Project Management for Everyone

COURSE PRESENTATION

To take this course, the students should have successfully completed at least 2 semesters of university study and have a solid technical background and/or ability. They must have some ability to work as a group and be able to communicate easily in English. The course is
aimed at a mix of profiles and interests for a more diverse project management experience; there is no specific course prerequisite.

Content:
The course is highly interactive and will provide students with methodological and practical tools to manage a project during their future careers. Students come from all over the world and form different programs in their home universities. This is one of the big strengths of this course as students will be exposed to other cultures and techniques in fields ranging from engineering and science to management and communication. As a consequence, before the course, students will fill in a questionnaire so that the content is adapted to their previous background and experiences.

Course sessions will include:

• Project and Project Management: definitions and characteristics.
• Breaking down a project into stages (WBS)
• Scheduling (Scheduling software)
• Cost budgeting and Cost control (basis) 
• Project manager competencies and skills
• Team building
• Risks & Opportunities
• Good rules in Project Management
• Functional analysis: Horned Beast and Octopus methods for design and innovation
• Project Communication
• Introduction to intercultural communication that will help the student to understand challenges and assets of working on international projects (9-hour seminar).
• Quality methods: Issue solving
• Animation of a project review
• Take stock of a project & Presentation of a project for a group
• Wrap-up and evaluation

Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the course, the students should be able to:

• Understand the methodology of Project Management as well as various aspects and specificities of team building
• Utilize the main tools in Project Management, including Clarification Note, WBS, Schedule, Budget, Risks & Opportunities Analysis, Communication Plan.
• Organize themselves efficiently, implementing the Methodology and those main tools, to develop a project

Workload.
French contact hours = 60 minutes (in some countries/institutions, 1 contact hour = 45-50 minutes)
 

Form                                                                            Number of hours                                Comments
Face-to-face, in-class, on-site learning                           39 hours                                13 sessions of 3 hours
Additional field trips
Approximate personal work /homework                         15 hours
Student total workload                                                    54 hours

Educational Methods.
Interactive lecture, discussion, presentations, sharing of experiences, group work, guided visits, onsite education

Resources. 
All course materials will be supplied in class. References may be made to the following resources:

• Project Management, Harold Kerzner
• Project Management for dummies, Stanley E. Portny 
• Le kit du chef de projet, Hugues Marchat
• La boîte à outils du chef de projet, J.Maes; F.Debois
• Les 5 clés de succès du chef de projet, Alexis Sgaros
• Le chef de projet paresseux … mais gagnant ! M.Destors et J.Le Bissonnais
• Piloter une équipe projet, Lionel Bellenger
• Manuel de Gestion de projet, Philippe Vandeville

Assesment. 
Form                                                   Number                                                                      Comments
Final exam (10%)                                    1                                                   Final Multiple Choice Questions (0.5 hours)
Final project (50%)                                  1                                                   At the start of the course, students receive some instructions                                                                                                                             about a project that they have to prepare during the course.                                                                                                                               They have to group with other students and define roles between                                                                                                                       themselves.
                                                                                                                     At the end of the course, they will present their project results to                                                                                                                        a jury composed of the teacher (see above), other faculty                                                                                                                                  members of the partner school as well staff members of partner                                                                                                                        universities. The jury will assess the results in comparison with                                                                                                                          the initial assessment but also with the other groups of the class.
                                                                                                                    Quality of the project, thorough thinking on the study case and                                                                                                                          quality of the presentation will be taken into account for the                                                                                                                                grading.
Intermediate exam (20%)                        1                                                  In the middle of the course period:
                                                                                                                    Individual exam including:
                                                                                                                                  course questions                                                                                                                                                                                                study case (2 hours)
Others (student participation…) (20%)                                                        Attendance, participation, and contribution to group discussion