How can you build a team without investing in team building activities?

Why should we pay attention to team development?

What are the challenges in building teams?

How can these be over come?

How can we manage a virtual team?

This is a special edition podcast with Adrian Tillin of Malvern Drive Consulting, joining Paul Naybour and John Bolton from Parallel Project Training

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Parallel Project Training is pleased to announce that its long awaited APMP study guide is available today from www.parallelproject training.com orAmazon.co.uk. Designed to accompany the Parallel podcasts and e-learning, this study guide is your first step towards professional project management. It is packed full exercises, case studies, quizzes and sample APMP questions.

We are also pleased to announce that Adrian Tillin an APM examiner of Malvern Drive Consulting is joining us for the next podcast on Friday 5^thFebruary 2010. The  conversation will focus on the highly valuable topic of  “Getting the best out of others with no time and no money”. Adrian is a fantastic speaker on project management and well worth listening to.

Finally we are holding a competition for three copies of our APMP Study Guide, entry is free via our website. All competition entrant and others will be invited to the launch of Parallel Project Training on the 19^th March at Davidson House in Reading or via a Webinar. Come along and meet the team and witness the draw of the prizes. Please visit the Parallel Project Training web site for more details and the register for this free event.

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This Podcast covers the APM BOK topics 1.5 Project Sponsorship, including the roles and responsibilities of the project sponsor, and how it changes in the lifecycle, why effective sponsorship is important and relashipship between the project sponsor and the project manager. It is part of the Parallel Learning System and is ideally used in conjunction with the APMP study guide.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

- Specialist APM Training Provider Gains Immediate Accreditation following launch -

28 January, 2010: Parallel Project Training, an innovative new specialist training provider offering APM project management training and APMP certification has today been awarded accredited training provider status by the Association for Project Management.

Parallel will now be able to offer the APMP qualification using highly innovative learning solutions in a wide variety of different formats including an in depth study guide available on Amazon, podcasts on iTunes, online e-Learning and traditional classroom based training delivery.

The award for accredited training provider status by the APM follows an intense period of development by the founding directors and Parallel’s pool of professional partners, associates and consultants throughout the past five months. Parallel offerings include:

Project Management (APMP) Study Guide on Amazon

It’s a course in a book, designed to help individuals preparing for the APMP qualification, fully aligned with the APM Body of Knowledge it includes numerous exercises, case studies, mini quizzes and opportunities for reflection on practice in the readers own organisation. Readily available on www.amazon.co.uk it’s just £47.

Parallel Project Podcast Channel on iTunes

Accompanying the study guide, there is a range of recorded pod-casts. These are in a number of different styles including discussion, documentary, round table and narrative, and are designed to integrate closely with the study guide. You can study as you go. They are available free of charge in MP3 format from the Parallel web site or via iTunes.

e-Learning

Using the latest multimedia technology Parallel Project’s APM e-learning is highly interactive, including a vast array of engaging sessions and quizzes. Organised to match the study guide and APM Body of Knowledge the e-learning is accessible and highly affordable, available as it is in ‘bite sized’ modules. Delegates can select just the modules they want from the range of seven or all of them which together provide complete coverage of the APM Body of Knowledge.

Website and Public Training Courses Launched

Everyone loves the website, with its on-line e-learning, community of practice and exam preparation forum. Dates for public training courses are easy to find right there on the home page. For corporate clients with groups that require a training course Parallel offers transparent pricing on all its courses directly on the website removing the need for lengthy negotiations and tendering, although discounts are always available for major programmes.

Online Community of Practice

Primarily a moderated forum, Parallel delegates have the opportunity to interact with the tutors and their fellow delegates to enhance their learning experience. With the ability to have questions answered and any attempts at questions reviewed, this forms the core of Parallel’s approach and underpins the company strap line “we’re with you all the way”.

Paul Naybour, Business Development Director of Parallel Project Training said “We are proud of our new innovative approach to project management development and we think it represents a significant step forward in widening access to project management development”.  “The tight integration between all of our learning media will increase the flexibility and accessibility of our training” said John Bolton, Programme Development Director of Parallel Project Training.

Editor Notes

Parallel Project Training was formed in October 2009 by John Bolton and Paul Naybour and is supported by a pool of associates, advisers and consultants. Paul’s background is in the management of rail and infrastructure projects, leading major training programmes for many of the key players in the rail and transportation sector.  In addition to rail experience, John has a strong pedigree in major programmes in the software and services sectors along with significant involvement in the management and development of professional project managers. Both are very highly experienced project management professionals, each having over ten years experience as project management development professionals.  Parallel Project Training is based in Reading and offers a highly innovative approach to project management training. The courses include APMP, planning, risk management, estimating, and project leadership and will lead to accreditation where available. They are delivered using a combination of printed study material, e-learning, podcasts and classroom workshops. Parallel offers exceptional value for money with their innovative approach to efficiency and reducing impact on the environment – offering more for less.

