Project Management Fundamentals (Self-Guided)

Lesson 1

Introduction to Project Management

In your first lesson, you will learn why project management is necessary and find out how to differentiate projects from programs and tasks. When you finish with this lesson, you will understand the temporary and unique nature of projects and discover why scoping a project is a critical activity.

Project Management Activities

This lesson will set the stage for the remainder of the course by introducing the major project management activities that establish it as a formal field of study. You will learn how to plan and control a project and see how project tools help you work effectively and efficiently. You will see how human behavior affects your projects and also determine the role of risk management, quality assurance, purchasing, and politics.

Project Management Resources; Project Life Cycle Phases

The Internet is a storehouse of useful project management information. Today you will learn how to access and use project management resources you will find on the World Wide Web. You will also discover how to use the four phases of the project life cycle—conceptualization and definition, planning, implementation, and completion and closure—in creating your project plan and putting it into practice.

High-Performance Planning for Project Management

This lesson focuses on the planning activity as a key factor in helping you succeed with project management. In any enterprise, planning should be the first activity performed. It sets the stage for the remainder of project management activities. You will learn about the importance of strategic planning as a backdrop for your project plan. You will discover the elements of planning, understand why many people are reluctant to plan, and learn how the 5 Ws and 1H can help you to create a sound project plan.

Introduction to the Control Process

In this lesson, you will discover the characteristics and goals of effective control systems and be able to identify the benefits of control. You will learn the prerequisites to use control, find out how to use steps of the control process, and identify problems with using control. You will also discover the various types of control techniques.

The Project Manager and the Project Team

This lesson may be the most important one in the course: A highly functional project team and an excellent project manager are critical success factors for any project. You will learn about a project manager's roles and responsibilities, and also required skills and competencies. To support your project manager, you will discover the characteristics of a team, see how a team comes together, and find out how to use effective team building activities.

Deliverables, Stakeholders, and Idea Generation

This lesson explores two different sides of the same coin (deliverables and stakeholders). You will develop an understanding of methods that will help you generate excellent ideas to provide project solutions that satisfy expectations. You will learn how deliverables are prone to change and see how quality function deployment (QFD) identifies and satisfies stakeholder requirements. You will understand how brainstorming, brainwriting, the nominal group technique, and affinity diagrams lead to excellent project management ideas.

Ethics, Organizational Politics, and Conflict Management

As a project manager, you need to practice a high level of business ethics and also be aware of organizational politics. Also, you must be aware of conflict situations and act to manage conflict at the right time and in the right way. This lesson provides an overview of ethics, describe how ethics can be practically applied, and specify how to establish an ethical tone in your organization. You will learn the nature of organizational politics, understand the nature of conflict, and find out why some project teams experience more conflict than others.

The Project Plan

In this lesson everything discussed so far will come together as a project plan. The project plan that will be presented today has 14 sections. Your project plan will begin with the foundational elements (project strategy, executive summary, statement of work, work breakdown structure, and project schedules), continue through supporting elements (human resource plans, procurement plans, interface plans, and configuration management plans), and conclude with controlling elements (work control plans, quality control plans, cost control plans, risk management plans, and reporting plans).

Implementing Your Project Plan

This lesson expands upon the fundamental elements discusses earlier. First, you will learn areas that can jumpstart your project into action, including key factors for a successful project like using a pilot and holding a project kickoff meeting. You will also learn about interpersonal aspects of project execution like creating team rules, using effective communication, and solving problems.

Controlling Your Project

Project control is the most important activity for your project. In this lesson, you will learn the importance of project control, project performance measurements, and project reporting. You will discover why Earned Value is an outstanding method to control project cost and performance. You will also find out how a periodic project audit can keep your project on track.

Closing Your Project

Your final lesson focuses on what happens at the end of a project. To increase your understanding about this topic, you will review and apply all the necessary activities that you must follow to effectively close your project. You will work through the steps of project closure and also identify reasons why your project may not be successful.