Project management is a start-to-finish approach to getting things done and making projects more successful. It's a profession, but it's also a set of techniques that anyone can apply to achieve goals and manage project work more effectively. Project management can be used to guide small, simple projects as well as complex enterprise-wide initiatives.

In this course you'll be fascinated by how things work and how to make things work better. We will explain the fundamentals of project management, from defining the problem, establishing project goals and objectives, and building a project plan to managing team resources, meeting deadlines, and closing the project. Along the way, we will provide tips for reporting on project performance, keeping a project on track, and gaining customer acceptance.

Topics include:

Defining the components of a project

What it takes to be a project manager

Using project management software like Microsoft Project

Managing project scope, budget, and schedule

Managing project resources, including people

Managing project risk

Initiating a project

Identifying and managing stakeholders

Identifying requirements and deliverables

Developing a project plan

Building a project schedule

Assigning resources to tasks

Understanding the critical path

Running the project

Managing teams

Monitoring performance

Closing a project