«The outset is the half of the whole.» – Aristotle

A professional and adequate project initialisation builds the base for strengthening the project management quality. During project initialisation, the foundations for each following project management process are set.
A successful project initialisation includes the definition of it’s goals, the planning of the procedure and the tools and techniques used.

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of project management processes

The participants….

• know the goals and sequence of a project initialisation
• know the prerequisites for a successful project start
• understand the interrelation to project portfolio management
• know the importance for the complete planning process
• realise the importance of understanding project history
• understand the significance of a project kick-off meeting
• are able to transfer information from the pre-project to the project
• understand the importance of an adequate project integration into the main organisation
• understand the need of communication to other projects and the environment
• are able to understand and document the expectations I terms of post-project use of the deliverables
• are able to define the project culture requirements
• can define und implement requirements in relation to project marketing
• can prepare a project kick-off meeting
• can communicate the importance of professional project start
• are able to present the „big picture“ to stakeholde

"You can't see the future in the rearview mirror." - Peter Lynch

Project planning includes all activities that describe how to plan (approach), as well as the development of the actual plans (content and scope, schedules, costs, quality, resources, communication, risks, procurement).

In the planning approach all parameters are described concretely, which have influence on the production of the actual plans (e.g. planning assumptions, consulted information, methods to be used, templates and tools etc.).

As part of the planning process, it is first necessary to derive the requirements from the objectives and then translate these into concrete work units (WBS) and estimate their effort. Subsequently, the dependencies between the units are determined, the (generic) resources are allocated, the duration is estimated, and a realistic schedule is developed. This provides the basis for the cost estimate.

All plans must be approved by the authorized persons / committees (baselining) and then form the basis for controlling and managing changes (configuration management).

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of project management processes

The participants….

• can derive project-specific approaches for project planning from the goals and objectives and are aware of the importance of methodical business analysis for the elicitation of requirements.
• know the methods used in the course of project and product structure planning (WBS/PBS) and can apply them
• can create and calculate a network plan
• know methods of top-down and bottom-up estimation
• know the methods in the course of developing the schedule
• know possibilities for project acceleration
• know the processes of configuration management (changing baselines)
• are aware of the peculiarities of project controlling in multi-projects
• are familiar with methods for ascertaining the degree of completion and trend analyses (milestones, costs)
• are able to apply the earned value method
• know common variants of schedule, cost and performance controlling
• know methods of problem identification and solution

"Planning is usually thought of as anticipating the future. But the future, even if planned, is and remains unknown." - Niklas Luhmann

Managing risks is a central component of project success. In times of permanent change and great uncertainty, dealing with "unknown unknowns" in particular is of immense importance. In view of the increasing IT threats, the growing dependence on the processing of information and current regulations (e.g. Sarbanes-Oxley Act), the topic of risk management is becoming even more important.
It is not only about recognizing opportunities and minimizing risks in order to achieve optimal project results, but also about learning to deal with uncertainty and being able to communicate it adequately. This module therefore teaches how risks and opportunities can be identified, weighed up and their effects assessed using qualitative and quantitative methods, how countermeasures can be initiated and practical risk management systems set up and operated. But also the handling of uncertainty is practiced and its communication simulated.

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of project management processes

The participants...

• are familiar with the fundamentals, organization and structure of risk management systems
• know the relevant aspects of risk management and can take them into account in project planning
• are able to identify risks, analyze them and assess their probability of occurrence and possible effects
• are able to implement and operate early warning, risk and monitoring systems
• know possible causes of psychological barriers among stakeholders and team members and have a package of measures to overcome them
• know methods of crisis management and can identify values for business continuation when risks occur
• Learn to deal with uncertainty more confidently
• Learn to communicate uncertainty to third parties

"The educated man does not push accuracy further than is in the nature of things." - Aristotle

For the determination of variances a planning and actuals are needed. The prerequisite for an effort and cost estimation is an estimation. The quality of the estimation is a basic condition to achieve the project goals.

