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Projectland

Contact us to explore creating a custom curriculum to help your organization navigate the intense terrain of Projectland

“The response to the classes have been overwhelmingly positive.  On a scale of 1 to 10, they consistently received an average rating of over 9 on all elements of instructor performance and content & delivery.”

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– Catherine Lamb, Director of PhillyStat, City of Philadelphia

Agile

Agile: Role-based, practical learning

Agile Foundations

2 days

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  • Background and Drivers for Agile Adoptions

  • Lean Overview

  • Scrum Overview

  • Kanban Overview

  • Scrum Roles

  • Scrum Events

  • Estimation and Planning with Scrum

  • Managing an Operational Backlog with Scrum and Kanban

  • Agile Organizational Transformation

ScrumMaster Training

1 day

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  • Pre-requisite: Agile Foundations

  • The ScrumMaster Role

  • Management vs Facilitation

  • Coaching Techniques

  • Supporting the Team

  • Supporting the Product Owner

  • Facilitating Organizational Change

Product Owner Training

1 day

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  • Pre-requisite: Agile Foundations

  • The Product Owner Role

  • BA vs Product Owner

  • Productized Organizations

  • Refining and Prioritizing the Backlog

  • Owning the Product

  • Estimation and Planning with Scrum

“This was an excellent course! Very interactive and engaging.  Topics were interesting and thought-provoking. Lively, interesting, and engaging presenter who kept my attention.  I didn’t want to miss anything.”

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– Business Project Leaders, Campbell Soup Company

Anchor 2

Lean Foundations

2 days

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  • Background and Introduction to Lean

  • Lean Principles for Manufacturing

  • Lean Principles for Software Development

  • Kanban, Scrum, and other Lean Management Techniques

  • Eliminating Waste

  • Continuous Improvement

Agile for Managers & Leaders

1 day

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  • Understanding key Agile Terms and Techniques

  • Agile Roles and Events

  • Translation vs Transformation

  • Benefits of Agile

  • Potential Pitfalls of Agile Transformations

  • Supporting teams in Transition

Practical Business Analysis Bootcamp

2 days

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  • Elicitation vs Gathering vs Discovery

  • Models for capturing information

  • Agile vs traditional requirements gathering models

  • Requirements formats

  • To-be vs as-built

  • Auditing and compliance

  • Contextualization, Empathy, and the Path to Success

Practical PM

Practical Project Management for Everyone

BECOME A PRO!

“I WAS LOOKING AND I COULDN'T FIND ANYTHING QUITE LIKE IT.

IT WAS BRILLIANT.  THANK YOU!"

ZEENA H. / SENIOR MANAGER, MARKETING INTELLIGENCE / LONDON, UK

We Can Combine Mini-Courses into a Custom Course to Meet Your Needs

Delivering Results is Not Enough

1.5 hours

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Imagine a scenario in which you deliver the exact results desired.  Now imagine you delivered those results far too late, consumed entirely too many people, spent too much money and upset a lot of important people along the way.  

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  • What is a project? What is it not?

  • Why are delivering results not enough?

  • What are "delivery objectives"?

  • What are tips and techniques for managing these 5 important elements?

  • What should every project manager do at the beginning of a project?

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Materials for this course are also available in English/Polish.

Starting Projects Successfully

2 hours

 

​Congratulations!  You’ve been requested to lead a very important project.  What you do in the beginning sets the stage for future success or a bumpy ride. Learn how to start your project successfully and with confidence.

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  • Refresh a few fundamentals

  • Review the first two (2) best practice focus areas in our simple, practical methodology

  • Simulate how to start a project successfully

  • Determine actions you will take

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Materials for this course are also available in English/Polish.

Executing Projects Flawlessly

2 hours

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Your project is underway and your team is working hard.  Now what?  This course provides an overview of five (5) key best practice areas that ensure your project stays on track.

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  • Refresh a few fundamentals

  • Review the next five (5) best practice focus areas in our our simple, practical methodology

  • Simulate planning best practices with our fun case study project

  • Simulate keeping the project "on plan"

  • Determine actions you will take 

Successfully Delivering Your Project

1.5 hours

 

The project team has done a fine job in completing much of the work of the project and soon you will be leading the team to enter the final stage before completion.  This course provides an overview of the final best practice in the methodology that will help you to successfully complete the project. ​

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  • Refresh a few fundamentals

  • Review the final best practice focus areas in our our simple, practical methodology

  • Determine actions you will take 

Managing Multiple Projects

2 hours

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Perhaps you have proven yourself as a solid project manager.  Now that you have been entrusted to manage multiple projects simultaneously, how do you feel?  Learn 8 principles, tips, tools and techniques that you can apply immediately.  Feel GREAT about your ability to keep all of your projects on track and manage your life too.

