Description
Projects represent much of the work done in today’s organizations. Unfortunately, many organizations devote valuable resources, including employees’ time, to poorly conceived and implemented projects that do not achieve meaningful goals or are never completed. In fact, a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers found that fewer than 3% of companies successfully completed all of their projects. The effects of poorly conceived and implemented projects can be devastating to company success. The Harvard Business Review reported that the failure of IT projects in the United States costs $50 to $150 billion each year. Effective project management is essential if organizations are to succeed in today’s rapidly changing and highly competitive environment.
Learning to manage projects effectively not only benefits your organization, it benefits you. Today’s organizations rely on employees who can carry a project through from inception to completion, on time and on budget, making a more efficient use of resources and achieving a quality outcome. Thus, being able to manage projects successfully makes you more valuable to your organization and improves your career prospects by providing you with a critical skill.
Course Objectives
Successful completion of this course will increase your ability to:
- Carry out the four stages of a project.
- Understand what makes a project succeed.
- Initiate and define a project.
- Plan steps to move a project forward.
- Keep a project on track.
- Bring a project to a close and evaluate its success.
Key Topics Covered
This course explores the following subjects in depth:
- Identifying the project outcome and how it can best be achieved
- Translating tasks and activities into S.M.A.R.T goals
- Identifying stakeholders and selecting the right people for the project team
- Creating a project schedule that includes timelines, milestones, and responsibilities
- Planning for contingencies and handling project barriers
- Providing a sense of completion once the outcome has been achieved
- Evaluating the process to increase the success of future projects