A convincing effort estimation is based on a well thought out work breakdown structure. Reliable schedules and budgets need to be based on neatly estimated efforts. Professional effort estimation has nothing to do with gazing into a crystal ball, but is based on systematic approach and structured methods, even in times of permanent change.

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of project management processes

The participants….

• take a conscious look at the term “estimation”
• know the most important (also psychologic) influencing factors in terms of estimations
• understand the importance of for estimation assumptions
• know important effort estimation tools & techniques
• can communicate and justify their estimates appropriate to the target group
• know about the importance of estimation for the own political position

"If you do not know where you are, even a map would not help you” (based on Watts Humphrey).

The aim of the course is to give an introduction to the topic of project controlling, as well as to get to know their basic instruments.

Basis of the project monitoring and the project controlling is the project planning; which is to be converted into the reality. Any deviations that occur should be identified at an early stage so that they can either be effectively compensated for by means of control measures or regulated by means of planning changes. The project processes planning, monitoring and controlling form a unit. Without a systematic and complete planning at the beginning of the project, the project implementation cannot be monitored and controlled by the project management, or only insufficiently. In addition, meaningful reporting is only possible on the same basis. An integrated view therefore includes

• Planning: Specification of target values
• Monitoring: Determining actual values and analyzing deviations
• Control: making decisions and initiating measures

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of project management processes

The participants….

• know the difference between strategic and operative project controlling
• know the relationship between project management and project controlling
• know about the interaction of project planning and project controlling
• know the processes of operative project controlling
• know the objects, tasks and instruments of project controlling
• can name typical key figures
• know about project organization as a prerequisite for efficient project controlling
• know the tasks and involvement of the project controller
• are aware of the special features of project controlling in multi-projects
• know methods for the collection of the degree of completion and trend analyses (milestones, costs)
• are able to apply the earned value method
• know common variants of schedule, cost and performance controlling
• know methods of problem identification and solution

"The proof of proficiency is not so much in what one accomplishes oneself as by the accomplishments of those with whom one knows how to surround oneself." - Andrew Carnegie

Human resource management in projects includes the processes that organize, manage and lead the project team. The project team consists of individuals who are assigned roles and responsibilities.

The key areas that project management must take care of are: Identifying and naming staffing needs, ensuring recruitment, training, staff assessment, and most importantly motivation and conflict resolution.

In this context, the participation of all team members in project planning and decision-making is an essential tool. By actively involving team members at an early stage, their professional input flows in and reinforces commitment.

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of project management processes

The participants….

• understand the importance of developing a staffing plan
• understand the importance of project roles and associated responsibilities
• understand the importance of assembling the project team and confirming staff availability and team deployment
• are aware of the importance of project team development (improving skills and interactions among team members) to enhance project performance
• recognize the process for tracking team member performance, providing feedback, resolving issues, and managing change to optimize project performance
• are able to create a resource plan and evaluate its feasibility
• know common theories of motivation and are able to apply them
• know the importance of ethical behavior (e.g., health and safety, social responsibility, etc.)

«You must know the fact, before you can pervert it.» - Mark Twain

The reporting process is the backbone of project monitoring and controlling. It systemizes the periodic performance-related communication with the project stakeholders and creates the necessary transparency in form of status reports, performance measurements and forecasts. Therefore, basic data has to be collected, analysed and compared to the baseline (variance calculations). The resulting reports have to be generated and disseminated target-group oriented with regard to content, level of detail, format, periodicity etc..

Hence, reports should contain information about trends regarding variances, like past performance, risks, opportunities, issues, work done, next steps etc.

Reporting systems should be designed in a way that reports also can be produced ad hoc.

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of project management processes

The participants….