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  • Discuss common challenges

  • Walk through eight (8) top tips, tools and techniques

  • Share practices that work in your organization

  • Exercise: Using the Managing Multiple Projects with Ease worksheet, complete your self evaluation and plan actions to apply immediately 

Best Practice Principles for Productive Meetings

2 hours

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​How many hours have you spent in meetings that have left you feeling less than energized? Participants learn best practice principles for both leading and participating in meetings and create a personalized action plan to dramatically improve meeting productivity and satisfaction.

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  • Why do we have meetings?

  • Common symptoms suggesting meeting practices could be improved 

  • What value is there in improving meeting productivity and satisfaction?

  • Meeting types and frequency in projectland 

  • Top 10 tips for making the most of meetings

  • Top 10 sample meeting participant ground rules

  • Top 10 sample facilitator guidelines  

  • Sample meeting notes thinking tool 

  • Exercise: Simulate a typical project meeting

  • Determine actions you will take

Simulation-Style Planning & Scheduling Workshop for Everyone

Half-day​

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Project leaders must balance limited resources and deliver under challenging deadlines in the face of ever-increasing stakeholder expectations.  Internally, they must also report performance to management with confidence.  Project Sponsors must understand what they should expect from their project managers and how not to accidently sabotage their own projects and team members need to learn how to be successful in their roles.  Developed by practitioners, this course reviews a simple, practical 10-step process for creating a winning plan and schedule and offers proven techniques to deliver critical projects on time and with confidence. 

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  • Learn how to plan all aspects

  • Create a realistic schedule that considers risks and quality

  • Adapt to risks and changes, and evaluate options to stay on track

  • Assess and communicate progress with confidence

  • Practice using best practice “thinking tools” in a safe learning environment

  • Learn proven and practical tips and techniques that can be applied immediately

  • Assess themselves and create individual action plans

  • Assess organizational strengths and challenges

  • Collaborate, improve teamwork and have fun!

Crystal Clear Scope: WBS Workshop

2 hours

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​Starting projects successfully includes ensuring that your SCOPE is crystal clear. This is one of the most critical areas to get right.  Without clarity around what you are delivering, you can not successfully predict the resources you need, the time the work will take or the cost of delivering it.  Not only must you define what you WILL deliver, but also it is important to define what you will NOT. 

 

This mini-course allows participants to practice the art and science of breaking down deliverables (e.g., creating a Work Breakdown Structure) and defining scope clearly in a safe learning environment. 

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  • Refresh a few fundamentals

  • Review the our simple, practical methodology for starting projects successfully

  • Learn winning techniques for avoiding scope creep

  • Practice creating crystal clear scope using our Top 10 Tips 

  • Determine actions you will take 

Status Report Workshop

2 hours 

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Project reporting and communication are very important to project success.  In many cases, project reports that are shared with the project team are also shared with senior leadership. The key of the report is to communicate the right information to all levels so that the current state of the project is clearly understood. The purpose of this training is to give project leaders tools and tips to better communicate the state of projects to all levels of the organization.  This training emphasizes the importance of why project reporting is a critical element to project success. This training is geared toward anyone who is NOT a classically trained professional project manager, but can also be a form of continuous learning for project managers who are trained project management professionals. 

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  • Refresh a few fundamentals

  • Why do we create a project status report? 

  • Explore the value (i.e., not a "form" to fill out as quickly as possible)

  • What are key elements of a basic status report?

  • Review a 1-page practical status report model

  • Practice! Using an existing project, prepare and deliver a 2-minute project update in a safe learning environment 

  • Give and receive feedback with respect  

  • Determine actions you will take 

The Clock is Ticking!

Create Your Winning Schedule

2.5 hours

 

Review key tips to create a winning schedule that will enable you and your team to deliver on time and with confidence.  Participants will walk away appreciating basic and proven methods for scheduling, monitoring against the schedule and adjusting to changes or risks. Successfully applying course learnings to active projects will increase the organization’s ability to plan and deliver projects with greater predictability.  

