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project reference library

Practice all the Steps in a Project

Interactive Project Simulations with 1-to-1 Coaching

    • Sponsors who demand difficult completion dates

    • Stakeholders who want to add to the requirements late in the project

    • Conflicting demands of different executives

    • Losing people from your project team

    • and much more...

You start by asking questions of the project sponsor to define scope

After the lecture, you read the background on the company and project situation. Then you apply the techniques you learned and ask the executive questions to define the scope of the project.

  • Your PM instructor plays the role of the executive making the interaction as realistic as possible
  • Your instructor gives you feedback and coaching at the end of the session
  • Last, you write a broad-brush plan for acceptance by the sponsor and receive feedback on your work from your instructor

You interview stakeholders to unearth their specific requirements

Just like in a real project, you meet with stakeholders to gather their requirements. Your instructor works with you as you practice the questioning and interviewing techniques you learned in the reading and lecture.

  • You transform these requirements into a high-level achievement network and present it to the sponsor and executives
  • You submit your requirements to your instructor for feedback and coaching

You estimate work and duration with your team and build an MS Project® Schedule

You take the requirements, resources and time frame and build a schedule

  • At each step, you submit your work to your PM instructor for coaching and feedback so that the final schedule meets professional standards.
  • Your instructor challenges you with difficult resource availability and allocation situations so you learn how to handle the challenges of borrowing people across functional lines and using resources that are not working full-time on projects.

The completion date is later than the boss wants, so you optimize the plan to cut time

You present options and trade-offs on budget & duration

  • You learn to give executives options for shortening duration, altering the level of achievement the project produces, and adjusting the amount of resources and budget required.
  • In live meetings, you answer the executive's questions and use project management tools to make adjustments to fit exactly what the executive wants.

You launch the project, motivate the team, solve problems and execute the plan

You identify and design solutions to project problems and motivate your team to higher levels of performance

  • Your instructor engages you in a problem solving and status reporting process to achieve the project's objectives, cope with problems that occur on projects, and keep everyone informed
  • The focus is on spotting problems early and taking corrective action.

You present your status reports and answer the sponsor's questions

You report status, problems, solutions and opportunities and your instructor asks you the questions that managers ask in these sessions. Then your instructor gives you feedback on you how you handled the session.