• can gather and document the project specific reporting requirements
• understand the necessity for transparency and how it can be achieved
• are able to perform impact and variance analysis
• can support stakeholders through generation and preparation (target-group oriented) management information
• can identify, design, evaluate and assess performance indicators related to project planning, monitoring and control
• can explain and justify the necessary performance indicators
• know tools to support project monitoring and controlling and are able to evaluate them

«If the performance is right, the price is secondary.» - Tom Peters

The activities performed during business analysis and requirements engineering serve to derive and document as complete a set of requirements for a solution as possible. The resulting documents serve as the basis for the client and contractor's shared understanding of the project's content and scope, as well as the project's acceptance criteria.

In this module, participants will learn the most important techniques and methods of requirements analysis and documentation.

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of project management processes

The participants….

• understand the relationship between stakeholder needs and requirements
• know the most important techniques and methods of requirements analysis, also in an agile environment, and are able to apply them correctly as the situation demands
• understand the roles of the stakeholders involved in requirements analysis, including the business analyst
• can elicit and formulate requirements, document them in models, and assess their meaningfulness
• can manage requirements and analyze and implement changes using appropriate methods
• understand the importance of requirement traceability

More and more companies expect project management certification from their project managers.

Recognized as the world's number one PM certification standard in terms of competence and skills, PMI's Project Management Professional (PMP®) confirms that the holder has proven experience, knowledge and management potential in effective project management. This certification is the most sought-after in the project management field worldwide.

Our PMP® certification preparation combines theory and practice, supported by our certification preparation novel "The crazy PMPprep", so that even very abstract concepts can be successfully taught. Therefore, intensive exam preparation is guaranteed.

The individual lessons offer a mixture of visual, auditory and haptic learning methods. This addresses the individual learning style of each participant and improves long-term memory.

The accompanying website www.thecrazypmpprep.com supports the self-study with more than 1000 exam-like questions, an incredible number of exercises, countless animations, lots of podcasts, an exam simulation and much more, because after all, the exam itself should not be a big surprise. There is enough of that in the novel itself.

Too cool to school?

For decades, we have been striving to professionalize project management. Hundreds of thousands of project managers worldwide have been educated, trained, certified and awarded. Large associations strive to serve the PM community, promote exchange among project managers, conduct research, publish, and ultimately increase the likelihood of project success.

However, many organizations could make considerable progress, and thus significantly increase the chances of success for their projects, if they could improve the PM governance performance of their managers. Such executives do not need to learn project manager:in skills in the process, but they do need to become better acquainted with and use the strategic management tool "project". Projects can be efficient tools for achieving management goals if, indeed if, they are used and operated correctly and if the framework conditions are properly designed. And this is exactly what managers are responsible for.

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of project management processes

The participants....

• know the importance of the management role in the context of projects and governance
• are able to scrutinize business cases
• are not fooled by X for U
• understand the impact of different approaches (agile, hybrid, predictive) on their role
• understand the importance of regular communication and an open-door policy
• are able to put their finger in the wound

"The grass does not grow faster if you pull on it" - proverb from Africa.

According to Standish Group, in 2012, one third of all projects were in trouble and another third could be considered a failure. This ratio has hardly changed in the last 20 years, despite measures such as training, introduction of processes, etc.

This is mainly due to the increased complexity of projects, which have to be managed in an environment of increasingly chaotic markets. Hardly any project will get by without simultaneous changes to processes when it is transferred to production. ERP projects, for example, change entire companies and are therefore virtually predestined to mutate into crisis projects. This course therefore deals with the analysis of the actual state of projects and then leads to possibilities of reorganization of such projects, from the viewpoint of assessors and interim managers.

Of course, these views also cover classic factors that lead to the imbalance of projects and thus also serve to avoid problems and thus support project managers.

Prerequisites: Proven knowledge of project management processes

The participants….

•  know the main factors that lead to project misalignment
• understand the need to quickly gain transparency on the current status of a project
• know common approaches to project assessments and their advantages and disadvantages
• reflect on the concept of crisis
• know procedures in the course of a crisis intervention and understand their psychological aspects
• know the essential factors how to prevent a renewed slide into a crisis

"The optimist sees an opportunity in every difficulty; the pessimist sees a difficulty in every opportunity." - American saying.