Participants will:

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  • Explore 4 schedule enablers

  • Receive 15 tips for creating a winning schedule

  • Discuss which tool is right per project situation

  • Practice creating a winning schedule with a partner using a basic, intuitive and free tool called Trello 

 

This hands-on simulation experience will prepare participants to begin using the tool immediately, with confidence.  

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Practical Project Management for Everyone: Interactive Fundamentals

3 days

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Upon completion of this action-packed, highly interactive course, participants will:

  1. Become familiar with the project management process published by the Project Management Institute (PMI) via our exclusive game 

  2. Learn the essential 3 P's and where projects fit within the overall organization

  3. Learn the definition of a successful project (delivering results are not enough!)

  4. Understand the five (5) delivery objectives and corresponding tools to manage each one

  5. Learn the secret to becoming a GREAT project manager

  6. Self-assess whether project management is a good career fit and how to improve 

  7. Identify their individual communication style

  8. Understand and learn how to flex for the four (4) basic communication styles

  9. Learn how disastrous it can be when we fail to select the right project

  10. Initiate, plan, execute, monitor and control and close a project successfully, through a fun and interactive case study

  11. Analyze the Top 10 benefits improving project management can bring to your organization

  12. Capstone: Work as a team to analyze a newsworthy project against principles learned in the course OR (Key West Only) engage in a team-building treasure hunt!

And more...

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If you don't see what you're looking for, ask! Additional courses include: 

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Program/Project Management Offices: Proven, Practical Training for Leaders

PMO

PMO Primer for Leaders

2.5 hours

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Geared toward organizational leaders, this session gathers input to identify  opportunities for improvement using a common language and way of thinking based on best practices. Leaders describe the value that would be realized by achieving a new level of project management performance and identify actions that will support your organization's success through better project management. 

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  • Best Practice Project Management 101 Concepts

  • Puzzle Breakdown: 6 principles and 4 pieces that transform strategy into enterprise value

  • Explore the value your organization would gain by implementing more project management best practices through an interactive Top 10 exercise

  • Introduction to the robust PMO services grid

  • Align PMO elements to your top desired benefits

  • Identify potential next actions 

How to be a GREAT Project Sponsor

1.5 Hours

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​Avoid lack of management support as a key reason for project failure. Learn about the sponsor role, what great project sponsors do differently and how to become one. 

  

  • Level-set a few fundamentals

  • Review the typical project organization

  • Using our Top 10 Typical Responsibilities, rate your organization against best practices

  • Explore how the Sponsor role must evolve throughout the project lifecycle

  • Discuss common pitfalls and how to avoid them

  • Determine actions you will take

  • Includes Top 10 Responsibility takeaways that you can use to discuss expectations with your project manager and plan for success 

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Check out our related blog article

Effective, Evergreen Governance

2 hours

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Is everyone working on the right work all of the time? How do you make sure the right projects are selected and priorities are clear? How do you quickly pivot an entire organization when external forces surprise you?  The answer: Effective, Evergreen  Governance.   

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  • Making the case for effective, evergreen governance

  • Governance activities: guidance and decisions

  • Recruiting governance team members 

  • Attributes of effective governance teams

  • Setting the desired calendar and agenda 

  • Governance roadmap: phases, deliverables

  • Exploring the governance model that is right for your organization

Right-sized Portfolio Management

1.5 hours

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Does everyone have confidence that there is a clear, transparent and visible path to deliver on the organizational strategy? What is everyone working on? Is there a spirit of strong accountability, transparency and leadership support? Is your organization able to predict with confidence and show leaders how many projects the organization can handle in given timeframe?  Do leaders have a simple, trusted go to person and report to enable data-driven decisions and to focus their attention? The answer: Right-sized Portfolio Management. 

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  • Explore benefits to having an organized visible, prioritized portfolio that clearly supports organizational strategy and/or objectives

  • Introduction to a typical portfolio dashboard 

  • Evaluate a typical case study portfolio

  • Review the typical responsibilities and attributes of the Portfolio Manager role

  • Identify potential next actions 

Making the Business Case

Half-day

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Whether you call it a business case, cost justification or by your own unique term, learn industry best practices for "making the case" for your project to decision makers.

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  • Walk through typical business case elements

  • Review best practices to reduce costs

  • (Optional) Capital deployment process review creates a CFO-like mindset in the requesters of capital 

  • Typical related leadership roles 

  • Engaging case-study style simulation exercises emphasize the leadership experience

  • Learn important portfolio and governance concepts and how they work together 

Leading Change

1 day

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For organizations to achieve the benefits promised by PMOs and individual projects,  leaders can face major challenges in introducing changes to the way people need to perform, think or behave.   

