Basic Project Management

William J. Scott, P.E.

Course Overview

Today, industry is embracing a bold, new view of the process of management. Change, driven by the desire and pressure to improve, creates short-term objectives. These short-term objectives require us to improve upon all aspects of operations, including our traditional management techniques. These objectives, which we call "projects", define unique, one time tasks requiring workers from many disciplines. Projects are usually too large and complex to be executed, effectively within the traditional, functional management organization. Therefore, a new organizational form, called project management, has emerged. This results-oriented, roll up your sleeves, course is designed for project managers, functional managers and key project team members. In other words, this course is for the very people who are accountable and responsible for achieving predetermined multi-disciplinary project performance objectives on schedule, within allocated cost while delighting customers! Personnel, who support projects, either directly or indirectly, should also take this course.

This course includes a multiple choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Intended Audience

This course is addressed to:

• Project Managers
• Project Managers in Training
• Project Engineers
• Project Team Members
• Functional Managers
• Support Personnel
  

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will learn:

• Why people are resistant to change;
• The seven Project Management System elements;
• How to effect change;
• Project Management Characteristics;
• Five key Project Management Concepts;
• Nine Project Management Benefits;
• Eleven Project Management Premises;
• Nine obstacles to change;
• Five Project Management Realities;
• Eight sources of power and influence;
• Organizational characteristics;
• Role of top management;
• Role of functional management;
• Role of project manager;
• Role of project team members;
• What an effective project manager must do;
• How to manage conflict;
• Skill requirement for effective project management;
• Thirteen guidelines for solving problems;
• Eleven rules for effective project management;
• The fourteen rules for wining proposals;
• The ten rules of competitive assessment;
• Why projects fail;
• The eight steps in project planning;
• The purpose of project planning;
• Five categories of major work assignment;
• Fundamentals of resource estimating;
• The five principals of estimating;
• The two sources of scope creep;
• Five ways to control scope creep;
• Precedence tables, what they are and how to use them;
• Six steps of the procurement process;
• Seven objectives of performance measurement;
• What the Earned Value Technique can do for the project manager;
• How to use the Earned Value Technique; and
• The principals of effective presentations.

Course Introduction

I would like to start off by telling you about some advice my wife gave me a long time ago.

When I first starting giving presentations some twenty years ago, my wife offered me some advice. She told me that in order to keep the audience's attention; the most important thing was to talk about an interesting subject. This seemed like good advice, so I took it. I have tried to keep my topics interesting.

Well some time later, as I was still giving presentations, my wife offered me some more advice. This time she told me that in addition to having an interesting subject, it was really important to keep it short and to the point. This also seemed like good advice, so I took it. I have tried to keep my presentations short and to the point.

Well now that I've been at this presentation stuff for over twenty years, my wife now gives me different advice. She tells me now that the subject matter is still important, that yes, keeping it short is also important, but the most important thing is to keep my belly sucked in." This is probably the best advice of all!

The Project Management System

It is your basic forming, storming, and performing way of getting things accomplished on budget, on time and with customer satisfaction.
You are lucky to have the opportunity to experience it. I guarantee that before you finish this course, you will have experienced it and be able to apply it to your daily work.

MY Five Rules of Project Management

Before we go any further, I want to establish my five rules of project management:

1. There can be no cost management without using the earned value technique.

2. There can be no schedule management without managing the critical path.

3. A real work breakdown structure (WBS) has the following four elements:
A. A specific beginning and ending date.
B. A budget assigned to it.
C. A defined scope.
D. One person who is single focal point accountable for each task completion.

4. Comparing actuals to budgets is close to meaningless.
For example, if you have spent less than you budgeted at any point in the project, does this mean you are:
A. Behind schedule?
B. Under budget?
C. You don't know?

5. No one but you can control (manage) your project!

To Gain the Most Value and Return on Investment for the Time You Spend on this Course You Must:

1. Think about your own experiences.
2. Read carefully.
3. Be patient.
4. Stay on the topic.
5. Rise above your experience bias.
6. Be receptive to new ideas.

Course Content

This course consists of the following seven course modules.

Course Modules

Module #1: The Business Case for the Project Management Process and it's Fundamental Concepts

Module #2: Organizational Role Responsibilities for the Project Management Process and How to Cope with Various People Problems

Module #3: Profile of an Effective Project Manager

Module #4: The Project Management Process

Module #5: Successful Techniques for Project Planning

Module #6: Techniques for Measurement and Reporting of Project Progress

Module #7: Summary lessons

The course content is in PDF format in each module. You need to open or download those documents to study this course.

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

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DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.

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