New project management training programmes focus on the human side of project management
A consortium of specialist consultants, trainers and professional actors have joined forces to provide a new range of project management training and development services called "People Deliver Projects, Plans Don't".
The programmes are aimed at those project managers who want to improve their skills on the 'people side' of project delivery, project teams who are looking for a step-up in performance, and project organisations which need a sustained programme to develop their project leader talent.
Project management and project delivery are foremost about results, yet even firms with well established project management methods such as PRINCE2 often struggle to deliver. A closer look at the reasons for this brings up a recurring theme... "it's about people".
When you are talking project management, "people" means project managers, project leaders, and real project teams - making this "about people" means ensuring that they all have strong and collective ownership of project goals and milestones.
The range of people-focused project management training programmes will be released formally at Project Challenge Expo at Olympia on 19 - 20 September 2006. In keeping with the human spirit of the programme, People Deliver Projects' own team of professional role players will be performing real project management scenarios in the style of improvised theatre. Visitors to the stand should get a few laughs and the brave can even join in with the antics.
Andy Taylor, of the People Deliver Projects team, said: "OK, project methodology is important; tools like Microsoft Project and the rest are very useful, in their place. But undoubtedly the most vital ingredient in successful project management is the people which use them. It's people who make those tools work, not the other way around. Yet, when we look at the project management training market, it's simply saturated with methodology-based training courses. Our purpose is to redress this imbalance, with People Deliver Projects, plans don't."