Day one: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Essentials of effective IT project management
What makes managing IT projects different from managing other types of projects
What makes a project a project ... and something beyond "regular work"
4 phases of IT project management
How to use your power and influence as a technical project manager
IT-specific hurdles that block successful project completion
Setting the proper scope of any IT project you undertake
How to make sure you're empowered with both the responsibility and the resources for your project
Understanding key roles in your project team and how they relate to the project process
Feasibility: Is this project doable? 3 measures to consider
What your IT project's payback is ... and how to figure it
Plan and launch your IT project right the first time
Beginning with a clear vision of your successful project
How to set concrete and achievable IT project objectives
6 ways to push beyond the concept and into the active planning stages
Methodologies that work for IT project planning
Constraints: What can or might hold you back
What to consider when creating a project budget you can work with
5 factors that can derail your IT project budget
Determining whether your IT project costs are absolute or marginal
IT-appropriate project management software and what to look for
Multi-tasking: How to set priorities within a single project and among multiple projects
Using Gantt and PERT charts in your planning and decision making
Units of work: How to list and order an IT project's many activities
How to build and maintain project schedules and deadlines
Top reasons why IT deadlines are missed and what to do about them
Double check: Proving and validating the plan you've created
Your plan's physical form: How to structure and write it
Gauging risks and using the information for better decisions
Top risk factors and how to avoid them
Possible or probable? Which risks are most likely to occur?
No risk, no gain ... how to manage the risks you take
How to spread your risk across multiple projects
Is upper management for or against your project? ... and what to do in either case
How to rid non-IT senior managers of their common IT project fears
Measuring risk by looking at both direct and indirect costs
7 project potholes on your road to success
Succeed through strong and supportive project leadership
How to distinguish between project leadership and project management
4 leadership styles and when to use each option
How to build the project team that matches your challenge
Developing team member commitment to your project vision, goals and objectives
How to match team member strengths with responsibilities
Creating performance standards and consequences for failure
How to encourage your team to work as one
Leading your way through project breakdowns and change
Conflict resolution is key to IT project progress
12 ways to communicate like a leader
How to avoid 3 major pitfalls in project management
Becoming a better project manager in 8 easy steps
Day two: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
How to supervise, track, monitor and control project progress
7 key questions to ask when evaluating your project's progress
Developing early-warning systems that evaluate project progress
The most useful monitoring tools for IT project management
How to use the Critical Path Method in your project tracking
Databases and their usefulness to project supervisors
The 3 best ways to get your struggling project back up to speed
Monitoring simultaneous projects with greater ease and efficiency
How to know if your tracking is off track
Expenditures: Watching where the money goes
5 elements to consider in your tracking data
When and how to make the best use of milestones
Schedule slippage: How to stop the slide
7 ways to improve project team accountability
Project reports ... when and what others need to know about your progress
Considering the critical audiences interested in your IT project
How to translate and make your findings useful to those outside the IT sphere
Establishing strong reporting procedures among your team members
Matching the report form to the project at hand
How to keep senior management informed when issues and problems arise
What's the upshot? Delivering the results in a meaningful way
How to manage those outside demands for changes in project objectives, outcomes, specs and deliverables
The write stuff ... how to make your project reports more readable
How to overcome the biggest drawbacks to project report meetings
Stuff happens ... you'd better have contingency plans
Building a bulletproof back-up plan for any IT project
How to hold on to your support, even when the project's changing
Why micro-management is not the way to save your project
Modeling your way toward stronger solutions
7 common triggers for back-up plan activation
Don't change a thing ... without measuring projected outcomes
When to scale back a faltering project to cut your costs
Considering the consultant's or outside vendor's role as a project-rescue resource
Pitfalls to avoid with new technology or new methodology and cost estimates
Change management-one key to your success
Two risk types to consider in your contingency plans
6 steps to better risk management
Special leadership responsibilities and rescue plans
How to manage the completion and close of your IT project
Setting project controls as completion nears and pressure grows
How to accurately measure your project's outcome
3 ways to know-beyond doubt-that your IT project has succeeded in its mission
Capturing full value: Using this project's lessons to make your next project even better
When a project fails-the importance of finding out why
How to figure your project's legitimate ROI
15 "to-do's" to make sure your project is fully completed
How to structure post-project reviews for maximum benefit
Final report: What should go in yours
20 questions to ask about your own project management performance
Closure-and the need to mark the end for team members
A guide to Internet and other project management resources