Project Management Fundamentals
Someone has to own the date. Usually nobody does.
Most organizations run projects without project managers. Work with a deadline gets handed to whoever is closest, alongside their actual job, with no method and no authority. It often works, right up until it does not, and the failure is almost never technical.
This workshop is for those people. Not certification, not a methodology to adopt across the organization, but the practical structure that separates a project that lands from one that quietly slips: a scope you can defend, a plan that shows what depends on what, and one person who owns each thing.
Operations and department leaders use this where initiatives keep slipping and nobody can point to when it went wrong. HR and learning and development leaders use it for managers who inherit projects without ever being taught to run one. Two deeper areas have their own workshops: stakeholders and communication in Improving Project Communications and Stakeholder Management, and risk in Increasing Performance Through Project Risk Management.
Content, scenarios, and examples are built around your actual work before delivery. Most groups train live online, and on-site in-person delivery is available by request. This workshop is available by request only, with a three participant minimum, and sits alongside our other leadership development workshops.
This course includes
- Live, instructor led workshop delivered in two 4-hour sessions
- Planning work done on a real project from your organization
- Frameworks for scope, dependencies, estimation, and accountability
- A status conversation structure built to surface problems early
- Digital learning materials and take home reference guides
- Certificate of completion for every participant
Description
The day opens with scope, because most project failures were decided here. Participants practice defining what the project will and will not deliver, in writing, before anything starts, and learn to recognize the request that sounds small and is not. They work on the conversation where you make a sponsor choose rather than absorbing an expanding scope silently.
The middle is planning and accountability. Participants build a plan that shows dependencies rather than a list of tasks in date order, learn why their estimates are optimistic and by how much, and identify the critical path so they know which slip matters. They practice assigning ownership specifically enough that it is clear who is answerable, which is where most projects quietly fail.
The last stretch is running it. Participants practice a status conversation designed to surface bad news rather than confirm the plan, handling the change request that arrives at week six, and closing a project deliberately instead of letting it trail off. Every exercise uses a real project from the room.
What You'll Learn at a Glance
- Define scope tightly enough to defend when it is challenged
- Recognize the request that sounds small and is not
- Build a plan that shows dependencies, not just dates
- Estimate realistically and identify which slips actually matter
- Assign accountability specifically enough that ownership is clear
- Run a status conversation that surfaces bad news early
- Handle a mid-project change request and close a project deliberately
Details
Duration
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this workshop. It is designed for managers, supervisors, and team leads who run projects alongside other responsibilities. It does not lead to a project management certification. Teams pursuing formal credentials should look at our Project Management Certificate.
Your Leadership Training Goals, Customized to You
DWC provides expert leadership training aligned to your organization’s needs, your funding requirements, and your participants’ skill levels. With customization at every level, from content to scheduling to delivery format, DWC builds leadership training programs that produce measurable outcomes.
20,000+ Participants Trained | 90% Completion Rate | 1,500+ Organizations Served
Tuition
Project Management Fundamentals is available by request only, scheduled around your team.
- $495 per participant, with a three participant minimum
- Private training: request a custom quote. One on one sessions and teams below the three participant minimum are priced case by case
- Larger groups: request a custom quote. We price larger cohorts case by case based on group size, schedule, and delivery format
Colorado state agencies, higher education institutions, cities, counties, school districts, and certified nonprofits may purchase this course directly through our State of Colorado Price Agreement. Request a quote and we will build pricing around your team.