Complex projects are tricky projects - but they are not complex because they are tricky, it is the other way around. Not recognizing the real nature of the project means being subject to gross misjudgments from the start, which leads to inappropriate mental patterns and attitudes towards the project, because they do not take complexity into account. This in turn results in the application of inadequate project management methods and instruments.

Leading a complex project requires new ways of thinking and new changed approaches to apply the known techniques and tools from project management. This module provides answers to the questions of what constitutes complex projects and how to deal with this complexity.

Prerequisites: Demonstrated knowledge of project management processes.

Participants will...

• understand the difference between 'complex' and 'complicated'
• are familiar with different types of complexity in the context of projects
• are able to apply concepts from complexity science to project management
• are able to analyze and evaluate projects in terms of their complexity
• know critical success factors of complex projects
• know different methods and tools to address complexity and thus uncertainty in projects.

«Achieving success is much more difficult than claiming success» - Niklas Luhmann

The economy and society, markets, customer requirements and technologies are undergoing constant and increasingly rapid change. For companies, this is both a threat and an opportunity. Making change their own business and actively shaping the necessary changes are the most important challenges for successful companies today. Increasingly rapid changes in the corporate environment require constant adaptation and redefinition of the corporate strategy.

Program and project management are the organizational and cultural answer to the demand for greater speed and organizational flexibility in the implementation of corporate strategy. Efficient project management forms the basis of a company's controlled strategic change.

Prerequisites: Fortgeschrittenenkenntnisse der Projektmanagementprozesse

The participants…

• know the differences between project portfolio management, program management and project management
• Know the methods of program management and can use them to control parallel and interdependent projects in such a way that the desired overall success is achieved.
• are familiar with other aspects of program management, such as cross-project resource management and cross-project risk and quality management
• can initialize programs

"Only the gardener who creates optimal growing conditions is successful." - Peter M. Senge

The economy and society, markets, customer requirements and technologies are undergoing constant and increasingly rapid change. For companies, this is both a threat and an opportunity. Making change their own business and actively shaping the necessary changes are the most important challenges for successful companies today. Increasingly rapid changes in the corporate environment require constant adaptation and redefinition of corporate strategy and the efficient use of scarce resources.

Project portfolio management and project management are the organizational and cultural answer to the demand for greater speed and organizational flexibility in the implementation of corporate strategy. Efficient project portfolio management forms the basis of a company's controlled strategic change.

Prerequisites: Good knowledge of project management processes

The participants….

• understand the basics of project portfolio management as a systematic management measure for the targeted execution of different projects
• know the differences between project portfolio, program and project management
• know the methods of project portfolio management and can use them to manage parallel and interdependent projects in such a way that the desired overall success is achieved
• can evaluate, coordinate and prioritize parallel IT projects and develop a project portfolio roadmap
• understand other aspects of project portfolio management, such as cross-project resource management and cross-project risk and quality management
• know possible causes of psychological barriers among stakeholders and team members and have a package of measures to overcome them

«Perfection of means and confusion of ends, that characterizes our time.» - Albert Einstein

The PMO is a permanent institution that provides projects with the methodological framework and standards for project management and supports project managers and project staff in its application.

In many companies, projects are carried out without professional project management due to a lack of sufficient capacity or insufficiently qualified project managers. In these cases, attention is usually focused on project content, while deadlines, resources, costs and often customer satisfaction are lost sight of.

A PMO makes it possible to strive for professional project, program and project portfolio management in such cases. It has the task of developing individual, collective and organizational competencies in this regard.

Prerequisites: Proven knowledge of project management processes

The participants….

