You should gain the following knowledge from a great project management course: 

1. New insights that will enable you to deliver quality projects and programmes on time and on budget.
2. Awareness of strategies and key activities that are not likely to be included in other training courses. (Which makes the difference between success and failure.)
3. Knowledge relating to methodology selection and enhancement. Virtually every project is different, and each one must be managed holistically, including the methodology you use.
4. Understanding of proven, real-world principles that have been used to deliver some of the most demanding, business-critical projects and programmes in the UK.
5. Specialist knowledge documented in a reference guide. These project management principles will work with any methodology or as a standalone best-practice guide if you are not using a formal methodology. 
6. Practical advice on estimating and resource planning.
7. Awareness of pragmatic risk management
8. An understanding of quality assurance principles.
9. Knowledge that will allow you to achieve approval to go live and have a smooth cutover to BAU.
10. Awareness of the reasons 65% of IT projects fail, so you can avoid the same mistakes.

New Insights

A great project management course will provide invaluable insights that result in success. The current methods of managing projects are not delivering the required results, and organisations are bearing the consequences of failure.

An outstanding course will teach you how to use these insights to view your projects holistically and manage them, from project initiation to seamless cutover to business as usual. 

Awareness of Strategies and Key Activities

Knowledge of additional key activities and methods of implementing them is vital. A great course will teach you how to:

• Plan and initiate projects. (Poor project initiation is a major factor in 80 per cent of IT project failures.)
• Estimate effort and show it in your plans. (University studies have shown that most tasks take over twice as long to complete when reviewed against the estimates.)
• Select the correct methodology and enhance it if required. Determine the best Agile framework for your projects.
• Use hybrid methodology if this is the best option for your project.
• Manage dependencies across teams. 
• Coordinate infrastructure builds in an Agile environment.
• Determine the level of contingency you should include in your plans based on several factors, including the confidence in the estimates and the use of new technology.
• Agree on critical success factors with stakeholders.
• Manage risk proactively.
• Predict the cutover risk during the project lifecycle.
• Plan and manage dress rehearsals. (They are the most effective risk management and cutover preparation activity a project can complete.)
• Manage your budgets effectively over the course of the project.
• Manage security planning and testing. (This relates to planning these activities. For example, planning third-party testing, which can have a long lead time. There may be a requirement to retest; this all needs to go in the plan with contingency. Please note that security strategy and implementation is a separate topic.)
• Identify and manage proof-of-concept activities.
• Align the strategy for managing master data with the project.
• Prepare the cutover runbook with the necessary level of detail, including checkpoints and stakeholder updates.
• Prepare for and manage Go/No Go meetings.
• Manage all prerequisites in order to have a smooth cutover and excellent post-go-live support.

Knowledge Relating to Methodology Selection and Enhancement

Methodology selection and enhancement is critical if you want to deliver successful projects.

Would you use the same approach to develop a system for a single department and to manage a major transformation programme that includes configuration of an ERP solution, new infrastructure, data transformation, new integrations and substantial business process change?

The course needs to teach you:

• The strengths and weaknesses of the widely used methodologies.
• When to consider hybrid methodology.
• How to enhance approaches to ensure delivery.

Stakeholders rarely care about how a project is delivered, but they care deeply about quality projects that add real value to the organisation by being delivered on time and on budget.

Proven, Real-World Principles and Actions

The course should include examples of the principles and actions so you can relate to the issues and solutions.

The examples should include different methodologies, various types of projects and distinct phases of the project lifecycle.

In an excellent project management course, you will be able to relate the lessons you learn to your projects. A variety of projects should be represented, from small development projects to major transformation programmes.

Specialist Knowledge Documented in a Reference Guide

Having a reference guide alongside your course will make project management easier, more efficient and more successful. Whether you are starting a new project, are in the middle of managing one, or have responsibility for rescuing a project, a reference guide will reinforce the lessons learnt on your course. 

You should gain specialist knowledge that will work with any methodology or as a standalone guide if you are not using a formal methodology. Imagine the difference it will make in your project management when you have a profound understanding of your options and know how to implement best practice at every phase of your project. You will gain the knowledge to add the relevant activities that will ensure successful delivery.

Exceptional project management courses are based on lessons learnt on demanding, complex projects and programmes where failure was not an option. You will gain the confidence to deliver complex, business-critical projects successfully.

Practical Advice on Estimating and Resource Planning

A high-quality training course will give you an understanding of estimating and information about why estimates are usually so inaccurate. When preparing budgets, remember that most tasks take twice as long to complete compared to their estimates. 

Realistic estimates are critical on all projects, but on complex projects it’s worth taking time during initiation to ensure your estimates are as accurate as possible. 

Universities have conducted studies to determine the accuracy of estimates versus actual time taken to complete tasks. They concluded that tasks take, on average, over twice as long to complete compared to the estimates. Optimism and not considering potential issues and blockers contribute to the problems with underestimating.

Overestimating resource availability is a common issue that impacts projects. It is important to agree on a reasonable contingency percentage based on your confidence in the estimates.

The preparation and management of work packages should be included in the course. They are very useful for estimating effort and for managing progress on a project.

Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) should be considered for projects that require a higher level of planning and design. There is an emphasis on software design and architecture before development starts. The early phases include scope, baseline plan, prioritisation and estimates.

