Coursera

Project Initiation and Planning (Coursera)

Offered by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,

In today’s competitive environment learning to effectively manage projects is a critical skill. This course will focus on initiating and planning projects. The course will cover the more traditional linear process, like waterfall approach, as well as the dynamic and iterative approach of agile and hybrid models, so the learners can decide when one approach is more suitable for any of their projects to maximize the chances of a successful outcome!

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Syllabus

WEEK 1
Course Orientation
You will become familiar with the course, your classmates, and our learning environment. The orientation will also help you obtain the technical skills required for the course.
Waterfall Approach - The Basics
In this module, you will learn about the life cycle of a project when using the traditional model for project management. Why is it called waterfall, and how does that dictate the process? The focus will be on the first state of the project life cycle, project initiation.

WEEK 2
In this module, you will learn about the planning phase of the project when using a waterfall approach - getting the team on board and collaboratively building a plan for managing tasks, stakeholders, and risks. You will learn about how to create the foundation for developing a detailed project plan which includes budget and schedule.

WEEK 3
In this module, you will learn several techniques that will help you develop a detailed project plan. The project plan will reveal the critical tasks. Managing projects using a waterfall approach is a start-to-finish approach to getting things done, and making projects more successful. The critical path has a significant impact on both the cost and schedule of a project.

WEEK 4
Information
In this module, you will learn about agile project management - the methodology best used when project requirements are not well understood, and change frequently. This module will focus on the roots of agile and show how to initiate and plan projects using scrum.

Go to Class

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