• know about the entrepreneurial importance of organizational project management
• can describe and convey the importance of the organizational anchoring and development of an independent project management office organization
• know the tasks and processes of the project management office and are able to design them
• know approaches, for the development of the project management authority in enterprises, can these describe, measure and develop further
• can estimate the maturity of the organization and align the PMO offer accordingly

«There are no solutions in life. There are forces in motion: these must be created; the solutions follow.» - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Efficiently combine predictive and adaptive methods. Managing projects hybrid is the solution that combines traditional and adaptive methods. Hybrid project management offers a successful way that combines methods from both approaches in a meaningful way and integrates the roles of agile project management with the classic organizational structure and process organization.

Prerequisites: Good knowledge of project management processes

The participants….

• understand the basic idea of adaptive (agile) and traditional project approaches
• know the main characteristics and differences between predictive, agile and hybrid project management
• can communicate and visualize mixed methodology projects
• know about the hybrid possibilities of agile approaches
• understand the basics and organization of agile projects in the company
• can assess and communicate the progress of projects using a combination of agile and classic methods
• know about potential pitfalls and conflicts when introducing hybrid models
• know suitable indicators for the presentation of progress
• know about necessary social competences in hybrid project management

«It is a much cleverer thing to talk nonsense than to listen to it.» - Oscar Wilde

Standing up and reciting information while others passively listen and perhaps take notes is the common traditional presentation style that does not really work to teach, inspire, or motivate an audience. Times have changed. If the only purpose of your presentation is to transfer information, you are better off distributing it in a handout or by email and canceling the event.

An effective presentation aims to change the audience and get them to think or act differently by truly engaging them with a clear focused message, logical arguments and compelling visuals combined with a passionate delivery that evokes emotions.

This two day program will provide a guiding framework to teach others how to design, build and deliver compelling high impact presentations by following simple innovative design concepts from the initial design stage and creating the structure of the presentation to researching and building impeccable slides and visuals as well as ensuring a confident, passionate and professional live delivery.

The participants….

• Understand the three principles of presentation
• Structure a presentation & visuals with focus, clarity and impact
• Effectively visualize, build, structure and deliver a presentation with focus, engagement and passion

«The successful man is concerned with the interests of others, and the ordinary man predominantly with his own interests.» - Alfred Adler

The successful man is concerned with the interests of others, and the ordinary man predominantly with his own interests.

The participants….

• can define negotiations and determine the steps to prepare properly
• know how to negotiate effectively with different personality types
• can delineate principled negotiations and determine the four steps in the negotiation process
• learn negotiation techniques, strategies for creating win-win options, and how to properly conclude negotiations

«A conflict always starts with a problem - a disagreement, an argument. But over time, it becomes a war, and it's not even about the problem anymore, because now it's all about one thing: how much the two sides hate each other.» - Neal Shusterman

Conflict is inevitable. We've all had some and will likely have more in the future. This course will show you everything you need to know to deal with conflict in the workplace. From 'what is conflict?" to "how can conflict have positive effects? Participants will learn and practice managing the conflict resolution process, including traditional tactics and their counters.

The participants….

• develop strategies for dealing with conflict
• learn and practice a simple conflict resolution process
• are aware of the potential benefits of controlled conflict
• become more confident in handling conflict in the workplace
• are familiar with different styles, strategies, and outcomes for dealing with conflict
• are aware of potential benefits and disadvantages of third party intervention (mediation & arbitration)

«The most important thing in a conversation is to hear what has not been said.» - Peter F. Drucker

This course focuses on the basic communication skills of active listening, systemic questioning techniques, and non-verbal communication and body language. Participants will understand the importance of 'rapport' and how it is built using simple NLP techniques such as 'pacing' and 'leading'. built.
Participants will learn how to apply a Five Principles Communication Model, use voice and non-verbal communication in a coherent way, and use language that makes communication clearer, more confident and effective

The participants...

• can communicate more specifically, clearly and confidently
• use listening and questioning to better engage others
• learn techniques to build 'rapport' with others
• combine voice, speech and non-verbal communication consistently
• understand the 5 essential communication principles