Project planning training – ITD

Project planning training is required by more and more people as project management becomes a key skill in many roles. Projects are an everyday feature of a variety of roles and levels, and are becoming increasingly complex. Projects can be defined as a piece of work which lasts more than one or two days and which involves more than one person to deliver the objective. Further complexity comes from having internal and external aspects, as well as  international and cross cultural project dynamics.

Project planning training in 2015

Project planning training needs to be both practical and robust. It not only needs to work as a piece of personal development, it needs to work for a wide variety of functional areas. It also needs to be flexible enough to allow for a quick application for small projects and work well for larger more complex projects.

Project planning training with ITD

Our project planning and project management training has been delivered with a wide variety of clients in a range of business sectors. The ITD project planning methodology is a flexible tool and applies in many circumstances, with even experienced project managers having found it useful.

Key challenges of participants on our project planning training

• “My projects always seem to overrun, so I need to improve my project planning.”
• “Project budgets are a headache and I need a better methodology.”
• “Project planning and management is going to be a key part of my new role, so I need to learn how to plan well.”
• “People on my projects sometimes don’t deliver on their promises, so I need to plan better for this.”
• “I want a flexible tool to use in an ad hoc basis for project planning.”
• “I want to avoid surprises and plan for the unexpected happening, as it so often does.”

How do we tailor our project planning training to your needs?

1. We discuss your training needs with you and any previous training delivered on the subject. We talk about the outcomes you’d like to see and the typical challenges of the participants, including the sort of projects they work on.
2. We develop a fully costed draft proposal based on our experience and your needs.
3. When we deliver the training we adapt it to the needs and questions of the participants in the session.

The ITD Project Planning tool

We have developed our own tool based on years of experience. This tool is easy to understand and simple to use. All those on our training have found it very useful. The tool is applied to the participants projects in the training which they prepare and bring into the session on the day.

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Project planning training overview

This workshop can either be run as a stand alone session focussing just on the project planning issues. Or it can be run with content taken from our project management workshop to make it a larger session. We can also take it further by involving the international issues of running projects.

The workshop reviews both the process & people issues. It looks at the key issues in managing international projects and provides frameworks and ideas to help. The participants are encouraged to bring their challenges into the session for discussion and to develop ideas.

Live training approach

Our approach involves your people working on their projects in the training. We ask that they bring a previous, current or future project into the training to work on. In this way they review, consider or plan their work, which means the impact on their everyday planning should be immediate.

ITD Project Planning tool applied to your organisation

We take our planning tool and modify it where necessary based on the needs of your organisation. We can add parts, or remove them according to your requirements.

Location

We have delivered project planning training in a number of countries.

Duration

To do a basic overview of the subject takes a day, which can be in two half days. But we can also do a short 2 hour session to cover the essentials. And we have run 2 day sessions which cover the subject in more detail.

Pre workshop activity

• Meeting to discuss the participant’s needs and those of the organisation.
• Draft workshop outline tailored to your needs.
• Agreement of agenda.
• Participants complete a short questionnaire and read the ITD Work Style Model in preparation for the workshop.

Typical agenda

Introduction & Overview

• Introduction to ITD Project Management framework & approach

Purpose

• Project objective & aligning to firm goals
• Success Criteria
• Assumptions
• Planning inter-departmental projects

People

• Roles & responsibilities
• Managing expectations
• Selling a project to Partners
• Successful communication – planning and on going
• Others involved and implicated
• Working with different personalities

Process

• Milestones & tasks

Planning

• Communication
• Other resources
• Contingency planning

Post Project Completion

• Post Project Analysis
• Project hand over

Post workshop activity

• Participants leave with individual actions
• Email follow up of personal action plans
• Suggested conversation with their line manager on their actions
• Optional WebEx conference call follow up on these actions
• Optional 121 coaching
• ITD blog with further tips and suggestions

What the clients say

What the participants say

To receive the ITD Project Planning & Management Tip Sheet just complete the following

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Project planning training case study

Client

International business with offices in US, Europe & Middle East.

Background

This international business has offices in Dubai where the training took place. The participants manage projects which touch their colleagues in Dubai as well as other offices.

Need

The need for training was to help participants become more efficient, less reactive to events, improve planning and ultimately more profitable management of resources.
There was also a need to improve inter departmental working.

Activity

Discussed need with HR / Training.
o Draft solution was piloted based on the ITD project management model.
o Roll out after successful pilot to all senior managers in support roles who had an influence over how projects are managed.
o Participants brought into the training actual projects they had worked on, were managing, or best of all were about to start.
o During the training the processes and skills were applied by the participants to their projects and the benefits discussed.
o Training groups were small and mixed departmentally – to allow for good quality detailed discussions.

Outcomes

Training was very positively received by all participants. Programme of training extended. Projects better planned and medium term feedback in terms of application of ideas is excellent.

What the client said

What the participants said

• “I hadn’t realised the importance of informing those not involved but impacted by my projects.”
• “It was excellent to see how important IT is in almost all of the projects reviewed.”
• “Excellent planning tool which is easy to apply to my projects.”

1. Benefit from our unique project planning tool designed by us based on years of experience.

2. We will design the training using our approach but based on your needs and the kind of projects in your organisation.

3. Our consultants are very experienced and create a positive learning atmosphere.

4. We have a flexible approach to fees, so no matter what your budget we can find a way of developing your people.

5. Our training is practical with your people working on their own projects during the training.

6. Using our unique action planning tool gives the best possible chance for your people to implement the changes they need to make.

ITD training workshops which you may find interesting and related to project planning:

Project management training

Communication skills training

Introduction to management training

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Project planning definitions:

Project – A piece of work which takes more than one day to complete and/or involves more than person.

Deadline – The date on which the project is targeted to be complete and operational, that is, working successfully.

False deadline – A date by which a task should be complete, some time ahead of when it is actually needed, usually to ensure the task is actually completed on time.

Interdependencies – A point at which one person cannot start their piece of work in a project before another person has successfully completed their task.

Project sponsor – The person who has overall responsibility and authority over a project.

Project manager – the person who oversees and is tasked with completing the project, with day to day involvement.

Project objective – the specific purpose or goal the project is to fulfil.

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