IT Project Management

Course Introduction

IT projects are often plagued by overruns, whether due to delays, unmet client needs, or unforeseen costs. Navigating these challenges can be tough, but effective project management is crucial for overcoming them.

By clearly managing stakeholder requirements, scheduling activities, and overseeing employee efforts, you can enhance stakeholder engagement and ensure post-project satisfaction.

This IT Project Management training course addresses these issues by integrating key IT activities—such as software engineering methodology, requirements engineering, and software quality assurance—with established project management practices like work breakdown structures (WBS) and scheduling.

This comprehensive approach helps delegates learn how to manage IT projects more effectively, reducing the risk of overruns and improving overall project success.

Training Objectives

By the end of this training course, you will be able to:

• Evaluate IT Project Methods Including Waterfall (Predictive) and Agile (Adaptive) Approaches
• Appreciate the Unique Nature of Software Quality and How it Impacts IT Project Management
• Identify Key Requirements Engineering Approaches to Address the Intangible Nature of IT Systems
• Clearly Plan IT Projects to Manage Scope, Schedule, Cost, and Uncertainty
• Effectively Report Progress Using Standard and Earned Value Mechanisms

Who should Attend?

This training course is suitable to a wide range of professionals but will greatly benefit:

• IT Directors Considering Digital Transformation
• Programme Managers and Other Senior Personnel Responsible for the Governance of Projects
• IT Project Managers and Team Leaders who Wish to Build Upon and Consolidate Their Project Management Skills
• Business Analysts, Programmers, Quality Assurance Specialists
• Other Technical Specialists Involved in IT Projects (e.g. DBA)
• Stakeholders in Organizations Who Influence IT Projects

Day One: Nature of IT Projects

• Characteristics of projects
• Fundamental concepts of project management
• IT project lifecycle - core phases performed in IT projects
• IT Product Management
• Key IT Project Considerations - Globally Distributed Teams
• IT project initiation - establishing the project charter

Day Two: Scope - IT Requirements

• Requirements Engineering
• Stakeholder management
• Requirements elicitation
• Quality factors in requirements engineering
• Key roles: Product Manager - Product Owner - Business Analyst
• Managing emergent requirements

Day Three: Detailed Planning

• Software Engineering Methods
• Work Breakdown Structures
• Building the project schedule - critical path management
• Establishing the release plan
• Key roles: Technical Architect, Designer, Developer Quality Assurance Specialist (QA)
• IT Project Quality Management - planning, executing and controlling quality
• Developing the Quality Assurance Plan (QA plan)

Day Four: Managing Project Execution

• Understanding IT Project Costs
• Software engineering teamwork - developing and managing the team
• Managing uncertainty - addressing risks
• The challenges with using Waterfall (predictive project management)
• Agile Software Development - values and principles
• Adaptive (Agile) Project Management (SCRUM)

Day Five: Controlling & Closing IT Projects

• Preparing the progress report - traditional approach
• Progress dashboards using Earned Value Management
• Controlling value generation using Scrum (Agile) - Reviews
• Measuring Success - requirements traceability matrix
• Measuring Success - confirming value generation
• Continuous improvement - Lessons Learned & Retrospectives