Project Launch

Learn how to justify and select projects and how stakeholders influence projects. Develop requirements necessary to define project scope and create a list of tasks necessary to accomplish the scope. Create effective communication plans and assign responsibilities. Today’s fast track business and global environment places emphasis on how to increase project production efficiency with limited available resources. Gain an understanding of fundamentals of project planning. Establish project requirements, objectives, and goals before defining the total project scope with the use of a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). This course uses a simulation project— students will start the development of a project plan as demonstration of mastery of key project management practices from this course. The simulation project will continue into the follow-on classes of this program.

Leadership involves inspiring people while management involves managing things. Both are essential for successful project completion, but many project “managers” don’t know the difference between the two. Leaders provide a vision and a sense of direction; they inspire their team to adopt the vision as their own; they take risks where appropriate; and they see opportunities where others only see problems. Leaders create a safe space for their team members to thrive and produce their best work. This module shows you precisely the difference between “leading” and “managing,” and why knowing the difference is critical for project success.

Now that you have an approved project with a project charter, what’s next? In this module, you will learn how to kick-off a project and review methods in which to engage the project team. We will also review the process of creating a project management plan. And finally, you will learn the fundamentals of the Agile project management approach.

The Statement of Work (SOW) may be one of the most powerful tools for project managers. The SOW defines the product or service to be delivered to the customer at the completion of the project as well as defines the work necessary to complete the project. In this module, you will learn to use the information from requirements gathering to create a SOW.

It has been said a picture call tell a thousand words. A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) can be just the picture you need to tell the project team what they need to do on a project. This module will be focused on the structure and formats of a WBS and how to create a WBS including the WBS dictionary. You will be able to translate requirements into actionable activities in a WBS.

Some say an hour spent in planning results in two hours saved during implementation. Learn how proper planning can reduce the overall level effort for a project. You will have an opportunity to develop a project scope management plan which will be the culminating activity of this course.