Program and Risk Management

The objective of this discussion-based course is to educate engineers and business people in management activities which are critical to achieving successful program outcomes. The workshop will cover tools and techniques to improve program outcomes; as measured by cost, schedule and quality. Students will learn how to make plans and progress more visible to team members and to the program customer.

The course will cover scheduling topics, such as critical path calculation, maintaining urgency and proper use of contingencies. Methods will be shared for assessing and mitigating risk and improving quality of information utilized throughout the product development process.

Technology and innovation alone no longer assure that a company will maintain a competitive advantage. More and more, it is the way in which an organization can orchestrate the development and delivery of new products that propel a company above its competitors. Customers are more demanding in terms of product quality, functionality, cost competitiveness and delivery. An organization that can efficiency compile a project plan that assures it hits the mark ‘right first time’ will be the one that best utilizes resources and maximizes return to shareholders.

This course presents a proven 8-step method for program planning and control, including: definition of customers’ requirements, roles of the program team, determination and flowcharting of program tasks, scheduling and costing, quality aspects of critical tasks and risk management. Easy to grasp, each of the eight steps evolve from common-sense questions that should be answered for any program, regardless of size or complexity. A program team’s answers to the questions are scalable, that is, the response to each question is proportional to the complexity of the program.