ENGINEERING PROJECT PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP

This workshop develops skills in leadership, planning, estimating, scheduling, collaboration and communication

ENGINEERING PROJECT PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP

DRM Associates

Engineers involved in product development face many difficult challenges above and beyond solving technical problems. Engineering projects require skills such as leadership, planning, estimating, scheduling, collaboration and communication skills. All individual contributors need these skills, and for those who lead projects and teams of any size – these skills are critical. This workshop educates project leaders and individual contributors about the fundamentals and some advanced project leadership and planning topics, and enables them to complete projects more successfully.

The format of the two-day workshop is a series of brief lectures followed by discussion and hands-on exercises. Case studies and real-life examples are used to illustrate success and failure. Each participant leaves with an action plan that will benefit their organization. The workshop is intended for engineers, technical managers, project leaders, prospective managers, and others who can benefit from improving project planning and leadership skills. Workshop fee includes a comprehensive workbook and email/phone follow-up with the instructor after the workshop to assist with implementation. This course may be customized to meet your needs, and can be delivered at most locations internationally. The workshop covers the following topics.

1. Introduction to Project Leadership

What leadership is – and what it isn’t
Differences between leadership and management skills
Necessary skills for project leadership
Distributing project leadership and management responsibilities
Developing trust and respect

2. Influence Without Authority

Helping others to see your view
Building rapport with business associates
Influencing other leaders
Teamwork, and overcoming the typical team “dysfunctions”
Leadership self-assessment

3. Managing Many Priorities

The challenges inherent in several top priorities
Invisibility of the problem
Unpredictability and lack of control
The four “Productivity Pillagers” and how to keep them in check
Separating real priorities from everyday fire drills
Organizing skills: Eliminating your time-wasters
Prioritization exercises

4. Engineering Project Planning: Big Picture

Overview of project lifecycle
Pros and cons of standard lifecycle models
Which lifecycle model is best?
Project documentation
Examples of good planning and poor planning
How much planning is the right amount?
Dealing with ambiguity and uncertain resource availability

5. Project Culture

Creating a successful project environment vs. completing successful projects
Elements of project culture
Prioritization of company projects
Meeting culture: avoiding the traps that waste people’s time

6. Project Estimating

Estimation challenges
Prerequisites for estimation
Comparison of estimation methods
Estimation steps
Estimation exercise

7. Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

Flexibility matrix
Tailoring the QFD process to meet varying project objectives
Hands-on QFD practice

8. Scheduling Practices

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Iterative estimating and scheduling
Scheduling tools
Gantt and PERT charts
Commitment based scheduling
Project status communication
Cost of delay

9. Detailed Design Plans

Planning steps
Defining roles and responsibilities
“Success” criteria
Project plan template
Planning exercise
Balancing planning with prototyping

10. Design Review Practices

Critical design reviews and milestones
Formal and informal design reviews
Preparation for reviews and accountability
Effective design review meetings
Making tough decisions related to design review findings
Engaging experts from outside the team
Third party reviewers
Injecting fun and urgency

11. Wrap-up

Summary of key points
Discussion of action steps
Follow-up plan