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  • Explore the Leading Change Map through a "Implementing PMO Lite" Case Study experience

  • Discuss the 8 stages of leading change, actions needed and pitfalls

  • Analyze your own organization's strengths and challenges against the map

  • Plan actions you will take 

 

Check out our related blog article

SoftSkills

Soft Skills Interactive Workshops: Because Soft Skills Are Hard

Receiving & Giving Feedback: Tips that Harness the Power of Feedback

1 hour

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Do you find it difficult to have feedback discussions with members of your project team?  Learn how to provide feedback more effectively and improve your own performance when you embrace the feedback you receive.  This session offers tips on how to maximize giving and receiving feedback even if you are not in a position of authority.

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  • Feedback is a gift: A true tale

  • Review Johari's window

  • Discuss barriers to receiving feedback 

  • Learn tips that help you harness the power of feedback

  • Explore the 5 elements of quality feedback

  • The feedback frequency and engagement correlation

  • Review the importance of feedback

  • Uncover actions that help you influence others

  • Self-reflect and plan what you will do now

Influencing Without Authority:

Leading People Who Don't Report to You

1 hour​

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​The majority of project managers have the responsibility of managing project team members who do not directly report to them. This typical situation presents numerous challenges.  How do you influence team members without authority?  This session offers effective and practical strategies for influencing your project team so that you can meet your project goals more effectively and efficiently. 

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  • Tackle one of the biggest issues project managers in matrix organizations face every day

  • The principle of reciprocity 

  • Explore the 6-step influence model and barriers 

  • Review the circle of influence and concern and why it matters so much

  • Learn the one key foundational element

Key Soft Skills for Success in a Matrix Environment: A Simulation Experience

1.5 hours​

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​Participants will have the opportunity to simulate typical situations of receiving and giving feedback, as well as influencing without authority in a safe learning environment.  By practicing these skills, participants will be prepared to immediately implement learnings on the job.  Participants will also have an opportunity to share best practices and learn from each other. 

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  • Pre-requisites: Giving & Receiving Feedback & Influencing Without Authority

  • Explore real project case study situations that you would hardly believe

  • In teams, apply your previous learning as you discuss options for handling these situations 

  • Learn what really happened

  • Have fun being thankful that if these project surprises haven't happened to you, you'll be ready for them if they do!

Communication Styles Workshop:

Discover. Play. Adapt.

1.5 Hours

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Generally people develop a relatively stable behavior pattern and form immediate impressions about others on the basis of these behaviors. You can be more effective by adapting to the expectations and norms of others (that is, by being attentive and flexible to the communication patterns of those around you). Engage in a fun, interactive exercise to identify your own communication style while experiencing and interacting with others. We will review motivation and style grids that you can take with you to immediately prepare for and effectively communicate with all communication styles. Participants will:

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  • Discover their natural communication style 

  • Gain insights into all 4 communication styles

  • Identify peers who may help as they plan to interact with different styles

  • Learn tips to flex their style 

  • Review style grids to reference on the job 

  • Receive a communication planning worksheet

  • Have a fun, eye-opening and practical learning experience

Listening: The Neglected Soft Skill

1 hour

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Do you know that there are 7 listening styles? Everyone knows that listening is a major part of the communication equation, yet it is a sorely neglected topic. Being an engaged listener is key to operating in the project environment.  Learn your own listening style and how to adapt to the listening styles of others.

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  • Why listening can be so hard 

  • The importance of listening on projects 

  • What it takes to be a good listener 

  • Explore the 7 listening styles

  • Self-assess your own listening style

  • Practice!

  • Receive a 1-page Listening Styles: Types & Tips grid to reference as you work to improve your own style and to adapt to the style of others

Communication Strategies for Project Managers: Up, Down & All Around

1.5 hours​

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Learn eight (8) techniques for successfully communicating about your project up, down and all around your organization.  According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), ninety-percent (90%) of a project manager’s job is communication, which means this course is absolutely essential.  

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  • Often coupled with Communication Styles: Discover. Play. Adapt and Listening Styles for a half-day learning experience

  • Level-set project communication fundamentals

  • Explore why communication skills are crucial

  • Uncover Eight (8) project communication techniques to help you communicate more effectively about your project – up, down and all around the organization

  • Review learnings and share what works and what is challenging in your environment

  • Self-assess: Reflect on how to apply learnings

Anchor 1

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