Developing a Project Management Curriculum
The role of project manager varies from
organization
to
organization
and
within
organizations
themselves.
From
adding
project
management
responsibilities
to
existing
supervisory,
management,
or
technical
roles
to
dedicated
project
management
responsibility
for
multi-million
dollar
projects,
the
burden
on
project
managers
is
significant.
There
are
ways
to
successfully
develop
a
project
management
curriculum
to
meet
your
company's
unique
requirements
and
boost
project
manager
contribution.
The first step is to identify the people
who
have
project
management
responsibility
now.
Define
their
roles
and
identify
the
hats
they
wear.
Consider
the
complexity,
magnitude,
cross-functional
orientation,
and
importance
of
projects
they
manage.
Understand
their
level
of
competence
and
skill
at
performing
project
management
(PM)
tasks.
Reflect
on
their
success
in
previous
PM
roles.
Assessment
tools
are
available
to
help
with
this
process.
Once you have good insight into your existing
project
managers
it's
time
to
consider
the
topics
available
in
a
project
management
curriculum:
- Introduction to project management
- Project life cycle
- Initiating the project
- Requirements
- Project planning
- Risk management
- Estimating
- Scheduling and cost control
- Execution and control
- Quality
- Project management tools
- Closing
- Collaboration
- Understanding stakeholder needs
- Sales skills for project managers
- Problem solving and conflict management
- Communication
- Managing change
- Business finance and strategy
The next step is to understand the detail
that
each
of
these
project
management
topics
represents
and
then
rank
them
in
order
of
importance
and
required
proficiency
for
project
managers
in
your
organization.
Then
based
on
student
population,
time,
and
budget
constraints,
a
learning
program
can
be
designed.
Typical
programs
consist
of
core
curriculums,
electives,
and
performance
support
tools.
|
.gif){kind=spacer}
