Project Management - I

BMGT-487 (3)

Course Syllabus

How many projects are going on around you at the present time? Is anyone repairing a building, road, underground pipes or cabling near you? As you planning a vacation this summer during term break? Is the shop or office being reorganized (again)? Are you introducing new machines or processes? Are you adjusting to the addition or loss of a major customer by dramatically increasing or reducing your size and activity levels? Modern life is full of projects, both personal and professional. And what are the key concerns?

In this course we learn the basic skill set of project and program managers and how to use the basic tools of project management (including an exemplar of the class of project management software tools). Once you learn the basics, it is much like riding a bicycle. You can add to your skills through practice (and formal training and education like BMGT 488) as you need them. You can use the skills in construction, manufacturing, repair and modification, and in the aviation, automotive, computer and financial services industries to name but a few.

We will look at the nature of projects and what makes them different from "ordinary work". Here is where your background in management and organization theory will come in handy for your authors help you understand how a project focus for our work often conflicts with traditional management methods and structures.

As this is an introductory course, I will assume that you have been brought in to work on a project conceived by your boss or a perhaps you are working on a spin-off from an earlier project. We will save the creative bits (how do you select you next project) for Project Management II. So we begin almost immediately with project initiation, then move on to implementation and eventually reach termination.

I have been a project manager on and off for 40 years and I know how important it is not only to plan well, but also to execute well, make crucial adjustments "on the fly", learn from mistakes and create follow-on projects. Indeed, one of the harder skills in a public activity is terminating projects; in business ending a project is more natural, but still a difficult task.

This practical, discovery class depends upon active, consistent student involvement. Check our WebTycho classroom and your email at least once every two days and respond to queries within one day if possible, two at the maximum (even if just to say when you will be able to give a more complete answer to the request). I will try to allow you time to explore the subject both individually and in small groups while giving you feedback on completed assignments.

There will be both individual and small group work. In addition to studying the assigned text, you must satisfactorily complete the following:

a. Weekly assignments to be shared and critiqued with other students.

1) Use WebTycho conference and study group areas. We will use email as a back-up system.

2) Find and share with the class at least one different article or web site a week that relates to the current, just past, or just upcoming week's topic.

3) Complete individual assignments as shown in the Schedule and Assignments Sheet.

4) Review all conferences with new material and comment on the work and ideas of others as appropriate.

5) Complete and turn-in Module exercises.

b. A Journal on your reactions to and progress through this course submitted once monthly.

c. Participate in group discussions and lead class discussions on designated topics.

d. Course Project: The class as a whole, during the final seven weeks of the course, will create a Student Study Guide for the text.

(1) Class members will self-organize working groups to complete this project.

(2) Each student will be involved in some aspect of the coverage of every chapter. (i.e., students may not specialize on particular chapters to the exclusion of other chapters.)

(3) One student will serve as the project historian

(4) The Project will include all phases of the project life cycle.

(5) Project "deliverables" will include weekly progress reports, the Student Study Guide and the Final Report plus other routine project management reports.

e. An open-book, take-home mid-term exam accessed on-line at 0000 hours UCT/GMT, 20 July 2002 (return your response within 48 hours to the WT assignment area).

f. An open-book, take-home final exam accessed on-line at 0000 hours UCT/GMT, 28 September 2002 (return your response within 48 hours to the WT assignment area).

Class Participation: (25% of course grade)

• individual work including assigned exercises,
• weekly web site or article sharing with the class,
• a journal in which you reflect on your process of learning and sharing during the course, and
• small group work
• Review all conferences with new material and comment on the work and ideas of others as appropriate.

I will look at these five things that I ask you to do on a continual basis. Within this area, your small group (team) work and individual work will count the most toward your grade.

You will be graded on your consistent, steady progress through this course. While individual work can often be made up if you get behind, group work cannot, so keep that in mind.

Other than MS Project 2000, use software (such as MS Office 97/98, MS Office 2000 or programs that can save files in those formats such as Star Office) that can integrate text with simple graphics and save them in MS Office, .gif, or .jpg formats.

Access to a software compression program such as WinZip is also needed. (It must be able to archive files with a .zip extension.)

Exceptions to this requirement are possible if alternative arrangements can be made for reliably sharing files which include embedded graphics.

Course Project: (15%)

This will be your opportunity to apply the techniques of project management and reflect on theory vs. practice as you walk through the text.

• Weekly status reports during the second part of the course,
• Project Plan Development and Phase Reviews,
• Project Implementation Phase Reviews,
• Completion and Acceptance of Project "deliverables', and
• Project Audit, Evaluation and Final Report

The course project will involve the entire class, operating as a team, in developing, implementing, and terminating a set-piece project.

The project team will be self-managed within certain constraints. Each team member will be involved in all phases of the project.

To facilitate the final report, a team recorder will document your progress. This will help you compare the theory from your text with the reality observed in your team.

This is not a correspondence course. Your presence in our virtual classroom is a vital part of the learning experience for everyone in this course. Consequently lack of consistent participation 2-3 times weekly in spite of long hours at work, computer problems, deployments, vacations, business trips, other courses, etc. may earn you a grade of F(n) as such action overrides the grading percentages shown above.