Foundations of Project Management I by Mitacs

This 2-day course provides an experiential, collaborative learning experience to enable participants to integrate the principles of project management, team building, group dynamics and leadership that participants can apply immediately and in their future careers and lives. Participants experience the processes of collaborative planning and management and can see the benefits firsthand.

Learning Outcomes:

Through participating and completing this workshop, participants will:

• Gain a clear understanding of foundational project management principles
• Have an emphasized understanding of the importance of team and team dynamics within the context of project management and meeting project deadlines

Key Topics Areas:

Principles of project management and team building

• Understanding self and others using the Strength Deployment Inventory, a self-scoring questionnaire that identifies, motivations, personal strengths in relating, causes of stress or conflict and each individual’s typical response to conflict
• Personal styles of learning and problem-solving
• Creating a team agreement on practices and processes that will enhance their work together
• Techniques and tools to increase team effectiveness at decision making
• Planning and conducting effective project meetings

Leadership:

• Role of the leader in decision making
• Modifying leadership behavior to meet the needs of the situation
• Project planning concepts

Developing and building effective project teams:

• Project planning and scheduling: basics of the critical path method (CPM), work breakdown, time calculations, and shortening the project
• Collaborative techniques and processes for planning and scheduling projects, establishing positive project practices and procedures, and the monitoring and reporting of progress
• Risk assessment on the projects planned
• Review and discussion of learning
• Providing constructive criticism for positive results