CANCELLED: Foundations of Project Management II (with Mitacs Training) (Online)

Date & Time

Wednesday, 19 August 2020 - 9:00am to Thursday, 20 August 2020 - 5:00pm

Location

Online via Zoom

Organizer

Postdoctoral Fellows Office

 

UPDATED AUGUST 14, 2020: Due to unforseen circumstances, Mitacs Training has had to cancel all project management workshops until further notice.

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.

PLEASE NOTE: Foundations of Project Management I is a pre-requisite for this course. You will not be allowed to attend if you have not completed this pre-requisite. This course uses the same binder of materials given to you in FPMI and it is your responsibility to bring this set of materials with you to this course.

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

Participants will work in learning teams of approximately 5 people formed at the beginning of the two-day course. Building on the skills developed in Foundations of Project Management I: A team-based approach, this coursewill emphasize skills of risk assessment, estimation, budgeting, resource schedule crisis management and continued focus on participating, building and managing teams

Course Objective

This 2-day course provides an experiential, collaborative learning experience to enable participants to build on the principles of project management, team building, group dynamics and leadership identified and applied in Level I, while exploring key concepts in greater detail to further develop participants skills and knowledge in the area of project planning and management.

Learning Outcomes

Through participating and completing this course, participants will: 

  • Solidify concepts and learning from Level I
  • Broaden grasp on project planning and implementation
  • Refine knowledge of CPM application
  • Be able to effectively integrate estimation and budgeting in to project plans
  • Learn planning methods to reduce risk and manage crisis
  • Have a deepened and continued understanding of the importance of team and team dynamics within the context of project management and meeting project deadlines
Key Topics Areas

Level I: review and discussion on success and application of skills introduced in Level I

Project Plan Implementation

  • Preparing a project overview statement
  • Refinements in the use of CPM: cost and resource planning, and resource constrained schedules
  • Estimating and budgeting
  • Resource scheduling
  • Project procedures: developing a practices manual, responsibility charting, and document schedules
  • Monitoring, measuring and reporting: time and cost reporting systems, trend analysis, and project change control

Crisis management

  • Buffering or protecting bottlenecks or constraints
  • Positive management of project crises
  • Causes and ways of resolving conflict for mutual gains
  • Conducting comparative analyses to evaluate alternative solutions
  • Conducting a post-project review or critique of project practices

Creating the ideal project culture for creativity, innovation, and productivity

  • Collaborative techniques for problem solving and decision-making
  • Giving and receiving constructive criticism
  • Situational Leadership
  • Group process skills, resolving conflict, personal management styles, and working effectively with different personalities
  • Managing contract relationships whether client or contractor

Personal Planning

  • Learning, review, action planning and project closure
Facilitator

Gary Robinson is president of E.M. Sciences Ltd, a management consulting firm formed in 1975 to meet the needs of project-oriented businesses. Specific services include organization development and culture change, management training and coaching, collaborative project planning, work redesign, team building and project partnering processes, project management critique, strategic planning, conflict resolution and continuous productivity and quality improvement. The purpose of his consulting is to increase the productivity of teams, organizations, and managers in ways that will also improve the quality of working life for people in the organization.

Gary has a M.Sc. in Engineering and a M.Sc. in Organization Development. Partly as a result of his first career as an engineering manager, most of his work is done with projects or with companies whose services and products are delivered as projects. His clients in Canada, the United States, England, Australia, India and Korea have included engineering companies, architectural firms, contractors, manufacturers, federal and provincial governments and crown corporations, city governments, high tech research and development firms, software design companies, oil companies, universities, hospitals, community agencies, and a variety of voluntary organizations.He is a Registered Professional Organization Development consultant (RODP) in the International Organization Development Institute, a member of the Project Management Institute, and a Professional Engineer with the Association of Professional Engineers of B.C.

REGISTRATION

UPDATED AUGUST 14, 2020: Due to unforseen circumstances, Mitacs Training has had to cancel all project management workshops until further notice.

Registration in this session is required. 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.