Professors
Learning Outcome of this subject is:
LO.01 The student is able to apply project management methodologies for initiative ideas
LO.02 The student is able to plan projects and activities
LO.03 Strategic Project Management.
LO.04 Leadership skills.
Thematic Unit 1.
Topic - The introduction to projects and project management
- Introduce the Project Management profession
- Introduce the concept of projects as temporary organizations.
- Common framework and common language for managing projects
- Relationship between projects, business and organizations
- The role of the Project Manager
- The Project Management Toolbox to be used when managing the project triple constraints
Topic - Strategic project management
- The project life cycle including the project generation process; from the business need and idea conception.
- Project portfolio and program management.
- Project definition.
Thematic Unit 2.
Topic: Project Initiating and Planning (Project Charter)
- Initial stages of a project, from the business idea to project definition. Project Charter.
Topic: Project Initiating and Planning (Project Management Plan)
- Project Management Strategy
- Project Management Plans
- Subsidiary Plans
Topic: Project Planning (Scope Management Plan)
- Identify and define the scope of a project
- Determine the project Scope Statement
- Understand project requirements
- Provide with the Project Management Toolbox to be used when defining the project scope
Topic: Project Planning (Schedule Management Plan)
- Identify the factors that contribute to successful time management
- Analyze the methodology for estimating effort and duration
- Understand Precedence Network Diagrams
- Understand Milestone Plans
- Understand Project Schedules
- Understand the concept of Critical Path
Topic: Project Planning (Cost Management Plan)
- Understand the objective of cost management in projects
- Differentiate the different type of costs
- Understand the different estimating techniques
- Be able to estimate project costs
- Understand how risks influence the project budget
Topic: Project Planning (The Project Team Resources)
- Identify the human resources requirements for the project
- Define the companys organizational chart and outline the strategy for procuring internal resources
- Specific tools to develop the projects organizational strategy
- Specific tools to assign roles and responsibilities to the identified resources
Topic: Project Planning (Risks Management Plan)
- Understand the objective of risk management in projects
- Understand the concept of risk and identify and analyze risks
- Determine response plans to identified risks
Topic: Project Planning (Stakeholders Management Plan)
- Define and be able to identify project stakeholders
- Understand how stakeholders can influence the project
- Understand the key concepts of stakeholder management
Thematic Unit 3.
Topic - Agile Project management.
- Basic concepts of agile project management.
- Critical thinking on the dichotomy between agile vs predictive project management.
Thematic Unit 4.
Topic - Project execution
- Tower control workshop to practice team dynamics during project execution
The methodology is based on a mix of theoretical classes, individual exercises and workshops with various simulated scenarios where students will use a learning-by-doing approach. This course seeks to foster the understanding of the management of projects and the development of managerial skills. A hands-on approach is crucial throughout the course with in- class and out-of-class readings, teamwork activities, exercises and individual and group assignments tasks. The methodologies adopted during the sessions are:
- MD0 Magistral class.
- MD6 Learning based on projects.
- MD7 Flipped classroom
- MD12 Grow through experiences
- MD13 Case study
The sessions are structured as follows:
- Initiation (0.25hs): The class starts with an individual case study. The student reads the case in order to have an initial idea about the topic of the class.
- Magistral class (0.75hs): after reading the case study, the professor teaches the main content of the class during 45 min. The objective is to build the knowledge together, students and professor, leveraging the professor's guidance. Exercises and problems are the main tools to explain theoretical concepts and to engage the classroom.
- Class evaluation (0.2hs): at the end of the first part of the class, the students do a quiz to test the basic knowledge developed during the class. This quiz motivates the students to actively engage in the class.
- Case study solution (0.3hs): The students have about 20 - 30m to solve the case study. It is important here to create high engagement between student-professor to solve doubts, questions and to create synergies.
-Group assignment (1.3hs): The students have about 1 - 1.2hs to work as a team in their group assignment activities.
- 10% Attendance + quiz. It is mandatory to attend to at least 80% of the sessions. During the session, a quiz will be lunched to evaluate if the students have understood the basics concepts of the session. If the student has been actively involved in the class, he/she will not have problems to answer correctly the quiz and to add one point to the final grade. Number of quizzes: 10 (1 per session). Weight: 10% (1% each of the correct ones).
- 10% individual assignments. The students will have an individual assignment (case study) each session. They will have 1 week to complete it and upload to eStudy. The individual assignment will be based on practical cases, common situations that can be found on the real world. Based on the knowledge acquired on the class, the students will be able to propose an answer/solution to the case. Critical thinking is evaluated in this task because there are no good/bad answers, rather there are solutions based on the concepts acquired in the class.
- 10% Class Participation (attitude and effort). Students are expected to behave appropriately in class. The basic principle of this behavior is RESPECT. This evaluation is done at the end of the course by the professors, based on the attitude and participation of the students in class.
- 30% Group assignment (70% Group Work + 30% Presentation) * Peer review evaluation. Highly significant. The students should be actively involved in their group assignment activity. It is a task that lasts all the subject, from session 2 to session 11. The groups are formed by the professor and will be subject to different team dynamics. All the students must: participate in the day-to-day activities + final deliverable + presentation. If a student is not achieving all of them, he/she will fail the overall task.
Peer review evaluation will define the final grade of the group assignment tasks. The students can increase or reduce (even fail) the grade based on the peer review evaluation. This mark will be multiplied by the aggregated of final deliverable + final presentation. For instance, if a student gets an average of 7 between final deliverable + presentation and gets 0.5 of peer review, the final grade will be (7 *0.5) = 4.5 (failing the task). On the other hand, if he/she gets 1.5 in peer review, the final grade will be (7*1.5) = 11.5 (equivalent to 10)
- 40% Online Tests. Highly significant.
Midterm exam: 15% (from session 1 to session 6).
Final exam: 25% (from session 3 to session 11).
Students must take and approve both exams: midterm and final exam. If a student fails at least one of them, he/she has to retake the failed exam.
Students have the right to retake only the failed exam/s and group assignment tasks.
Students must approve group assignment task. If a student gets a mark lower than 5, he/she will have to retake the overall task.
Conditions to approve the subject:
- Approve both exams.
- Approve the overall group assignment tasks, and individually the final presentation and final deliverable, respectively. For instance, if a student does not make the final presentation, he/she will fail the overall group assignment tasks, no matter if the weighted score is higher than 5.
- To have at least 5 as a weighted score of all the tasks.
- Project Management Institute. (2019). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) - Sixth Edition.
- Heagney, J. (2016). Fundamentals of project management. Amacom.