Many a supervisor or manager of a small division or department has had the terror of being placed in charge of a small project.

Why terror? Because we fear what we do not know, and if we have no experience of how projects differ from normal operations, we try to treat the project the same way that we carry out business-as-usual. This is because we know that the usual operations work when treated in a certain way. 

Unfortunately, this almost guarantees the failure of the project – which needs to be treated differently.

Bearing people faced with this predicament in mind, Numerator Technologies offers a solution:

Project Management Fundamentals is only a one-day course but it has inestimable value as it highlights the differences between day-to-day work and the project, giving your hands-on-supervisor level employees the insight and knowledge to use a few of the basic tools and the strategies behind successful project management.

It is also of value to the mid-level project manager as it reinforces the basics and the concepts behind who is the customer, the sponsor, the user, the stakeholders of the project

Further it reminds them of the roles which must be carried out in a project, which roles can be combined, and which roles must be separated.

It touches on risk management and on the scheduling of activities, how to deal with dependent activities and even how to run activities in parallel where possible to save time.

There is a focus on planning and on doing things in stages, using a step by step logical approach which reduces planning horizons and increases control.

Perhaps it’s greatest value is that it provides a common vocabulary and understanding to all the people involved in your project/s ,and this alone increases the likelihood of success, irrespective of your industry.

For those people who do not manage projects frequently or regularly, this is the bread and butter of managing small to medium projects without investing in expensive consultants

The purpose of this article is to start a conversation. For more information or details please PM me on LinkedIn ,mail me on patrickbosch@numerator.co.za or 0833761514.