and aligning commitments
  • measuring progress and refining the plan
  • conducting project status and phase reviews to communicate status


BENEFITS OF PROJECT PLANNING

Effective project planning provides a wide variety of direct and indirect benefits:

  • realistic customer expectations are set through better alignment and negotiation
  • chaos associated with over commitment is reduced
  • realistic deadlines are set and met
  • potential problems are identified early and minimized
  • management and project teams become more aware of each other's concerns and expectations
  • intra-organization communication is improved
  • a foundation for process improvement is created

This workshop is essential for any organization that not only wishes to initiate effective improvements in its planning and development process, but also wants to safeguard its chances for long-term success.

WORKSHOP AGENDA


THE PROCESS GROUP

In addition to this 3-day workshop, The Process Group offers a broad range of services that are designed to improve your development process. We are authorized SEI appraisal leaders and provide consulting services that enable you to operate your organization more efficiently and profitably. We also offer public speaking engagements that help management and employees understand the various techniques for--and benefits of--improving the development process.


* This workshop was originally developed for software project teams. It has been used successfully for IT, systems and hardware projects.


© The Process Group