Deeply Practical Project Management (Earn 16 PDUs)
What you'll learn
- How to get stakeholder buy-in and senior management support at the beginning of your project, and maintain it throughout.
- The three fundamental messages of the PM triple constraint, how they inter-relate, and how they affect risk.
- How to plan your project VERY efficiently, so you know the scope, schedule, budget, and risks before you start.
- How to manage the top three drivers of project success to solve most of the problems on most projects.
- The critical importance of the project requirements, with best practices for documentation, review, and approval.
- How to build the work breakdown structure (WBS), your scope baseline, and when to break it down further.
- Why the precedence diagram is your most important tool for planning and managing your project.
- How to estimate the project resources, material, services, time, and cost, and handle estimating error.
- Why the critical path means schedule is more important than cost, with a step by step animated example.
- The key criteria for deciding whether to build or buy, and the best type of contract and award procedures.
- How to prepare and brief the project plan, provide options to meet the triple constraint, and stay truthful.
- How to build the project team, key hiring criteria, delegation, motivation, and resolution of personnel conflicts.
- How to manage scope so you find the things inevitably missed, but don't make it so good that it just blows up.
- How to manage the critical path to focus on the most important items without getting bogged down in the weeds.
- How to manage the budget and its key drivers to obtain the best cost performance possible.
- How to identify the risks, mitigate them as early as possible, and stay within the risk budget.
- The two most effective things you can do to manage quality and ensure the customer is happy with the project result.
- How to use earned value management (EVM) to project cost and schedule performance objectively.
- How to communicate constructively with the stakeholders about the project status, and obtain their assistance when needed.
- How to use scenario based verification to ensure customer satisfaction with the project result.
- How to conduct lessons learned events to find out what did not go well and did go well, and easily gather them as you go.
- How to close your project team to ensure everyone is treated fairly and free to proceed to their next challenge.
- How to use the key software tools to support the project management life-cycle - WBS, precedence diagram, and Gantt chart.
- Six practice quizzes, get copies of nine key project management document templates and six summary checklists, and earn 16 PDU's.
- Get recommendations for free open source software to support the project management process.
- Gain a deeply practical understanding of the PMI project management best practices for those that wish to obtain a PMP certification.
Requirements
- No prior knowledge needed - covers the project management process from end to end, while providing a wealth of practical tips for those already experienced in project management.
Description
"Finally, an online course that teaches the 'how' of project management from an experienced veteran." – Karin Brame
"I have been a PMP since 2006, and learned so much from this course. Truly outstanding. Wish it was available years ago." – Mark Thorogood, PMP
In 1992, I started working for a global aerospace company, where many of the PM processes were originally developed, and the processes have to be very, very effective. But they also had to be very, very efficient, because complexity is the enemy in project management, and the PM processes have to reduce complexity, not increase it. Later I founded a software company, where agility and speed were key, and found the processes needed to be simpler again. And then later I worked as a management consultant, where I helped clients who sometimes had projects with just a handful of people, and the PM processes had to be even more efficient.
From the largest projects to the smallest, there is an essential thread of very high value PM processes that should never be skipped, and will return much more time and energy than they take. The key is to do those processes, and just those processes, in the right order. I created this course in 2007 to capture that essential thread, and have been improving it ever since.
You can think of this course as the practical companion to the PMI PMBOK. Based on more than a quarter century of experience, the course cuts through the complexity to provide a deeply practical description of how to use the proven Project Management Institute (PMI) processes to manage your projects of any size, from any domain. At the end of the course, you will also receive a special certificate that bestows on you the credential of Practical Project Manager, and the right to append PPM after your name.
The course is end-to-end, comprehensive, and divided into more than 200 easy to digest videos of just a few minutes long. First an overview is provided of all the key PM concepts. Then the critically important role of the Project Manager and the essentials of team management are described. The PM processes are then mapped across the project time-line, and the specific actions you need to take at each step are explained in an easy to follow thread. The use of software tools to support the PM process is described. At the end of the course, you will not only understand project management, you will be able to implement it in the most efficient, practical way.
You will also receive:
Templates. Microsoft Office templates for all the key PM documents, from stakeholder register to final report.
Example. A complete set of example professional documentation for the Magical Devices Version 3 project, including a Project Charter, Project Management Plan, Gantt Schedule, Risk Register, and much more, that you can reuse for your own projects.
MS Office Help. The document "Project Planning With MS Office" that explains how to use Microsoft Office tools to prepare the work breakdown structure, precedence diagram, schedule, and budget for your project.
Many tens of thousands of students have taken the course from around the world, making it the leading applied PM course online. If you need to manage a project right now, are pursuing a PMI certification, or just wish to get a solid grounding in the PM best practices to enhance your career, this course will really help. You will also earn 16 Professional Development Units (PDU's).
