The need for project management in research stage projects is commonly overlooked.

Unlike traditional project management, research project management has to deal with high levels of uncertainty.

This course 2-day will explore a project management approach for research projects and demonstrate how simple and effective project management techniques can be executed differently to help manage a complex organisational structure supporting projects with unknown outcomes.

 Who Should Attend

 On Completion Delegates Will Be Able To

• Set project goals
• Gain buy-in from technical team members
• Develop a project plan by breaking a project down into manageable components
• Better understand the role of project managers in: decision making; managing risk; the growth of knowledge-based assets; the organisation and project structures that impact the management of projects; the challenges in managing, or being involved, in more than one project.

 Course Content

Project Fundamentals

• Definition of a project
• The stages of a project
• How projects can go wrong

Research Projects

• Similarities and differences – traditional PM
• How do you define/measure success?
• Dealing with uncertainty and risk

The Project Management Environment

• Setting clear objectives
• Agreeing the scope of the project
• Putting a team together

Project Planning

• How to create a project plan
• Estimating how long each task will take
• Prioritising tasks
• Allocating tasks to your team

Risk Management

• Risk identification techniques
• Assessing risk exposure
• Establishing risk factor
• Risk mitigation strategy

Estimating Techniques

• Estimating rules
• Realistic estimating
• Contingency planning

Project Monitoring

• Running project meetings
• Weekly project review
• Identifying issues (problems you know of)
• Identifying risks (what could go wrong)
• Updating your plan
• Creating a progress report

Managing Change

• The dynamics of chang
• Setting up the change control file
• The change methodology and life cycle
• Determining options and implementing changes

Project Tracking & Control

• Setting the right level for control and tracking
• Determining the information required
• Setting the project baseline
• Interpreting progress and project status
• Reporting and communication

Finishing the Project

• Why it’s important to close your projec
• How to close a project
• Managing expectations
• Lessons learned
• Creating a project close report