Project management basics

The aim of the training is for participants to learn basic project management techniques and to put them into practice through their own project examples.

Projects are driven by change, as the most effective way to adapt to the environment is to organise work on a project basis. Consequently, project management is not only a set of personal skills but also an organisational competence. For this reason, it is useful to bring together staff from different areas of the company - in our experience, training is also a good opportunity to get to know each other's different perspectives, requirements and internal logic of the different task systems, thus improving cooperation in the joint execution of tasks.

What is it all about?

• A project approach helps us to manage the resources we are given efficiently (not using more than is optimal).
• Projects are based on controlled processes and decision-making and information flow mechanisms, so that no one is informed late or not at all.
• Projects are prepared with great care by a team that is familiar with the methodology, so that the views of many staff - and preferably many areas - are brought together in brainstorming: the final solution will be carefully circulated and will have the support of those who will have a key role in its implementation (so that management does not have to deal so strongly with resistance or lack of understanding of a possible change).
• The project approach allows for flexibility to adapt to environmental changes and changes in customer needs and expectations, as there are well-defined decision "gates" in the process, where we periodically check whether we are going in the right direction.

This method equips project managers with a toolbox that will enable them to cope successfully with novel, even completely unfamiliar tasks, and to manage the uncertainty inherent in the unknown.

For business leaders and owners who want to introduce project-based operations in their own company, for beginner project managers who want to structure and develop their skills, for project team members who want to get a better understanding of project management methodology, and for anyone who wants to learn what it is different about working on a project.

The training will be based on the experiential learning method: after a minimum of theoretical summaries, participants will immediately translate what they have learned into practice in small groups (project teams) and design a concrete project of their choice. The project teams will share their experiences from the parallel design work, discussing their experiences from the given design steps, so that they can simultaneously follow the design process of several projects, enriching the lessons learned from the parallel groups in addition to their own small group project. Working through the design steps in a sequence and working together in a small group also provides a useful model for conducting a project kick-off workshop.

• About project management and projects in general (basic concepts)
• Teamwork in a project
• Choosing the project and setting the project objective
• Starting a project
• Conducting and following up project meetings
• Stakeholder identification, management, influencing strategies, communication
• Business expectations (functions, results)
• Technical feasibility
• Financial feasibility
• Internal and external resources, subcontractors
• Task breakdown
• Project schedule
• Resource planning
• Cost planning
• Risk identification and management planning
• Preparation of project inception/start-up document (PAD, PID)
• Project implementation phase and closure

Following the training, company, programme or project office, or individual coaching and team coaching sessions allow you to apply what you have learned to specific projects of your team or individual.