Results Matter: Delivering What You Need To Deliver

Most project managers, sponsors, and team members suffer from a very human fault -- the inability to express what they want to do and what they need. Even worse, most people lack the ability to understand what others want and need. If we could overcome these disabilities completely, imagine how many project disappointments we would avoid.

In this one-hour web seminar, we will talk about this fundamentally difficult problem: how to set and communicate project scope. There is no way to express and understand scope completely clearly, but there are tools we can use to help.

This session will discuss which tools work and which fail under specific situations. Most experts recommend "cure all" basic tools like charters, brainstorming meetings, work breakdown structures, and documentation, but they do not work for all teams. You will get to hear about my experiences and research in the one-hour web seminar, and you get the chance to ask your questions and learn from each other's experiences in the on-line discussion area.

Examples in this session will come from construction, engineering, sales, marketing, and software development. Projects from every industry face these basic problems. We will talk about the differences between software "requirements gathering", understanding owner needs, and other industry-specific issues.

Learning Objectives

• Understand that project scope will always be imperfectly understood by all your stakeholders
• Understand some of the best techniques available to reduce scope misunderstandings
• Be able to assess which techniques are most likely to succeed in different situations, for different stakeholders, and for different types of projects
• Be able to list at least one new technique, borrowed from a different industry, to communicate project or product scope

What Is Included

• Access to the one-hour live web presentation (repeated for world time zones)
• Accessible with all major web browsers and computer platforms, including Windows, Mac, and Linux
• Audio available through your computer (VoIP) or a US toll-free number
• Real-time questions and answers during the live presentation
• Access to recordings of the live events with video and audio (MP3, AVI, iPod MP4)
• R.E.P. PDU credit for the events, whether you experience them live or recorded
• Discussion before and after the event in an exclusive on-line learning area

About the Presenter: Alex S. Brown, PMP IPMA-C

Alex has been managing projects since 1993, and every project he has worked on has involved at least some misunderstanding of scope -- some large and some small. Over the years he had found more and more tools to manage this problem. He is an expert in the use of project charters, and has presented on that topic all over the world. Alex has helped senior executives achieve strategic planning objectives through projects; often their fundamental problem was misunderstood project scope.

Alex is the Strategic Project Manager and President of Real-Life Projects, Inc. He has worked for ADP, Merrill Lynch, Chubb & Son, Merck, Mitsui Sumitomo, and smaller clients all over the world. He speaks, trains, and consults for individual project managers, professional associations, and large businesses.

He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and was awarded one of the first IPMA-C certifications by the Amercian Society for the Advancement of Project Management (asapm). Alex is one of the few project managers who is also active in the professional speaking community, as a Professional Member of the National Speakers Association (NSA).

You can learn more about Alex at http://www.alexsbrown.com and about Real-Life Projects at http://www.rlprj.com.

What Is Included

You get access to the live web seminar, a recording of the event in podcast-friendly formats, and an on-line discussion area to ask questions before or after the event.

You also get a certificate of completion which can be used to claim Professional Development Unit (PDU) credit for PMI certifications. Real-Life Projects, Inc. is a Registered Educational Provider (R.E.P.) with PMI and registers every event with PMI. This certificate is available whether you listen to the live event or a recording of it.

All certificates, recordings, and live events are in digital format. You need an Internet-connected computer to access them.

Access the Recorded Seminar and Live Discussion Area

The live web seminar was recorded. Purchasing this item gives you access to the recorded session, plus an on-line learning and discussion area to exchange ideas on this topic. You can continue asking questions in the on-line discussion area.

Year-Long Subscriptions Available

If you purchase a subscription to the 2009 web seminar series, you will be able to register for this event and other events through the year for free. Consider purchasing a subscription. You will save money buying an annual subscription, instead of registering for each event separately.