Cohort - Project Management

Week 1

Project initiation and stakeholder mapping

Starting a project the right way can make or break an initiative. We all know that a good project manager is a good communicator, who works with and reports to the right people. In Week 1 we cover how to:

• Create a project charter to focus on objectives, deliverables, and measurements 
• Professionally deal with scope creep and changing priorities
• Uncover stakeholders and determine how much attention they need

Week 2

Project planning and establishing requirements

Once you’ve started a project, how do you determine what the final deliverables will really look like? How do you accurately estimate time and create a work schedule? How do you make sure you don’t miss things? Those are the questions we answer in this session as we cover:

• Techniques to avoid missed requirements and see what you’re really getting into
• Structure for breaking down the work into a clear schedule of activities
• Techniques for estimating time that result in much more accurate forecasts

Week 3

Presenting and storytelling with data

Human beings naturally connect with stories, and decision makers need data to gain a full picture. Here, we merge presentation structures with data theory to create engaging presentations and reporting.

• Structures for reporting that are quick, clear, and robust
• Story structures that make presentations memorable and increase influence
• Guidelines for where and how much data to include in presentations

Week 4

Risk management and post-mortem analysis

In this session, you’ll boost your adaptable problem-solving skills to the next level. You’ll learn the methods professionals use to uncover and mitigate problems before they ever happen, and how to address problems that do occur – so they won’t happen again. We’ll cover:

• How to predict and analyze risk, and what to do about it
• How to build teams and communicate, to minimize common failings
• How to learn lessons from things that go wrong to improve future performance

Week 5

Final project presentations & graduation

We will review the key themes of the sessions and students will give a short “executive level” presentation about a project they’ve been planning. We’ll then celebrate!

Reunion

A reunion session will be held after 3 months.