Course Outline

Phase I:  Base Line Assessments

Project Manager Strength Builder - This 5 hour online instructor-led course teaches students their inherent strengths and challenges.  It includes a self-assessment to help students identify areas where they can use their strengths and how to to build a road map to make better use of their strengths and those of their team. 

Project Management Performance Baseline Assessment - This 15 hour online instructor-led course uses PAT's PM Scorecard™ to establish the student's current PM Performance baseline.  The students then identify the skill level in those competencies needed to be an effective Project Manager and develop a training road map for improving their Project Management Performance. 

Phase II:  PM Basics

PMBOK® Basics   - Learn the terminology of the PMBOK® Guide - Fourth Edition and how it translates into your project work.  In this 6-8 hour live instructor-led course, students create a project flow and match it to the PMBOK® Guide - Third Edition five phases; initiating, planning, executing, monitoring & controlling and closing.  Course Text*: Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)--Third Edition by Project Management Institute  

Phase III:  PM Skills

PM Negotiations - This course includes 2 hours of pre-work performed online where students take a negotiating styles self-assessment to better understand their innate negotiating strengths and challenges.  This is followed by 6 hours in the classroom where the students learn how to improve their day-to-day effectiveness in a variety of negotiation situations they encounter as a Project Manager.  Course Text*:  Cheetah Negotiations by Michelle LaBrosse, PMP and Linda Lansky, PMP.

Team Consensus & Facilitation Skills - This 6-8 hour live instructor led course teaches the students how to facilitate project meetings that creates a team atmosphere where all are participating and providing constructive feedback.  Students will learn techniques for bringing a team quickly to consensus.  Course Text*: Cheetah Project Management  by Michelle LaBrosse, PMP and Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Create Your Life, Your Relationships, and Your World in Harmony with Your Values by Marshall B Rosenberg 

Phase III:  PM Knowledge Areas

Project Risk Management - Engage in a risk simulation to understand how risk plays a part in your project planning during this 6-8 hour live instructor led course.  Using real work experience, students create a risk management plan for their particular project and depending on where they are in their project they will identify, assess, mitigate and create their risk response plan.   Course Text*: Identifying and Managing Project Risk: Essential Tools for Failure-Proofing Your Project by Tom Kendrick.

Project Scope Management - Learn why it is good to create a scope for the work that your team is responsible for delivering during this 6-8 hour live instructor led course.  Students learn how to verify project work against the project scope and project requirements during the project control and project closeout.  Course Text*: Customer Centered Products: Creating Successful Products Through Smart Requirements Management by Ivy F. Hooks and Kristin A Farry

Project Change Control - Students engage in project simulations to identify, evaluate, and manage change.  During this 6-8 hour live instructor led course students review their change control procedures to increase their effectiveness, help control scope creep, and bring their projects to closure on time.  Course Text*:  Breakthrough IT Change Management : How to Get Enduring Change Results by Bennet P. Lientz, Kathryn P. Rea

Time Management and Project Scheduling -  Learn all the elements that need to be in place to set a realistic schedule in this 6-8 hour live instructor led course.  After creating a work breakdown structure (WBS), students will develop their activity definition, activity estimating, network diagram and schedule.  Course Text*: Cheetah Project Management  by Michelle LaBrosse, PMP  

Project Communication Management - Create various project communication methods and learn when to use each one during this 6-8 hour live instructor led course.  Determine who your stakeholders are and create a communication responsibility matrix that is easy to follow and provides information fast. Learn how to close a project to the satisfaction of your customer and stakeholders.  Build historical records of lessons learned and templates to be used for future projects.  Course Text*: Dealing With People You Can't Stand by Rick Brinkman, Rick Kirschner

Project Quality Management - Create a quality management plan for your project, large or small.  For this 6-8 hour live instructor led course identify how your organization's quality policies will affect that plan and how to inspect work during project execution to ensure that work is completed to specification.  Course Text*: Teaming for Quality: The Right Way for the Right Reasons by H. David Shuster

Project Cost Management - Using the work breakdown structure created in the Project Time Management course, students will utilize resources to create a cost baseline during this 6-8 hour live instructor led course.  Using real work experience, you will then complete an earned value analysis against your time and cost baselines to bring your project back on schedule.  

Project Closeout - Review why proper project closure is important. For this 6-8 hour live instructor led course identify which people to invite to the project closure meeting, what should be covered, which documents should be collected and archived, determine how to collect lessons learned, how to archive them and how to use them in similar future projects.  They finish their PM PLAYBOOK® which includes the Project Management methodology, tools, and techniques they will use to run their projects. 

Phase IV:  Demonstration

PM Scorecard™ - Upon completing the PM PLAYBOOK® Series courses, students complete another PAT's PM scorecard™.  The results from this scorecard will be compared against their baseline and will demonstrate PM improvement by a higher rating - Guaranteed. 

Results Guarantee

We guarantee that students who attend at least 95% of the PM PLAYBOOK® Series courses will improve their Project Management Performance.  This is demonstrated by their improved PAT's PM Scorecard™ rating.  If a student does not improve their PM Performance rating after completing the PM PLAYBOOK® Series of courses, they can take any of the courses again at no cost the next time it is offered in their area or at their organization.  

*We reserve the right to change textbooks to ensure you have the latest and most appropriate texts.