Duration 4 days – 28 hrs
Overview
This training course provides a practical foundation in both traditional project management and Agile project delivery using the Scrum framework. It helps participants understand how projects are initiated, planned, executed, monitored, controlled, and closed while also introducing iterative delivery, adaptive planning, Scrum roles, events, and artifacts.
Participants will learn how to select an appropriate delivery approach—traditional, Agile, or hybrid—based on the project’s requirements, risks, complexity, and level of uncertainty. Practical exercises, case studies, and simulations are included to reinforce the concepts.
Objectives
- Explain essential project management concepts, principles, and terminology.
- Understand the project life cycle and major project management processes.
- Define project objectives, scope, deliverables, assumptions, and constraints.
- Identify and analyze project stakeholders.
- Develop practical project schedules, budgets, and resource plans.
- Identify, assess, and respond to project risks and issues.
- Monitor project performance and manage changes effectively.
- Explain Agile values, principles, and ways of working.
- Understand the Scrum framework, including its accountabilities, events, and artifacts.
- Develop and prioritize a Product Backlog.
- Conduct Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective.
- Apply estimation, prioritization, and Agile progress-tracking techniques.
- Determine when to use traditional, Agile, or hybrid project management.
- Prepare an initial project management and delivery plan.
Target Audience
- Project managers and project coordinators
- Scrum Masters and aspiring Scrum Masters
- Product Owners and product managers
- Team leaders and supervisors
- Business analysts and systems analysts
- Operations, administrative, and technical professionals
- Engineers and IT professionals
- Project team members
- Department and functional managers
- Professionals transitioning into project management roles
- Organizations adopting Agile or hybrid project delivery
Prerequisites
- Basic experience working on projects or organizational initiatives
- General knowledge of workplace processes and teamwork
- A sample project, business initiative, or case study for workshop activities
- A laptop for templates and planning exercises, if required
Course Outline
Day 1: Project Management Fundamentals and Project Initiation
Module 1: Introduction to Project Management
- Definition and characteristics of a project
- Projects versus operations
- Programs, portfolios, and project management
- Benefits of effective project management
- Responsibilities of the project manager
- Project success criteria
- Common causes of project failure
Module 2: Project Life Cycle and Delivery Approaches
- Project phases and process groups
- Initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing
- Predictive or traditional project management
- Agile and adaptive delivery
- Hybrid project management
- Selecting the appropriate delivery approach
Module 3: Project Initiation
- Identifying the business need
- Establishing project objectives
- Developing measurable success criteria
- Project feasibility and business justification
- Identifying assumptions and constraints
- Preparing a Project Charter
- Defining the project manager’s authority
Module 4: Stakeholder Management
- Identifying project stakeholders
- Analyzing stakeholder interests and influence
- Stakeholder mapping techniques
- Planning stakeholder engagement
- Managing stakeholder expectations
- Developing a stakeholder register
Workshop
- Prepare a Project Charter
- Create a stakeholder register and stakeholder map
Day 2: Project Planning, Execution, and Control
Module 5: Project Scope Management
- Defining project requirements
- Developing the project scope statement
- In-scope and out-of-scope items
- Creating a Work Breakdown Structure
- Defining deliverables and acceptance criteria
- Preventing and controlling scope creep
Module 6: Schedule and Resource Management
- Identifying and sequencing activities
- Estimating activity duration
- Understanding dependencies and milestones
- Developing a project schedule
- Assigning roles and responsibilities
- Responsibility Assignment Matrix
- Introduction to critical path concepts
Module 7: Cost, Quality, and Communication Management
- Estimating project costs
- Preparing and controlling the project budget
- Establishing quality requirements
- Quality assurance and quality control
- Project communication planning
- Status reporting and project meetings
Module 8: Risk, Issue, and Change Management
- Risks versus issues
- Identifying and assessing project risks
- Probability and impact analysis
- Risk response strategies
- Developing a risk register
- Issue tracking and escalation
- Integrated change-control process
- Managing change requests
Module 9: Monitoring, Control, and Project Closure
- Tracking planned versus actual performance
- Monitoring scope, schedule, cost, and quality
- Project performance indicators
- Corrective and preventive actions
- Managing project acceptance and handover
- Closing contracts and administrative activities
- Lessons learned and project closure report
Workshop
- Develop a Work Breakdown Structure
- Prepare a project schedule and responsibility matrix
- Create a risk register and project status report
Day 3: Agile Project Management and Scrum Fundamentals
Module 10: Understanding Agile
- Origins and purpose of Agile
- Agile values and principles
- Predictive versus adaptive planning
- Benefits and limitations of Agile
- Agile mindset and team behaviors
- Common Agile approaches
- When Agile is appropriate
Module 11: Introduction to the Scrum Framework
- Scrum theory and empirical process control
- Transparency, inspection, and adaptation
- Scrum values
- Overview of the Scrum framework
- Incremental and iterative delivery
Module 12: Scrum Accountabilities
- Product Owner
- Scrum Master
- Developers
- Cross-functional and self-managing teams
- Stakeholder involvement
- Common role misunderstandings
Module 13: Scrum Artifacts and Commitments
- Product Backlog and Product Goal
- Sprint Backlog and Sprint Goal
- Product Increment
- Definition of Done
- Maintaining transparency and accountability
- Managing changing requirements
Module 14: Requirements in Agile Projects
- Product vision and goals
- Themes, epics, features, and user stories
- Writing effective user stories
- Acceptance criteria
- Definition of Ready
- Product Backlog refinement
- Prioritization techniques
Workshop
- Define a product vision and Product Goal
- Develop user stories and acceptance criteria
- Build and prioritize an initial Product Backlog
Day 4: Scrum Application, Estimation, and Hybrid Delivery
Module 15: Scrum Events
- The Sprint
- Sprint Planning
- Daily Scrum
- Sprint Review
- Sprint Retrospective
- Product Backlog refinement
- Event objectives, participants, and expected outputs
Module 16: Agile Estimation and Release Planning
- Relative estimation
- Story points
- Planning Poker
- Affinity estimation
- Team capacity and velocity
- Release and roadmap planning
- Forecasting project delivery
Module 17: Monitoring Agile Projects
- Task boards and Scrum boards
- Sprint and release burndown charts
- Burnup charts
- Cumulative flow diagrams
- Velocity and throughput
- Managing blockers and impediments
- Agile reporting and stakeholder communication
- Avoiding misuse of Agile metrics
Module 18: Scrum Simulation
- Product Backlog selection
- Sprint Planning simulation
- Task allocation and execution
- Daily Scrum simulation
- Product demonstration
- Sprint Review
- Sprint Retrospective
- Capturing improvements for the next Sprint
Module 19: Traditional, Agile, and Hybrid Project Management
- Comparing predictive and Agile approaches
- Evaluating project uncertainty and complexity
- Combining traditional governance with Agile execution
- Managing budgets, deadlines, and reporting in Agile projects
- Governance and documentation in hybrid projects
- Transitioning teams to Agile ways of working
- Common implementation challenges
Final Workshop
Participants develop and present a project delivery plan that includes:
- Project objectives and success criteria
- Recommended delivery approach
- Major stakeholders
- High-level scope or Product Backlog
- Schedule or release plan
- Risks and mitigation actions
- Roles and responsibilities
- Project monitoring and reporting approach
- Initial action plan for implementation
