Project Management

Learn to be a Project Manager

Project Managers assess, plan, organise, and manage resources. 

Their role is to direct old and new work, and to deliver goods and services to a specification and within a pre-determined timeframe.  They are necessary in almost every discipline, in fields as diverse as event planning, teaching, architecture, and medical practice. This intensive project management short course will teach you how to effectively negotiate time frames, plan budgets, assign the right people to the right roles, and more through six structured lessons.

Lesson Structure

There are 6 lessons in this course:

1. NATURE AND SCOPE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
   • The role of a project manager.
   • Definitions.
   • Characteristics of a project.
   • Stages of a project.
   • Where is project management applied?
   • Types of project management.
   • Types of project management offices.
   • Project types.
   • State of the art.
   • Static management.
   • What is a project?
   • What is a stakeholder?
2. RISK AND UNCERTAINTY
   • What is risk?
   • Some seek risk.
   • The importance of a business case.
   • The feasibility study.
   • Risk identification.
   • A Business case
   • Feasibility studies
3. MAINTAINING CONTROL THROUGHOUT THE PROJECT
   • Tools for control.
   • Benchmarking
   • Practical ways to stay in tune
   • Procedures
   • GANTT charts
   • Using Critical Path Analysis
   • Wok Project sheets
   • Audits
   • Job descriptions
   • Staff timetables
   • Staff meetings, assessments, incentives
   • Staff support - Counselling, Staff social programme, social media, etc
   • When and where control needs to be exercised.
   • Nine steps to successful project planning.
   • Social media and project management
4. INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
   • What is communication?
   • Communication systems and techniques.
   • Setting up communications systems in projects.
   • Active listening.
   • Finding the right staff.
   • Active listening
   • Staff projects
5. THE END GAME
   • Reviews are costly.
   • Phase/Milestone reviews
   • How to approach a project review
   • Appraise future development opportunities
   • Record, review, report
   • Keep report meeting positive
   • Disposal of left over assets
   • Virtual project management
   • Scope creep in projects
6. GOLDEN RULES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
   • 15 important rules
   • Is project management just common sense
   • Should I be a project manager
   • FINAL ASSESSMENT

Who is this course for?

• People who need to manage projects but have not undertaken any formal training
• Landscapers, builders, developers
• Event managers, inventors, planners
• Contractors - anyone who contracts to do a job is in effect project managing that job

There are formal, well established ways of going about managing projects. These are tried and proven, and risks of failure or complications, are minimised when you understand and follow the techniques which a course like this can teach you.

A 20 hour course like this will alone, not teach you to be an elite project manager, but it will give you a sound framework upon which yo build experience and skills, and also reduce the risk of making catastrophic decisions in managing any project you need to work on.