COURSE 4025 | 2-DAY SESSION
Hands-On IT Project Management

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Course outline

Part 1 - The Development Lifecycle Methods
There are eight basic approaches to implementing
software projects. Find out which approach is best for
your project and the details in each approach

1. The Eight DLMs

• Evaluation of the eight approaches
  
• Correct selection of a DLM
  

2. Implementing the ‘Intelligent Waterfall’

• The meaning of ‘Progressive Elaboration’
  
• Estimates do not equal commitment
  
• The real meaning of Change Management
  
• Methodology or framework – which is most effective?
  

3. Evaluating Risk as an approach for selecting the correct DLM

• Define the elements that contribute to higher risk on a project
  
• Selecting the correct DLM based on risk level
  

Part 2 - The 31.5 Minute Project Manager
The PMI Project Management Body of Knowledge contains a great deal of information. Is all of it necessary on a project? Which elements keep recurring that help to insure project success? The 31.5 Minute Project Manager will help you cut through the process ‘jungle’ and separate the signal from the noise.

1. Master these project elements

• Scope
  
• Budget
  
• Timeline
  
• Quality
  
• Human Resources
  
• Communications
  
• Risk
  
• Procurement
  

2. An effective project setup

An effective project setup is an important key to success. If the right process, people and technology are engaged, you stand a good chance of obtaining the support you need to help your project succeed.

• Project selection criteria
  
• Proof of concept - business case
  
• The Project Charter
  
• Defining the aim of the system
  
• Stakeholders
  
• Defining Scope and requirements
  
• Define the deliverables
  
• Project Planning
  

3. Find the most effective processes in the PMBOK and put them to use.

• Understand how to use the PMI ‘toolkit’
  
• Find out how 10% of the processes will help you succeed 90% of the time
  

Part 3 – Cutting Edge Project Management Tools
You can’t build (or fix) what you can’t measure. Acquire skills and templates you can put to immediate use on your projects. Decision tools, measurement tools and probability tools enable the practitioner to manage projects with data and fact.

1. Decision Tool: The AHP

• The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) – find out why it is one of the best processes for driving effective decisions
  
• Provided template enables a focused decision making process free of math and number crunching
  

2. Voice of the Customer tool: QFD

• Introduction to the Quality Function Deployment
  
• Find out why the QFD is the most effective and rigorous process for eliciting customer needs & requirements
  
• Enable the customer to effectively prioritize their needs for a technical team
  

3. Measurement and Statistical Process Tools

• The Pareto Chart – the ideal way to find your customer’s or your project’s key issues
  
• The Ishikawa (Cause and Effect) Diagram – Elicit root cause issues in your project or processes to drive out defects
  
• The Monte Carlo Analysis – What is the probability that your project timelines are accurate and what is your confidence level in your estimate? Use a tool that will give your estimates clout and measurably higher levels of accuracy with a confidence level you can stand behind
  
• SPC charts – use these charts to keep your processes ‘on the rails’. Find out where your processes are shifting and drifting and bring them back into control. No number crunching or statistics required! Let the provided templates do the crunching for you
  

Part 4 – Introduction to Lean and Agile
What are Lean and agile processes? How do they apply to the IT/Development process? Discover what elements you can use in your environment to deliver high quality product with improved customer satisfaction, greater speed and reliability.

1. What is Lean?

• Basic Lean Concepts
  
• Who is using Lean and why it works in business process
  

2. Ways in which Lean applies to Software Project Management

• Direct analogs between software development and manufacturing
  
• The 5 ‘whys?’ and their use in Lean implementation
  

3. Agile Project Management

• Key differences between waterfall and agile approaches
  
• Where agile methods can help the high risk project in a rapidly changing environment
  
• What agility can and cannot do for your organization