Managing Multiple Projects

Course Overview

Managers of multiple projects must balance the diverse demands of competing interests. An effective manager will leverage the organisational mission to resolve issues and maximise results. This course provides the critical skills to effectively align the organisational and project interests. You acquire a specialised set of competencies and practical templates that enable you to define, measure and achieve project portfolio success.

Audience

This course is valuable for anyone who is responsible for managing multiple projects while balancing resources across an organisation. Operational experience at the level of Course 296, " Project Management: Skills for Success ", or Course 340, " Project Management for Software Development ", is assumed.

Through an immersive, multimedia-enhanced and simulated case study, you gain the skills critical to successfully manage multiple projects. Experiential activities include:

• Building a matrix of portfolio goals
• Analysing project financial rationale
• Identifying best-case and worst-case scenarios within a project portfolio
• Selecting appropriate methodologies for several distinct projects
• Creating a portfolio dashboard
• Identifying headlight vs. rearview mirror metrics
• Applying a 4-blocker template to actual project issues
• Allocating resources to specific ongoing projects
• Chairing a human resource allocation meeting
• Building an action plan for a red flag programme
• Integrating case study lessons into your multiple project world

Skills Gained

• Lead and manage multiple projects to achieve project portfolio success
• Align and prioritise project goals to your organisational mission
• Optimise project methodologies and communicate to stakeholders and team members
• Monitor and assess the health of your project portfolio
• Successfully allocate resources across competing projects
• Apply Continuous Process Improvement strategies to your project portfolio

Course Outline

Introduction to the Multiple Project Environment

• Defining a project portfolio
• Identifying the unique challenges of multiple projects
• Outlining the best practices that support the management of multiple projects

Anchoring Project Goals to the Organisational Mission

Articulating project goal statements

• Developing a project goal comparison matrix
• Writing consistent goal statements across multiple projects
• Creating an organisationally based foundation for prioritising diverse projects

Applying common industry financial assessments to prioritise multiple projects

• Comparing projects competing for resources based on investment parameters and risk
• Performing a financial analysis of multiple projects including best and worst case scenarios
• Ranking projects based on goal, mission and financial analysis

Measuring Project Portfolio Progress

Selecting and communicating process strategies in a multiple project environment

• Selecting appropriate process strategies based on complexity, requirement uncertainty and criticality
• Analysing the strengths and weaknesses of common process approaches
• Communicating portfolio process decisions to stakeholders and team members with templates

Monitoring and assessing project portfolio health

• Adapting a practical dashboard approach to monitor, assess and control project health on an ongoing basis
• Demonstrating ownership of the projects
• Allocating your assessment time across the project portfolio
• Communicating project issues to stakeholders and team members with the 4-blocker template

Optimising Limited Resources Across Multiple Projects

Allocating human resources

• Resourcing within standard organisation models
• Applying effective resource planning tools
• Comparing functional, matrix and project-centric organisations

Increasing the organisational benefit

• Successfully chairing a resource planning meeting
• Emphasising leadership in personnel decision making
• Implementing a Project Management Office within your organisation

Achieving Project Portfolio Success

Applying leadership skills to facilitate change

• Meeting the challenges of leading multiple project teams
• Contrasting the attributes of management vs. leadership
• Bringing red-flagged projects back on track
• Applying the Service Leadership Model (SLM) to Continuous Process Improvement in a multi-project environment

Implementing a Continuous Process Improvement culture

• Fast-forwarding lessons from one project into phases of other projects
• Applying lessons learned to your portfolio
• Aligning processess to industry standards: CMMI, ISO 9000, PMI, PRINCE2(TM)

Creating a Personal Action Plan

Establishing goals for your project portfolio

• Identifying short-term action items
• Determining long-term strategies
• Employing resources for further development: URLs, journals, books, conferences, experts

Applying these skills in your project environment

• Transitioning new skills and behaviours into your organisation
• Planning your multiple project management strategy
• Taking the next step