This Project Management Fundamentals course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the principles and practices of project management. The course will cover the essential skills and competencies required to successfully manage projects, including project planning, budgeting, scheduling, risk management, and stakeholder management. This course is going to focus on software development practices. Each module includes original lectures, practices, knowledge test assessments, and additional self-study materials. By the end of this course, students will be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to manage a software development project under supervision.
Learning Objectives
The objective of this course is to provide students with a solid foundation in the principles and practices of project management. Students will learn how to apply these principles to real-world projects and will develop the skills and competencies required to successfully manage software development projects.
Program
- What is project management?
- Why is project management important in IT?
- The role of a project manager
- Project management life cycle
- Basic concepts of project management
- Project selection and justification
- Defining project goals and requirements
- Identification of stakeholders
- Creating a project charter
- Conducting a feasibility study
Practical task: Write a project charter for a test project (web application/software development)
- Developing a project plan
- Creating a hierarchical work breakdown structure (WBS)
- Estimating the project cost
- Developing a project schedule
- Creating a project risk management plan
Practical task:
- Create a risk register for quantitative and qualitative analysis
- Develop a hierarchical work breakdown structure (WBS) for a software development project of your choice
- Project execution management
- Project scope management
- Project schedule management
- Project cost management
- Project quality management
Practical task: Develop a schedule for a software development project of your choice
- Overview of project monitoring and control
- Project status reporting
- Project risk management
- Project change management
- Project problem management
Practical task: Develop a schedule for a software development project of your choice
- Project closure review
- Conducting a project review
- Documenting lessons learned
- Closing project contracts
- Archiving project documentation
Practical task: Write lessons learned from a test project (web application/software development)
- Definition and principles of Agile methodologies
- Comparison of Agile and Waterfall methodologies
- Advantages and disadvantages of Agile methodologies
- Workshop on Agile
Practical task: Understand the principles and values of Agile methodologies
- Definition and goals of the Scrum framework
- Scrum roles: product owner, Scrum master, and development team
- Scrum events: sprint, sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint review, sprint retrospective
- Scrum artifacts: product backlog, sprint backlog, and increment
- Scrum simulation workshop
Practical task: Understand the Scrum framework and its roles, events and artifacts
- Definition and goals of the Kanban framework
- Kanban principles: visualization of work, work constraints in the process, flow management, explicit process policies, implementation of feedback
- Kanban practices: visual boards, flow charts, pull systems, daily meetings, retrospectives
- Kanban simulation workshop
Practical task: Understand the Kanban framework and its principles and practices
- Factors to consider when choosing an Agile framework
- How to assess project needs and choose the most suitable framework
- Practical exercise on choosing the right methodology
Practical task: Understand how to choose the most suitable Agile framework for a particular project
After completing the course, students will be able
- to understand the fundamentals of project management and their applications in IT
- to learn how to initiate a software development project
- to learn how to plan a software development project
- to learn how to execute a software development project
- to learn how to monitor and control a software development project
- to learn how to close a software development project
Prerequisites
The course was designed for individuals who are new to project management or who are looking to formalize their knowledge and skills in the field. There are no formal prerequisites for this course, but English assessment.