Developing Potential Australia

Practical project management

Two days

Learn the skills for completing projects on time and within budget. This course is ideal for staff who are responsible for small to medium size projects.

Throughout the two days participants apply the techniques to case studies and discuss specific issues from their work. We can also incorporate your organisation’s policies and procedures into your own in-house program.

Note: This program is not based on any software program.

Setting the scope and objectives

• How to define the scope in a way that minimises later changes from stakeholders
• The five stages of the project process
• How to write clear performance, cost and time objectives
• How to define both quantitative and qualitative measures of success

Developing a network diagram

• How to break a large project down into a ‘Work Breakdown Structure’
• What is a network diagram?
• How can a network diagram save weeks or months on your project?
• What is the critical path?
• How to use the critical path to pinpoint the high priority tasks
• How to use the critical path to estimate the duration of your project
• What are the pros and cons of project software programs?

Allocating resources and scheduling tasks

• How to turn a network diagram into a bar (Gantt) chart showing allocated resources
• How to use the bar chart to monitor progress visually
• Smoothing out the resource usage – a simple method for small projects

Managing risk

• How to identify the major threats to a project
• How to evaluate each threat in relation to its likelihood and impact
• The best way to develop effective contingency plans

Keeping the project on track – personal time management tools

• How to make the most of to-do lists and diaries
• A simple scale for prioritising tasks based on their importance and urgency
• How to process the 4 types of paperwork associated with all projects
• A simple system for filing paper and electronic documents

Monitoring schedules and expenses

• What are the two questions you must be able to answer at all times?
• What are the key things to measure on your projects?
• What is a variance?
• When does a variance need to be reported?
• How to write concise and logical progress reports for stakeholders

Incorporating case studies & your organisation’s policies. Throughout the course participants apply the skills to a series of case studies. They also discuss their own experiences, difficulties and suggestions.

If this course is conducted in-house we incorporate your organisation’s policies and procedures. For example you may have guidelines for setting goals, or progress report templates.

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