Project Management Essentials

A crash course in the essentials of project management for new project managers.

Created by: William Stewart PhD, PMP, PPM
Project management made practical

What Will I Learn?

• "This course is great, to the point, informative, lecturer is very knowledgeable. One of my favorite courses. Great job." – Romol Bereaux
• What project management fundamentally does, and the domains it applies to.
• Who in the organization can benefit from using project management.
• How project management applies to small (sometimes very small) projects.
• What comes before project management, before you have a project.
• When project management is most useful, and the process will be more than worth the effort.
• The five stages of the formal project management process, their essential features, and how they fit together.
• The most important concept in project management – the triple constraint, its key messages, and how the parts inter-relate.
• The role of the Project Manager, key responsibilities, and why accountability is a good thing.
• The purpose of project initiation, and the key elements of the project charter.
• The importance of the first definition of the project scope – the one sentence objective.
• A one-page flowchart of the whole planning process, setting up your project for success.
• The official baseline for the project scope – the work breakdown structure.
• The precedence diagram – your most important tool for planning, communicating, and managing your project.
• The official baseline for the project schedule – the Gantt chart.
• The essential elements of the project cost breakdown.
• The importance of planning for the unexpected – risk management planning.
• Documenting the planning in a concise project management plan for sponsor review.
• The purpose and key elements of the monitoring and control phase.
• Managing the number two cause of project problems – scope changes.
• The essential elements of managing the project schedule.
• The essential elements of managing project cost.
• The essential elements of managing project risk.
• The best way to conduct the monthly project review.
• The purpose and key elements of project closing.
• Wrapping up the project with a targeted final report.
• A summary checklist of all the key learnings of the course.

Requirements

• No prerequisites - this course is intended for new project managers looking for an overview.

Target audience

• Those new to project management, looking for a crash course in the essentials of the best practice processes.