INTRODUCTION

You may remember an act from a circus show where a man takes a plate, balances it on the end of a long pole, and gives it a spin.  Then he repeats the process with another plate, then another, and another until there are about eight plates spinning.  During the rest of the act the man runs from pole to pole, shaking the poles carefully in turn to keep the plates spinning.  The plate is always just a second away from disaster.

That is what it means to “Juggle” or manage multiple projects.  Normally, the study of project management focuses on managing a single project.  Most available material on multiple projects focuses instead on time management and priority setting.  These are vital skills.  In fact, if you do not develop good time management and priority-setting skills, you will not be able to put the tools in this workshop to good use.

There is a strategy that goes beyond time management and the basics of formal project management.  It shows how to take multiple projects, put them on a timeline, determine resource requirements, handle emergencies, and put you in charge of your work, possibly for the first time in your life.

Today, any job that has a deadline with a set of objectives to be met is a “project”.  Anyone who is responsible for getting projects done is a “project manager”.  Of course, that includes just about everyone.  Who among us does not have deadlines to meet, budgets to estimate and stay within, and resources, including people and equipment, to schedule and coordinate? How many of us have several projects to handle at once?  How many have to handle a situation where many projects compete for the attention of a fixed pool of resources?  How many of us try to manage projects in a “downsized” organization with too few people, too many projects, and rapidly changing priorities?  If any of this sounds familiar, then you are the person for whom this workshop is designed.

Of course, we can easily conclude that just about everyone has project management as part of his or her job.  This part requires planning, decision-making, resource scheduling, estimating, performance measurement, and control.  It is a difficult part too, especially when multiple projects and competing for the same pool of resources.  And just about everyone can be better at project management, through the effective use of up-to-date tools.

So project management tools, correctly adapted to multiple small projects, belong in the arsenal of every professional person.  The purpose of this workshop is to explain what these tools are, how they work, and how to use them.

DAY ONE

Session 1 - INTRODUCTION

THE ART OF “JUGGLING” OR MANAGING MULTIPLE SMALL PROJECTS

• Definitions – What are a Small Projects?
• How Multiple Small Projects are created in an organization?
• Is small project a misnomer?
• Why small projects are looked at as unimportant and minor?
• Task-Oriented Project Portfolio
• Independent Project Portfolio
• Exercise: What Type of Project Portfolio Do You Have?
• Project Portfolio Management and Managing Multiple Projects: Two Sides of the same coin?
• Why Multiple Project Management is hard?
• How to use the conventional project management tools and techniques for single project to manage multiple small projects?
• How to recognize and establish project priorities? Importance vs. Urgency!

Session 2 - TASK-ORIENTED PROJECT PORTFOLIOS

MANAGING THE TASK-ORIENTED PROJECT PORTFOLIO

• A Four-Step Technique for Managing the Task-Oriented Project Portfolio
• Exercise: Complete Your Own Project Priority and Planning Worksheets
• How to identify the objectives of multiple project stakeholders and prioritize those objectives accordingly.
• How to assess schedule and resource conflicts shared among multiple projects?
• How to optimize the utilization of resources among multiple projects?
• Project Risk Management technique and its application to multiple projects
  

DAY TWO &  DAY THREE

Section 3 -  INDEPENDENT PROJECT PORTFOLIOS

• Definitions
• Single Project Management versus Multiple Project Management
• Multi-project Scheduling and Resource Allocation
• Effective Resource Management
• Multi-project Scheduling and Management
• Establish project objectives priorities to resolve conflicts with resource utilization between multiple projects

PLANNING A SINGLE PROJECT

• The Triple Constraints
• Work Breakdown Structure
• Network Planning
• Task Analysis
• Gantt Charting

HOW TO READ AND USE A GANTT CHART

• Gantt Charting for Single Projects
• Interpreting Your Gantt Chart

RISK IDENTIFICATION PROCESS

• Risk Identification Checklist
• Identify Risk Events and Consequence Scenarios
• Historical Records and documentation
• Risk Mapping Diagramming Technique
• Flow Charting and Interviewing Techniques
• Risk Classification Categories
• Risk Category Summary Sheet
• Identification of all sources of risks - opportunities (positive outcomes) and threats (negative outcomes)

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT

• What is Risk?
• Different Definitions of Project Risk
• Risk and Uncertainty - what is the connection?
• Risk and Opportunity
• An overview of Risk Assessement, Analysis & Management

RISK TYPES AND ITS IMPACT ON PROJECT OBJECTIVES

• Cost
• Schedule
• Budget
• Technical performance, quality and "fit for purpose"

Quantitative Risk Analysis

• List of risks require further quantitative risk analysis
• Monte Carlo Simulation Technique
• Decision Analysis and Event Trees Technique
• Subjective vs. Objective Probabilities
• Expected Value analysis Techniques

MODELING AND MONTE CARLO SIMULATION SOFTWARE

•  Modeling and Sampling
• @ RISK Simulation Tool (for cost and schedule)
• Risk+ Simulation Tool (for cost and schedule)

COST RISK

• Uncertainty in Cost Estimates
• Using a WBS
•  Modeling the cost of single WP
• Assigning probabilities
• Data Requirements for Cost Risk Modeling

SCHEDULE RISK

• Uncertainty in Project Schedules
• Schedule Risk Modeling Process
• Schedule Risk Models

DAY FOUR

RISK RESPONSE PLANNING

• Develop options to enhance opportunities to the project's objectives
• Avoidance
•  Reduction; Transfer
• Loss Reduction and Risk Prevention
• Risk Sharing
• Risk thresholds and its connection to response plan

Section 4 - SCHEDULE MULTIPLE PROJECTS

HOW TO SCHEDULE MULTIPLE PROJECTS

• Definition
• Scheduling Issues for an Independent Project Portfolio
•  Exercise: Jigsaw Puzzle Scheduling  

Section 5:  HOW TO MANAGE MULTIPLE PROJECTS IN AN INDEPENDENT PORTFOLIO 

 DAY FIVE

Section 6: INTERDEPENDENT PROJECT PORTFOLIOS 

MANAGING THE INTERDEPENDENT PROJECT PORTFOLIO

• About Interdependent Project Portfolios
• Independent Portfolio Management versus Interdependent Portfolio Management
• The Irony of Interdependent Project Portfolios

PLANNING AND INTERDEPEDENT PROJECT PORTFOLIO

• Planning for Interdependent Project Portfolios
• Exercise: Analyzing Your Interdependent Portfolio

HOW TO MANAGE MULTIPLE PROJECTS IN AN INTERDEPENDENT PORTFOLIO

• The Art of Managing the Interdependent Portfolio
• Your Role as Portfolio Manager
• No-Fail Budgeting in the interdependent Portfolio
• Coping with the Escalating Objective
• Problem-Solving Strategies
• A Final Word About Managing Multiple Projects 
• Multiple projects, limited resources: Implementing Effective Project Management