Illinois Tech’s Office of Professional Development is offering a one-day Project Management Workshop on Wednesday, September 13 from 9 a.m.–4 p.m. at the Rice Campus in Wheaton, Illinois.
In today’s economy more than ever, an organization’s success is dependent upon leading projects to their successful outcomes. These projects can range from new product and technology introductions and construction projects to quickly turning around an adverse business situation or creating the ability to capitalize on a market opportunity. Starting with much fanfare, projects too often end with a whimper, are considerably over budget and end up delivering something less than expected. The reality is that success relies heavily on the entrepreneurial skills of the project leader. It is art blended with science. It requires dealing with a host of paradoxes managed in the course of connecting independent specialists toward a business objective. This workshop shatters many of the myths surrounding managing projects. Discussions present first-hand experiences and best practices of what works and why.
Benefits/Learning Objectives:
You’ll be able to improve your ability to lead projects to their successful conclusions. In addition, you’ll learn how to:
- Plan activities, track progress, solve problems and lead projects to their intended outcomes
- Develop the ability to compress project time without compromising results
- Identify and manage project risks and develop contingency plans should the risks materialize
- Build personal leadership skills to get the right things done
- Create a blueprint for other projects to follow
- Enable the organization to utilize project management as a competitive weapon
Who Should Attend:
- Enterprising individuals who see managing projects to successful outcomes as a means to fast track their growth in their organization and careers.
- Experienced project managers who are seeking new approaches and techniques to get things done.
- Organizational leaders needing projects to fulfill expectations and be a source of enduring positive change.
Program Features:
- Strategies to increase the chances of success for both the organization and the project manager
- How to get people to keep their commitments
- Building a team from marginally motivated, untested, rogue individuals
- Creating financial justification
- Utilizing the tools in the successful project manager’s toolbox to keep the project on track
- Knowing when to pull the plug
Material Covered:
- Understanding how to use CPM, PERT to effectively track progress, identify potential trouble spots
- Predicting and managing conflict in a project environment
- Making scope creep work for rather against project deliverables
- Managing expectations
- Managing your time
Project Tools:
- Critical Success Factors
- Critical Path and Contingency Plan Network
- Potential Problem Analysis
- Earned Value Analysis to Monitor and Control Cost
- Risk Analysis
- Problem Detection and Solution
- Jeopardy Notices
- Time / Cost Trade-off Analysis
About The Instructor
Throughout his career, Will Maurer has held a variety of positions that include industrial engineer, process engineer, production manager, project manager and senior business advisor. In varying capacities he has led efforts to improve the profitability and competitive position of companies that include Playskool Inc., AB Dick Company, Specialty Packaging Products Inc., and the Chicago Manufacturing Center. He led or has been a project manager major for a wide variety of projects, several in excess of $2 million. These include new product development, new building construction, equipment installation, software and technology implementation and training, and new process training for private and public sector organizations.
He is currently an industry professor at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago where he has been teaching classes in project management, operations management, and applied competitive strategies since 1996. During that time, he has also been leading no fewer than fifty student teams from a variety of majors to address and solve business issues for a number of private industry sponsors. This figure is far more than any other faculty member at Illinois Tech.
In 2009 and again in 2013, Maurer was awarded the Excellence In Teaching Award from the School of Applied Technology. Maurer earned an MS in Project Management from Keller Graduate School of Management and his BS from the University of Illinois.
Register here. Contact Mary LaFleur at 630.682.6030 or mlafleur@iit.edu with any questions. The cost of the workshop is $395 per person and lunch and a continental breakfast will be provided.