Managing Projects, Oct-Dec, 2020: Teaching plan

 

Managing Projects, Oct-Dec, 2020: Teaching plan

Total: 36 hours

BAAFM 49-51/BABMKTG 12-14;  assignment due: January-21

Session	Topics	Deadlines/ readings
#1: Oct 28 (wed): 19:00-22:00	·       Briefing on the subject and assignment requirements ·       Unit 1: Project concepts	University slides “Unit 1: Project concepts”   Pinto (2016): chapter 1 Pinto (2016): chapter 2 Videos: * introduction to project management. * what is project manager? * the role of a project manager. * what do portfolio managers do? * 5 skills a project manager needs. * critical soft skills for project managers. * typical project phases. * the project management life cycle. $$$ * top 10 terms project managers use. * project definition. Slides * on project management. e-readings: * project management principles. $$$ * project characteristics. $$$ * project complexity. * project sponsorship. * project portfolio management.
#2: Nov 4 (wed): 19:00-22:00	·       Unit 1: Project concepts	University slides “Unit 1: Project concepts”   Pinto (2016): chapter 3   Pinto (2016): chapter 4 Videos: * what is project scope? $$$ * how to baseline a project scope. * what is project scope management? * what are project objectives. $$$ * what is the iron triangle. * how to create a project charter. * project initiation. * project proposal writing. * project portfolio management defined. * the differences between portfolio, programme, and project management. * what is agile project management. * agile project management vs traditional project management. $$$ * agile vs waterfall (project methodology). * what is project management office? * what is a work breakdown structure. * creating work breakdown structure in MS project. e-readings: * on project scope. * on project objectives. * on work breakdown structure. * on project work packages. * on project life cycle. * project organization structure types. * project management office.
#3: Nov 7 (Sat): 14:00-20:00	·       Unit 2: Planning and monitoring tools and techniques	University slides: “Unit 2: Planning and Monitoring Tools and Techniques”   Pinto (2016): chapter 5 Pinto (2016): chapter 9 Videos: * your first step as a project manager. * your project kickoff meeting checklist. * how to create a project charter. * project planning for beginners. * project planning - fundamentals. * the key deliverable of your project plan. $$$ * how to build an effective project plan. * what is a work breakdown structure? *what is a work package? * MS Project - Gantt chart. $$$ * MS Project - task dependencies.  * MS Project - milestones. * MS Project - resource planning. * MS Project - identify overallocated resources. * MS Project baselines (actual vs plan). * key project management deliverables (documentation). * what are task dependencies? [internal ones] $$$ * on external dependencies. * project scheduling - PERT/CPA. * how to draw a CPM network diagram. * how to calculate network diagram using AoN notation. * use forward and backward pass to determine project duration. $$$ * determine the early start (ES) and early finish (EF) in a network diagram. $$$ * determine late start (LS) and late finish (LF) in a network diagram. $$$ * what is total float (total slack) in a network diagram. * what are project constraints? * what is resource levelling? Slides: * on project planning. * on project critical path method. e-readings: * on project planning. * on the project business case. * on project baseline. * on project success. * applying work breakdown structure to project management lifecycle. * on project task dependencies. * critical path analysis and PERT charts. * on project network diagrams. * use of forward and backward pass to determine critical path. $$$ * determine total and free float of activities in a network diagram. $$$ * effective milestone planning. * project schedule compression.
#4: Nov 11 (wed): 19:00-22:00	·       Unit 2: Planning and monitoring tools and techniques	University slides: “Unit 2: Planning and Monitoring Tools and Techniques” Pinto (2016): chapter 10 Videos: * top 3 project tracking tools. * project tracking: how. * project business case: writing an effective project proposal. * what is gantt chart? * milestone vs deadline. * what is milestone planning? $$$ * scheduling with milestones in project management. * project monitoring, evaluation and control. * project communication plan. * build a great project communication plan. * project management time wasters. * how to prevent scope creep? * why projects fail. * project quality management. * Juran's triology (Quality Management). * how to meet your quality targets? * project quality planning, assurance and control. * the challenges of implementing an innovation project. * what is project governance? * what are stage gates? * the project s-curve (the philosophy). * the common use of the project s-curve. * what is the difference between project control and project management? Slides: * project communication management. * project s-curve. e-readings: * project communication plan - examples. * on Gantt chart. * quality in project management (PMI). * quality tools in project management (pdf). * project quality management - the process. * 10 ways to maintain consistent project quality. * assuring quality in product development process. * on project milestone. * milestone planning (PMI). * 5 tips on project tracking. * communications management (PMI). * breakdown structure templates. * what is the s-curve in project management? * on planned value, earned value and actual cost (related to the s-curve topic). * on schedule and cost variances in project management. * on schedule performance index and cost performance index.
#5: Nov 18: 19:00-22:00	·       Unit 3: The management of project cost and risk	University slides: “Unit 3: The management of project cost and risk”   Pinto (2016): chapter 7 Videos: * what is project risk management. $$$ * 4 types of project risk. * what is risk tolerance? * how to manage project risk. $$$ * what to put in your risk register (risk log). * what is the cone of uncertainty in project management. * the basics of project cost management. * project cost management part 1. * project cost management part 2. * how to deliver effective project cost management. $$$ * how to estimate project costs. * cost planning in project management. * earned value management - a briefing. Slides: * on project risk management. e-readings: * on project cost management. * essential things to know on project cost management. * how to conduct a project cost estimation. * earned value management system (EVMS) [PMI]. * on project risk management. * eight common project risks. * project risk register - an example.
