Essential Planning & Scheduling Skills for Successful Project Management
Course Info
Course Summary
Planning a new project can be challenging. Making any changes involves a lot of responsibility, so it’s important to ensure that every aspect is planned out as much as possible. One of the biggest risk areas when planning a new project is assuming that everything will go well the first time and failing to put in timescales for each section of the project roadmap.
Developing a Gantt chart to track progress and provide realistic timeframes will help you make changes if you notice that you’re falling behind. It’s also important to delegate tasks to the right people based on their skill sets to achieve the best quality work and set realistic SMART targets to ensure that everyone is aiming for the same end goal.
Scheduling meetings and planning at checkpoints are essential parts of any process that most people fail to recognise. This allows all team members to remain on the same page and raise concerns where necessary.
As a project leader, it’s your responsibility to uncover risks, regularly audit each process area, and even gain external feedback to understand where the process may need to change. If you’re working on a strict schedule, it’s important to understand your risk areas as early as possible, remain flexible, and make changes before they cause problems.
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Understand the best devices and tools for planning your schedule.
- Develop a roadmap to plan out your journey.
- Analyse your plan and pull out potential risks.
- Set SMART targets to ensure your project remains on track.
- Communicate effectively with your team to stick to timeframes.
- Create a plan B to implement changes quickly if required.
- Understand how Gantt charts can help you stay on target.
- Understand trade-offs to keep momentum.
- Maintain quality by monitoring control while sticking to a deadline.
This course is designed for anyone responsible for project planning and monitoring to make a positive change. It would be most beneficial for:
- Planning Managers
- Project Planners
- Change & Control Managers
- Operations Managers
- Business Owners
- Directors
- Sales Managers
- Bid Writers
This course uses various adult learning techniques to aid full understanding and comprehension. Participants will explore the most effective tools and techniques for their project rollout and begin planning for the change. They will conduct role-playing exercises to negotiate and pitch a new project to gain buy-in from a team and set realistic timeframes for a change.
Seminars and presentations will also be used throughout to exemplify a good project schedule against projects with bad planning methodologies so participants can understand the impacts of their changes and the importance of planning and risk mitigation.
Course Content & Outline
Section 1: Project Planning Fundamentals
- What does a successful project need?
- Conducting a fulfilling SWOT analysis.
- Gaining buy-in from partners and stakeholders.
- Tools and techniques to aid a successful project.
- SMART targets: what do you aim to achieve?
- Selecting the right team.
- Delegating based on strengths.
Section 2: Creating Your Schedule
- Gantt charts.
- Setting a realistic timeframe.
- How to schedule multiple tasks simultaneously.
- Lead and Lag and how they influence your decisions.
- The Resource Allocation Algorithm (RAA).
- LEAN project management.
Section 3: Project Evaluation & Risk Analysis
- Time and budget constraints.
- Understanding the economic impacts of causing a delay.
- Your networking considerations.
- Your Project Evaluation Review Technique (PERT).
- Your Line of Balance schedule.
- Your 80/20 plan.
Section 4: Planning Techniques, Control & Change Implementation
- Monitoring change throughout the process.
- Data-driven proposals.
- Change and control - foolproofing your project.
- Float concepts.
- The Precedence Diagram Method.
Section 5: Progress Reports & Rescheduling
- Delivering your final piece.
- Review and revisit based on feedback.
- Rescheduling to aim for maximum productivity.
- Changes and developments to perfect your project.
- Waste elimination and effectiveness scoring.
- Celebrating successes and understanding failures.
Certificate Description
Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded a Holistique Training Certificate of Completion. For those who attend and complete the online training course, a Holistique Training e-Certificate will be provided.
Holistique Training Certificates are accredited by the British Accreditation Council (BAC) and The CPD Certification Service (CPD), and are certified under ISO 9001, ISO 21001, and ISO 29993 standards.
CPD credits for this course are granted by our Certificates and will be reflected on the Holistique Training Certificate of Completion. In accordance with the standards of The CPD Certification Service, one CPD credit is awarded per hour of course attendance. A maximum of 50 CPD credits can be claimed for any single course we currently offer.
Project management is crucial for aligning projects with strategic goals, optimizing resources, and ensuring timely, high-quality outcomes. It involves stages from initiation to closure, applicable across industries. Key skills include leadership and communication. Books and certifications offer deep insights into effective project management practices.
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