Managing by projects is about how people work and interact when they set out to create something new - a new product ... a new service ... a new way of working together. Whilst this approach to management has become the norm over the last ten years in manufacturing, service and the public sector, many managers and project team members are still learning the skills of what may be, for them, a very new way of working.
This manual contains exercises and activities which stimulate learning about managing projects, focusing particularly on the people and leadership aspects. They are intended not only to make learning more fun, but also to speed up the process.
The activities in the collection cover five distinct areas:
• Project Management Principles
• Setting Objectives and Assessing Requirements
• Creativity and Problem-Solving
• Communication, Negotiation and Co-ordination
• Motivation, Teamwork and Leadership
Background material on project management principles, methodologies and learning techniques support a diverse collection of activities including icebreakers, design exercises, questionnaires and assessments, project plans, brainteasers and enigmas, team challenges, and discussion exercises.
The second edition includes six brand new additional activities. Two companion manuals, Volume 2: Methods and Techniques and Volume 3: Innovation, Value and Performance, are also available.
Contents: Introduction; Part One Project Management Principles: My personal projects; Seven skills - learning objectives; Blueprint for project management; Requirements analysis; Jigsaw puzzle; Course evaluation; Memory game. Part Two Setting Objectives and Assessing Requirements: Project dossier; Meta plan for project start up; Good and bad objectives; Work breakdown structures; Domino tower; My best shot; Tree structure. Part Three Creativity and Problem Solving:
Left brain/right brain; Ten left-brain teasers; Ten right-brain teasers; Ten enigmas; A whirl through the kitchen; Morphological analysis; Pipe dreams; Practising empathy. Part Four Communication, Negotiation and Coordination: Office move communications plan; Ten reasons to leave things fuzzy; Five Bayes-type negotiating simulations;
Listening hard; 'Prose' - project progress meeting; Communicards;Crystal clear instructions; Handling objections. Part Five Motivation, Teamwork and Leadership: Project leadership skills; Projects and motivation; Excellence in teamwork; Personal styles assessment; Leadership styles assessment; Secondary styles assessment; Core team circles; Team observation; Teamwork charter
About the Author: Ian Stokes has many years experience of training in project management techniques in an international setting. He has worked with the top suppliers of project management software and moved to France to develop methodology and training courses with a contracting and consulting company in the European space and technology sector.
He has managed consulting companies and worked with both small and large organisations, business schools and training companies to facilitate courses based on active learning, simulations, 'micro-projects' and team building. He is active in the promotion and development of methods for better business analysis and customer-focused innovation.
Reviews: 'Even if students have completed management skills training before, the exercises are highly relevant to project teams as they are designed to bond the team and start members working together in a positive and constructive way...As a project manager I would find the material particularly useful in the early stages of forming a project team, to assist in building relationships between members and setting early standards for the group.' – Dave Sawyer is a professional project manager, working for a department within the Home Office since 1995. [Arras People Tipoff website]
Training for Project Management, Second Edition is a three volume collection of activities, published in either A4 Looseleaf or CD-ROM formats. The volumes can be ordered as either a set or individually.
A4 Looseleaf:
Volume 1 - Skills and Principles
Volume 2 - Methods and Techniques
Volume 3 - Innovation, Value and Performance
3 Volume set
CD-ROM:
Volume 1 - Skills and Principles
Volume 2 - Methods and Techniques
Volume 3 - Innovation, Value and Performance
3 Volume set
Extracts from this title are available to view:
Full contents list
Introduction