Designing Project Information Hubs for Program and Project Performance (edX)

Communication complexity rapidly increases even with a few program or project team members and stakeholders. Project managers are the “hub” of their project communication. Program managers are the “hub” of their organization communication to meet strategic goals. Managing these networks is essential whether you manage traditional programs or projects. Or agile programs and projects.
Program managers have two additional challenges. First, they must empower their project managers with skills, processes, and assets for information management. Second they must sense and integrate the key performance data to ensure strategic objectives are met, and project processes are improved across the program.
As you learned from the Project Management Institute, Inc.'s (PMI)"A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge" (PMBOK) when preparing for the PMP exam, the number of communication channels grows geometrically with team size. If there are “n” communicators, then the number of communication channels is n*(n-1)/2. That means five team members have 10 channels, but 10 team members have 45 channels to manage. That’s over four times as many channels for doubling the size of a small team!
If you imagine each communication channel as a radio station, you can see how quickly the program or project manager can be overwhelmed with all the information coming in. As you gain more program or project management experience, what you learned for the PMP certification or similar professional certification is not sufficient. This course will help you go beyond the knowledge you needed to become a certified project manager.
This applies to all project leaders. Whether you are a just getting started as a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), or a seasoned Project Management Professional (PMP), you need to manage a lot of information transfer and exchange. And this challenge is even greater for agilists, like certified scrum masters (CSMs) and PMI-ACP holders. No matter the scaling methods, having timely information is critical for agile teams at scale, who need to move fast without driving up overhead in team-to-team communication as technical scope changes.
In this program and project management training course, you will learn effective and efficient project management tools to receive and transmit program and project-level information. Program managers and project managers need to ensure that information flows freely and where the information can do the most benefit. This online course will teach you how to build communication networks for your program or project’s success. Gain 10 professional development units (PDUs) while sharpening your program or project management skills.
This course is part of the Program Management and the Art of Communication Professional Certificate.
What you'll learn

• Explain how to build a communication network for a program or project.
• Describe different methods to manage the information flow in communication networks.
• Create and test feedback methods to ensure that information is being transmitted accurately.
• Analyze the information needs of the members in a program or project’s communication network.

Syllabus

Week One - Program/Project Communication Networks
Module One - What Are Communication Networks?
Module Two - How to Build a Communication Network for a Program or Project - Part One
Module Three - How to Build a Communication Network for a Program or Project - Part Two
Module Four - Scaling Up the Program or Project Communication Network
Module Five - Putting It All Together and Preview of the Next Module
Week Two - Managing Information in a Program or a Project
Module One - The Types of Information in a Program/Project
Module Two - How Information Moves in a Program/Project
Module Three - Knowledge Management in Programs and Projects - Part One
Module Four - Knowledge Management in Programs and Projects - Part Two
Module Five - Putting It All Together and Preview of the Next Module
Week Three - Program/Project Management Information Templates
Module One - The Program/Project Communication Plan
Module Two - Reporting Program/Project Status
Module Three - Effective Meeting Practices
Module Four - Communicating Program/Project Status to Stakeholders
Week Four - Troubleshooting Program and Project Communication Network Challenges
Module One - The Network is Growing Too Big
Module Two - Information is Getting Lost in the Network
Module Three - Information Only Goes One Way
Module Four - How To Tell If Information is Being Transmitted Accurately
Module Five - Teaching Your Program Or Project Team Good Information Management Habits