Course Overview

Project overruns are normal. Companies that consistently deliver projects on time, on budget, and fully functional are rare. Rarer still are those companies that overtly identify the benefits they expect and actively pursue them.

It is hard enough to keep a project on track when the road has been traveled before, the activities are familiar, and the pitfalls are clearly marked. Modern systems projects, with evolving development technologies, changing methodologies, and new applications, have created an environment in which each project is an exploration; the plan is not only difficult to follow, it is even harder to create with any degree of confidence.

If our industry is to mature to the point where we can routinely deliver what is required of us, one of the issues we must address is the shortage of qualified, experienced, professional, and career project managers. We need to find and develop people who can work with the uncertainties of project life, who can master the intricacies needed in project planning and execution, and who are powerful managers of themselves and their teams.

Such people are not common. Computer systems careers lead more readily to advanced technical expertise or line management. Project management is too often seen as a stepping-stone to “real” management, or as a useful secondary set of skills for technical leaders. In neither case will people emerge who are anxious to make project management a lifetime career.

This workshop presents the complex world of projects and the range of skills needed to manage them. It is one step in developing project managers who embrace the challenges and rewards inherent in a needed, exciting, and fulfilling profession.

Facilitator Profile

The trainer is an expert authority on project and portfolio management. He is the author of Information Systems Project Management (1st and 2nd Second Editions), and The Project Management Office Toolkit, both published by the American Management Association. He has also written articles for the trade press and the mass media on IT and project management issues.

He has an extensive career in information technology for the past fifteen years, specialist in project management. His clients have come from both the public and private sectors, and include State and Municipal Governments as well as Canadian Federal and Provincial Governments.

As a project management consultant, he has assisted several organizations in setting up project management processes and standards. He has developed The Project Management Guide, a comprehensive methodology for managing IT projects.

He has given numerous seminars on project management, offered publicly and in-house and he is a faculty member for the Diploma in Applied Project Management, offered by Simon Fraser University. His courses include sessions on “Managing Technology Projects,” offered jointly by Simon Fraser University and the Project Management Institute. He has also conducted in-house courses for the New York City Housing Authority and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and he conducted the Project Management Boot Camp at the 2004 New York Technology Forum. Participants at his seminars regularly give him the highest evaluations.

He is a member of the Project Management Institute and has presented to the local chapter of the Information Systems Special Interest Group on topics such as “The Stealth PMO” and “Project Politics”.

Some of His Clients List:

• New York City Housing Authority
• Simon Fraser University
• New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
• Workplace Technology Services (Government of British Columbia)
• 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Secretariat
• Government Technology (sponsor of the New York Technology Forum)
• British Columbia Ministry of the Environment
• British Columbia Institute of Technology
• Telus (Telco company)
• Open Learning Agency (distance education provider)

Research findings

“ 62% of organizations experienced IT projects that failed to meet their schedules, 49% suffered from budget overruns, 47% had higher-than-expected maintenance costs, 41% failed to deliver the expected business value and ROI ”, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Jan 2008

“A quarter of all IT projects end up more than 50% over budget”, Computer Associates,
Dec 2007

Testimonials

“The training has an immediate impact and I can apply what I learned to my projects I am working on now.”, Director, New York City Department of Family Assistance

“The exercises were extraordinary and very ‘hands-on,’ realistic situations making
them useful to be applied in real work.”, Manager Project Management Office, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

“I feel like I now have the framework to effectively manage a project.”, Marketing Director, Simon Fraser University

Key benefits for attending this event

• LEARN modern techniques to deliver projects successfully
• DISCOVER the reasons that projects fail and how to avoid them
• STUDY how to apply project management tools and techniques to your projects
• EXPLORE the problems of scope change and how to keep scope under control
• LEARN how to define risks and deal with them before they become crises
• FIND out the difference between project management and project leadership
• GAIN knowledge and skills to deliver true value to your organization