#6: Nov 25 (wed): 19:00-22:00	·       Unit 3: The management of project cost and risk	University slides: “Unit 3: The management of project cost and risk”   Pinto (2016): chapter 8 Videos: * project financial management. * how to create a project budget? * project cost management tips. * estimate costs and determine budgets. * how to estimate project costs. * on Net Present Value. $$$ * on Internal Rate of Return (IRR). $$$ * on Payback Period method. $$$ * on investment appraisal (ARR). * what is a PERT chart? Slides: * on project cost management. e-readings: * on project financial appraisal. * financial appraisal of projects. * PERT estimate technique. * project budget (an example)(pdf).
#7: Dec 2 (wed): 19:00-22:00	·       Assignment progress review	Miscellaneous videos:  * on investment appraisal (ARR). * 4 types of project risk. * what to put in your risk register (risk log). * what is the cone of uncertainty in project management. * project quality management. * what is project quality management? $$$ * 7 basic quality control tools for project management. $$$
#8: Dec 9 (wed): 19:00-22:00	·       Unit 4: Project team structuring ·       [drop in by module lecturer]	University slides: “Unit 4: Project Team Structuring”   Pinto (2016): chapter 6 Videos: * what is project governance. * project organization. * project management organization structure. * project team - roles and responsibilities. * how to structure a project team. $$ * five project leadership tips. * how to build a project team. * what are T shaped people? * how to manage a project team. * how to delegate tasks in project teams. * the development team - Scrum guide. (see also what is Scrum?); also the role of the Scrum Master. * team roles and responsibilities. * how to manage project team conflict. * the Tuckman Model of group development for project management. $$$ * Belbin team profiles. $$$ * what is servant leadership? * creating a high-performance project team. * what is group think? * how to run project team meetings. * Best Practices for Managing the Virtual Project Team. Slides: * on project organization. * on project team management. e-readings: * project sponsor roles. * on project team building. * reasons project team building is important. * the role of leadership and team-building in project management. * the work of a project team (PMI). * what is a Scrum Development Team? * on project leadership skills. * the Tuckman model on team development. * how to avoid teamwork disasters? * the 5 roles of product development. * how to set up a good project governance structure (pdf).
#9: Dec 16 (wed): 19:00-22:00	·       Unit 5: project control ·       [drop in by module lecturer] Readings: * A reading about milestone planning. * what is a project plan? E,g, of a project objective: to produce a business plan for launching a new product line of fashion face masks in order to help the company to sustain its profit performance.	Unit 5: “Project Control”   Pinto (2016): chapter 10 Pinto (2016): chapter 12 Videos: * PMP project change management process. * the difference between project controls and project management. * what is change control? * the project control paradox. * essential project control tools to master. * what kind of a plan is a project controls plan. * the components of a project controls plan. * the common use of the S-curves in projects.  * the philosophy behind the S-curve. * how a project controller control a project. * how to forecast the cost at completion of a project. * what is an issue? * what is issue management? * how to manage issues on a project. * what is an issue log? * what is escalation in project management? * what are lessons learned? * Lessons learned meeting. * Dependencies in project management. $$$ * what is a PERT chart? Slides: * on project control & monitoring. e-readings: * what is change control? * project management change request template. * managing change through project management. * scope change control. * project issue management. * how to escalate project issues. * learning by experience in project-based organizations.
#10: Dec 19 (Sat): 14:00-20:00	·       Unit 5: project control ·       [drop in by module lecturer] Additional videos to review: * what is an issue? * what is issue management? * how to manage issues on a project. * what is an issue log? * on project evaluation. * on post project review. * project lessons learned briefing (clear). * what are lessons learned? * Lessons learned meeting. Subject revision Diagram: Also check this article on critical path calculation. Forward Pass ·        Early Start = Maximum (or Highest) EF value from immediate Predecessor(s) ·        Early Finish = ES + Duration Backward Pass ·        Late Start = LF – Duration ·        Late Finish = Minimum (or Lowest) LS value from immediate Successor(s) * the Juran Triology. * Steve Jobs on Joseph Juran.  * discounted payback period. * new product development process. Also: * on harvard referencing. * what is plagiarism. * how to avoid plagiarism. * how to quote. * how to paraphrase. * how to interpret turnitin report. * about "how" of project cost management.	Unit 5: “Project Control”   Pinto (2016): chapter 13 Pinto (2016): chapter 14 Videos: * how and why to close a project. * how to capture lessons learned at the end of a project. * project reviews and project audits. * how to save your project from analysis paralysis. e-readings: * 5 steps to project closure. * what can we learn from project failure? * the art and science of post project reviews (PMI).

 

Reference

The core text is Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage (4rd edition) by Jeffrey K. Pinto, published in 2016 by Pearson.

e-resources:

1. Facebook page “Literature on project management” (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.project.management/timeline). 
2. e-learning resources on managing projects.
3. Videos on project management