Pragmatic Risk Management

The following are some key elements of risk management that should be included in the course:

• Business and cutover dress rehearsals. (They are the most effective risk management and cutover preparation activity a project can complete.) 
• A simple method for risk management that is objective and clear to everyone rather than, ‘This is my opinion,’ with each stakeholder holding a distinct viewpoint.
• Risk management is covered in some methodologies, but the focus is usually on preparing and maintaining a risk log. On many projects, risk management consists of a weekly or monthly review of the log with little evidence of real risk management between meetings. Proactive and ongoing risk management is essential to deliver a quality project on time and on budget.
• The risk management strategy must be commensurate with the complexity, business criticality and timescale of the project.
• Risk management is one of the most important responsibilities of a project manager. Effective risk management can be the difference between project success and failure. However, many projects fail to give risk management the necessary priority.

Quality Assurance

Quality assurance is a separate activity, and it is essential for successful project delivery. 

In a quality course you should learn how to reply if anyone says, ‘Quality assurance is just part of everyone’s activities.’ This statement isn’t correct, but it is heard on many projects. The quality plan should specify the person responsible for quality assurance and measurement criteria.

Quality assurance is required for all activities, but data quality assurance is an area that requires additional diligence. 

Quality plan 

A quality plan is an essential component of a successful project. A document with the following is required to ensure that you deliver a quality project:

• Quality standard principles. You should adhere to principles that are pertinent to the project you are managing.
• The individual or individuals accountable for meeting the predetermined quality standards.
• Quality standard measures. (Data quality, training satisfaction, reduction in manual effort, delivery of critical success factors, risk score, IT and business cutover readiness, dress rehearsal results, etc.)
• Quality reviews.
• Quality reports.

As with all documentation and activities, you should be taught to take a pragmatic approach. This doesn’t need to be a long document, but it will be beneficial to prepare a quality plan and communicate it to the project team and stakeholders.

Achieve Approval to Go Live and a Smooth Cutover to BAU

The cutover runbook is a key document that should be covered in a course. It is best practice to prepare it as early in the project lifecycle as possible and definitely before the start of the dress rehearsals. It is important to consult with all stakeholders to ensure that everyone understands roles, responsibilities, steps, communication, approvals over the cutover period, final approval to go live and escalation procedures in case there are issues during the cutover.

The following considerations should be included in the course:

• Stakeholder engagement in the cutover is critical. Final business sign-off is a prerequisite for go-live.
• Agree and include the business assurance scenarios in the cutover runbook. They are required for business go-live approval. 
• Review the steps in the backout plan in case issues are encountered during cutover. 
• Run all the steps in the runbook in a dress rehearsal before the cutover date.
• Have contingency resources on standby in case any of the key people are not available during the cutover period. (Many cutovers are scheduled for the weekend to minimise BAU disruption.)
• It is critical that the cutover dress rehearsals use the To Be production configuration. 
• Include all the prerequisite cutover activities in the runbook. 
• The runbook should be detailed, with activities at fifteen-minute intervals. 
• Have an open meeting (Teams, Zoom, Slack, etc.) from the start until the completion of the implementation.
• As part of the Go/No Go meetings, you will need to show the readiness status in a clear, concise format. The meetings usually last between thirty minutes and an hour. It is important to present the information in a logical format.  
• Handover to the support team is critical for a smooth cutover. Please include handover activities in all plans. Ensure the handover documentation is fit for purpose. Include the support teams in the dress rehearsals. Add a failure scenario to ensure that everyone from the end user to third-level support understands the process. Also, involve the support team in the preparation of the support Service Level Agreement. (SLA)

Awareness of the Reasons 65% of Projects Fail and How to Deliver Projects Successfully 

An advanced project management course must include strategies to prevent project failure. Delivering IT projects is extremely difficult, and this is proven by the high failure rate. At least 65 per cent of projects are stopped before cutover, go over budget or don’t deliver the expected benefits.

• Many methodologies, project management books and training courses do not cover essential activities that make the difference between success and failure. The following items are critical elements of delivering projects on time and to budget:
• Dress rehearsals. (The most effective risk management and cutover preparation activity a project can complete.) 
• Practical risk management.  
• Project initiation. (Poor project initiation is a major factor in 80 per cent of IT project failures.)
• Contingency planning.
• Budget management. 
• Holistic security, including planning, configuration, and testing.
• Proof of concept activities.
• Aligning the master data management strategy to the project. 
• Selecting methodologies and Agile frameworks.
• Use of hybrid methodology.
• Dependency management across teams.
• Coordinating infrastructure builds in an Agile environment.
• Cutover management.
• Runbook preparation.
• Managing Go/No Go meetings.
• Post go-live support.

Information in an advanced course will enhance your probability of success considerably. Despite decades of use of Waterfall, PRINCE, and Agile methodologies, the failure rate remains consistent. Gaps in the methodologies are a major contributing factor to this.

The project manager’s skill and knowledge are critical. Knowing when to combine methodologies or add additional activities will make the difference between delivery of a system that adds value or a costly failed project after months or years of effort. An outstanding project management course will give you the knowledge to succeed.

The Advanced Project Management course is available as a self-study course or instructor-led on Thursdays at Milton Keynes, or at your office.