Handbook

NOTE:This course was previously identified as MBAX9101.

With the billions being invested in projects around the world, there is a burgeoning need to develop both individual and organisational project-management capabilities. Organisations are no longer debating whether there is value in adopting project management. The question now is how to develop their project-management capabilities in the most efficient, value-producing manner, and how to turn effective project management into key competitive advantage.

Project [noun] a piece of planned work or an activity that is finished over a period of time and intended to achieve a particular purpose (Cambridge English Dictionary, n.d.).

Projects are the means by which organisations implement their strategy.

They are ubiquitous across industry and domain: as a manager or leader in any modern organisation, you will be directly involved in projects - as a team member, a project or program manager, a subject-matter expert, a sponsor or owner, or as a client.

As your career progresses, you can expect to face increasingly complex challenges in dealing with larger projects, more demanding stakeholders, tighter constraints on human, financial and other resources, and a rapidly changing environment. You will be expected to improve the efficiency, productivity and performance of your teams, and determine which projects and initiatives will best deliver the organisation's mandate.

An increasing number of organisations are 'projectising' routine work to gain the benefits of project management. At the same time, agile and flexible work practices are blurring the distinction between project and operational work. At the other end of the scale, the increasing number of complex projects and megaprojects require more rigorous approaches to both managing and governing an organisation's project portfolio.

This course provides an introduction to the rapidly growing world of project, program and portfolio management (PPPM or 3PM). The course materials address various themes around managing projects in modern organisations, and take you through key processes that contribute to the successful delivery of a project. We start with an introduction to project management, and follow with requisite project-management methodologies and skills, management of the stakeholders and individuals assigned to project teams, project planning and project communications, project execution and control, and project closure. Woven through each weekly unit are the attributes of responsible leadership underpinning sustainable future organisations.

However, we can only scratch the surface of what is an ever-expanding field of study. Every project is, by definition, unique: there is no one-size-fits-all approach to project management. While we present a simple framework for project management, and assessments and a simulation against which to apply it, our real objective is to challenge your thinking about project management, and how it can be exploited to deliver value to your organisations and stakeholders.

Whether you contribute to projects, manage multiple small projects or a single large one, or are responsible for a project portfolio or a team of project managers, we trust you will find this course challenges your thinking and equips you to improve your own and your organisation's project delivery capabilities.