Project Planning and Management

Delivery: 2.5-day live workshop (online or onsite)

Also see:

• Avoiding a Project Death March (online 2-hour class)
• Risk Management workshop (live instructor-led workshop)
• Project Estimation workshop (live instructor-led workshop)

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

This workshop will demonstrate 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. This workshop can be used for software, IT, systems and hardware projects.

In this workshop, senior managers, project managers and team members work together to develop plans, schedules and estimates for their current work. They also improve their ability to identify and manage risks, negotiate, track and review accomplishments, and communicate with stakeholders.

Once implemented, these practices 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 involving all relevant stakeholders

Optional focus of Workshop: Agile and Beyond

For teams wanting to learn Agile, the workshop can also teach Agile planning techniques (scoping, estimation, release planning, sprints, sprint demos and burn down charts) and goes beyond Agile skills with effort estimation, assumptions, risk management, dependencies, negotiation, tracking, and project reviews to communicate status. Scrum and Agile concepts will be skipped for teams that don’t want or need it.

Workshop Content

The workshop introduction addresses the importance and purpose of project planning. Managers and project personnel will know what should be achieved during planning.

The topics covered include:

• projects and programs
• the components of a concise project charter and project plan
• communications and stakeholder plan
• managing requirements
• planning incrementally and release planning
• developing a work breakdown / task list
• formulating estimates and schedules
• determining risks and setting priorities
• negotiating and aligning commitments
• measuring progress and refining the plan
• conducting project reviews to communicate status
• planning and tracking performed in Agile/Scrum
• closing out a project and lessons learned

Benefits of Project Planning

Effective project planning provides the following benefits:

• managed customer expectations are set through better alignment and negotiation
• chaos associated with over commitment is reduced
• achievable deadlines are set and met
• potential problems are identified and minimized early in the project
• management and project teams become more aware of each other’s concerns and expectations
• intra-organization communication is improved

This workshop is not only an essential way to initiate effective improvements in planning and the development process, but it also safeguards your chances for long-term success.