William Stewart – Deeply Practical Project Management (16 PDUs) (Download)
Project management theory sounds straightforward until you face your first real project. Stakeholders have conflicting demands, timelines slip, budgets tighten, and you’re unsure how to apply textbook processes to messy reality. Without practical experience, you risk becoming one of the many failed projects in the Standish Group Chaos Report. You need more than frameworks—you need proven techniques from someone who’s successfully navigated projects worth millions.
About the Course and Instructor
Deeply Practical Project Management is taught by Dr. William Stewart, PMP, DPPM, President of the Institute for Practical Project Management. With over 30 years managing projects from thousands of dollars to $55M—and senior roles on teams handling projects up to $3B—he brings unparalleled real-world expertise. A PMI-certified Project Management Professional and internationally recognized speaker at IPMA conferences, Dr. Stewart has delivered this course live over 330 times to more than 3,300 professionals. His PhD in Computer Science and experience across domains including system integration, software development, construction, and business process gives him unique insight into practical project management.
What You’ll Learn
The course covers the complete PMI project management lifecycle through a professional $44M example project, “Magical Devices Version 3,” with full documentation you can adapt for your own projects.
Foundation and Success Drivers
Understand when project management adds value, the five PM stages, and how methodology (Agile, etc.) relates to project management. Master the triple constraint and learn to avoid the top three causes of project failure while managing the three key drivers of success.
Critical PM Skills
Develop essential project manager competencies: communications, team formation and dynamics, negotiation, and leadership. Learn how to gain and maintain stakeholder and senior management support throughout your project.
Initiation and Planning
Build compelling business cases using three proven approaches. Master requirements gathering with best practices for documentation, review, and approval. Create realistic work breakdown structures (WBS) and understand when to decompose further.
Scheduling and Estimating
Discover why precedence diagrams matter more than Gantt charts for effective management. Learn five estimation techniques to achieve +/- 10% accuracy and handle estimating errors. Master critical path calculation and understand why schedule often trumps budget importance.
Procurement and Contracting
Decide confidently between build or buy decisions, select optimal contract structures, and execute effective award processes.
You may also be interested in these courses:
- Richard Lock – Ask Better Questions – Build Better Relationships (Download)
- Hassan Osman – Write Better Emails: Tactics for Smarter Team Communication (Download)
Execution Excellence
Build high-performing teams through effective delegation, motivation, and conflict resolution. Manage scope to capture missed items while preventing scope creep. Use critical path analysis to focus efforts and reallocate resources efficiently.
Control and Monitoring
Track budgets and manage cost drivers for optimal performance. Identify and mitigate risks early, staying within risk budgets. Apply earned value management (EVM) to objectively forecast future cost and schedule performance. Manage quality to ensure customer satisfaction.
Recovery and Closure
Learn productive approaches for requesting stakeholder help when projects face challenges. Use scenarios to sign off requirements and delight customers. Gather lessons learned efficiently throughout the project lifecycle. Close projects professionally with strong final reports and celebrations.
Professional Development
Earn 16 PMI Professional Development Units (PDUs) and receive a Practical Project Manager (PPM) certification from the IFPPM. Gain practical preparation for the PMP exam through real-world application of PMI processes.
Course Materials
Includes nine project management templates, 250-page reference manual, six summary checklists, and the book How To Plan Your Project With Microsoft Office covering scope, schedule, and budget documentation.
Transform theoretical knowledge into practical expertise that accelerates your career and ensures project success.