Instructor
William Stewart is a PMI certified Project Management Professional (PMP) who has managed projects for more than a quarter century in the domains of organizational improvement, business process, system integration, software, construction, real estate, research, and others. He has delivered more than 220 onsite PM courses to more than 2,200 people. He has worked for aerospace, government, academia, and founded a software startup. He has in-depth experience with project management, risk management, contract management, systems integration, and software engineering. He earned a Ph.D. in computer science for discovery of an algorithm that builds multi-dimensional geodesic domes in optimum space and time, which to his knowledge has never been used for anything practical ;-)
What Students Say About The Course
"This is by far the best project management course I have ever taken!" – Susan Steigler, PMP
"This is the best real-world practical PM course on the web. Valuable knowledge and insight, clear, and hands on. A great investment when your time is really valuable and you don't want to waste a minute of it." – Sarah Hajipour
"This course offers some of the most valuable material I've consumed as a Project Manager." – Philip Kohler
"This is a very, very useful resource for both Project Managers and team members. The best PM course I have taken online." – Marcelo Palenzuela
"Excellent course -- easy to understand -- wish I had reviewed this resource before I took my PMP exam!" – Thomas Flores
"The only course you will need. Walks you through all the phases of project management. With examples, anecdotes, and most importantly - templates. Highly recommend!" – Allan Madhuram
"I took this course after earning my PMP certification, and am stunned by the practical insights it provides. Thank you! I definitely recommend for both newbies and experienced Project Managers." – Raj Bidika
"This was the best project management course that I have taken. I recommend to anyone interested in project management. Really above and beyond what I expected." – Mark April
"Really straightforward and clear. Wish I had taken this before I sat for my PMP test." – Alexander Feravich
"Great course, perfectly delivered. The PMBOK Guide applied to reality. I plan to repeat this course over and over again." – Alain Yeno
"Not only does this course teach you practical project management, it also teaches you life skills you will keep for a lifetime. Exceptional. I couldn't have asked for anything better." – Saad Faruqui
"Crisp and direct, no blabbing. Wise to go with this first before consulting any other material." – Rufus Okomhanru
"The course was amazing. A lot of real life examples. In my 17 years of PM experience I have never taken a more concise, informative, and easy to understand PM walk-through." – Vladimir Mitev
"This course gave me valuable insight into key PMBOK areas that I haven't considered since I received my PMP certification in 2012. Great course!" – Dan Bischoff
"I've been managing projects for several years, and picked up key points which will improve my work in the future, and would have made previous projects significantly better if I'd known them sooner. Highly recommended." – David Morrison
"This turned out to be the best money I ever spent. My only regret is I didn't take this course sooner." – Nicholas Ikpi
"One of the greatest courses I have ever had. Short videos you can digest at your own pace. A warm environment, seems that you are talking with him." – Francisco Zapata
"Over the course of a 20 year career I have purchased many training materials, video courses, study guides, etc, and this was hands down the best material I have ever used." – Christopher Irons
Who this course is for:
- Those that need to manage projects, and want a deeply practical description of how to use the project management best practices across the life-cycle.
- Anyone involved in projects that wants to understand the practical essentials of the project management process.
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Course content
- Preview01:37
- Preview01:12
- 01:22How To Report PDU's To The PMI
Instructor
- 4.5 Instructor Rating
- 13,494 Reviews
- 48,832 Students
- 3 Courses
William Stewart is a Project Management Institute (PMI) certified Project Management Professional (PMP), with more than a quarter century of experience using the PMI processes to manage projects from $250K to $55M. He has delivered more than 220 onsite PM courses to more than 2,200 people. He has worked for large corporations, government, academia, and founded a software startup. He has in-depth experience with project management, risk management, systems integration, and software engineering. He is author of the book Deeply Practical Project Management, and has managed projects in the domains of organizational improvement, business process, system integration, software, construction, real estate, research, training, and others.
Bill is currently a management consultant helping clients work better and get more done. Previously, he founded and ran the cloud company Cirrus Computing for ten years. Before that, he spent 14 years in aerospace where he served as company System Engineering Manager and Software Manager for a functional organization of more than 50 people, Project Manager for system integration projects up to $55M, and in a range of senior roles on other projects up to $3B.
His first real job was with the Canadian Public Service, to establish and manage a computing center supporting 4,500 personnel, where he developed and deployed software to manage enterprise-wide scheduling, resource management, personnel management, and payroll, and developed and taught two programming courses accredited by Seneca College.
Bill received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of New Brunswick in 1992 for a thesis on algorithms that build geodesic domes in multiple dimensions in optimum space and time. While at UNB, he also taught eleven undergraduate courses. His professional training includes Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Project Management, Risk Management, System Architecture, and System Engineering. He has taught courses in Program Management, Project Management, Risk Management, Cost and Schedule Control, and Negotiating.
Bill is author of the first web published book "The Living Internet" with contributions from many creators of the Internet. He wrote the original "The Fun Standard", a collection of best practices for having organizational fun. He maintains the FreeOpenSourceSoftware wiki. His paper on public financing of political parties was credited in the Canadian House of Commons when the federal party financing bill passed in 2003. He lives in Ottawa, Canada, with his wife and two children.