Foundations of Project Management I (with Mitacs Training) (online)

This session is being offered in collaboration with MITACS Training. Mitacs Training provides professional development training to advanced degree graduates, supplementing their education and research experience with the tools necessary to succeed in today’s workforce.

*This is a two-day workshop, and attendance in both days is required.*​

Learning teams of approximately five people each will be formed at the beginning of this session and will work together throughout the session.  This will enable the participants to enhance their learning from each other, to experience the development of a strong team, and to develop a model of the culture that they will want to create and execute their projects.

Course Objective:

This 2-day course provides an experiential, collaborative learning experience to enable participants to integrate the principles of project management, team building, group dynamics and leadership that participants can apply immediately and in their future careers and lives. Participants experience the processes of collaborative planning and management and can see the benefits firsthand.

Learning Outcomes:

Through participating and completing this course, participants will:

• Gain a clear understanding of foundational project management principles
• Have an emphasized understanding of the importance of team and team dynamics within the context of project management and meeting project deadlines

Key Topics Areas:

Principles of project management and team building

• Forming new teams and learning from team members past experience
• Understanding self and others using the Strength Deployment Inventory, a self-scoring questionnaire that identifies, motivations, personal strengths in relating, causes of stress or conflict and each individual’s typical response to conflict
• Personal styles of learning and problem-solving
• Creating a team agreement on practices and processes that will enhance their work together
• Techniques and tools to increase team effectiveness at decision making
• Planning and conducting effective project meetings

Leadership:

• Role of the leader in decision making
• Modifying leadership behavior to meet the needs of the situation

Project planning concepts

• Developing and building effective project teams
• Project planning and scheduling: basics of the critical path method (CPM), work breakdown, time calculations, and shortening the project
• Collaborative techniques and processes for planning and scheduling projects, establishing positive project practices and procedures, and the monitoring and reporting of progress
• Risk assessment on the projects planned

Review and discussion of learning

• Providing constructive criticism for positive results

Facilitator

Jim Brosseau has worked in the high-technology sector since 1980, in a variety of roles and responsibilities. He has held successively more responsible positions in military and defence contracting, commercial software development, and training and consulting. He has worked in the QA role, and has acted as team lead, project manager, and director. Jim has been involved with the BCIT Bachelor of Technology program, mentored students at SFU Surrey and the Vancouver Board of Trade's Leaders of Tomorrow program, acts as a mentor in the New Ventures BC competition, and has been on the Business Advisory Board of the Advanced Systems Institute of BC.

REGISTRATION

Registration in this session is required, and is now open. There are limited seats available in this session, and those successfully registered will receive an email within one week of the session date.

Delivery Format

Due to the ongoing situation surrounding COVID-19, this session will be delivered online via Zoom. The following suggestions may help to improve the online experience:

• Use headphones to reduce noise and avoid feedback between your mic and speaker.
• Ensure that you are in a quiet location so that the audio does not get polluted with unwanted noise.
• Keep your microphone on mute unless you are speaking during the session.
• In case of technical problems, time for plugin downloads, etc., please attempt to log into the Zoom meeting 10-15 minutes before the start. You will be placed in the waiting room until the official start time.