This Podcast covers the APM BOK topics 1.4 Project Context, including the need to understand project context, the need to consider the internal and external context (environment) and the use of tools and techniques such as PESTLE and SWOT. It is part of the Parallel Learning system and is ideally used in conjunction with the APMP study guide.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Date: 14/01/2010
Event organiser: APM Midlands Branch
Time: 6.15 for 6.30pm start – Refreshments provided

Venue: Holiday Inn Notts Derby, M1, Jct 25, Bostocks Lane, Sandiacre, Nottingham, NG10 5NJ

Presented by: Paul Naybour – Director of Parallel Project Training

Overview
Heathrow Terminal 5 and Wembley Stadium are two high profile projects, each of which, for different reasons is perceived as less than successful by the public. With London 2012 just around the corner, what can the profession learn from these two very different case studies?

Critical questions raised by these projects are:

How should we measure project success?

• What is a project?
• Are partnership approaches to project worth the effort?
• How should clients control projects?
• How can we manage public expectations?
• Are all project destined to failure?
• Outcomes

The workshop reached the following conclusions:

How should we measure project success?
Whilst project success is primarily measured by delivery to time cost and quality the real measure of success is if the customer would ask you back to manage another project.

What is a project and where is the boundary to operations?
The handover between project and operations needs to be managed with extreme care. The project is not really over until the asset is operating successfully for the customer. Project management of the interfaces between work packages within the project and between the project and the outside world is vital. Successful identification and management of these interfaces is a critical success factor in many cases.

How should clients control projects?
The case studies demonstrate the importance of an intelligent client. This is a real challenge for organisations that only manage projects infrequently. It highlights the importance of clients getting good advice from the start. Although many organisations are unwilling to pay for this advice until it is too late, failure to do so can end up with massive legal bills.

How can we manage public expectations?
Many projects proactively manage the media by not publishing an opening date or being conservative in the public promises that they make. Having a publicly committed schedule and an internal accelerated programme is one way to create a project buffer. As inevitably things will slip and the management of the press becomes more difficult once delays begin to emerge. It is interesting that the significant increases in cost for 2012 Olympics were announced at a very early stage. This got the bad news (which everyone expected) out of the way early so that the project could move on to manage project delivery and report progress without a constant drip of bad news as the costs gradually increased.

Are all project destined to failure?
This created quite a bit of debate, as project managers want to feel that they can deliver successful projects despite the biases introduced to get them funded in the first place. By reducing the complexity in projects the group felt that successful projects could be delivered, but this may need some significant changes in project strategy.

Are partnership approaches to project worth the effort?
Partnership approaches are not the panacea for project success; they can be valuable when the partners have a vested interest in making the partnership work, because of significant follow on work or financial return to both parties. However in many projects which are one-off they can be more effort than the return.

Three lucky winners will receive a free copy of Parallel Project Training’s “Your Journey to Professional Project Management: How to pass the APMP Exam” worth £47.

This APMP study guide is the only APMP study guide available as a printed book accredited by the Association for Project Management. It provides a detailed insight into the APM Body of Knowledge and is designed to help individuals preparing for the APMP qualification. It includes numerous exercises, case studies, mini quizzes and opportunities for reflection.

All you have to do for you chance to win a copy of this fantastic book is answer the question: What does APM in the UK rail context stand for?

Click here to enter the competition

Date: 14/01/2010
Event organiser: APM Midlands Branch
Time: 6.15 for 6.30pm start – Refreshments provided

Venue: Holiday Inn Notts Derby, M1, Jct 25, Bostocks Lane, Sandiacre, Nottingham, NG10 5NJ

Presented by: Paul Naybour – Director of Parallel Project Training

Heathrow Terminal and Wembley are two high profile projects, which are both for different reasons perceived as less than successful by the public. With London 2012 just around the corner, what can the profession learn from these two very different case studies?

Critical questions raised by these projects are:

• How should we measure project success?
• What is a project?
• Are partnership approaches to project worth the effort?
• How should clients control projects?
• How can we manage public expectations?
• Are all project destined to failure?

This workshop is presented by Paul Naybour, Director of Parallel Project Training. Paul is an experienced project management practitioner and has particular expertise in change programme management, risk management, earned value management and project management training development / delivery. Paul has managed the delivery of multi-million pound training and development programmes for clients such as Network Rail, Transport for London, Halcrow, Scott Wilson and Carillion.

You can download the slides from this presentation by clicking here

Do you want to carry out formal risk management?

RIPM – Advanced is designed for those who want to become project risk management practitioners. It builds on the knowledge gained in our RIPM Foundation. This event leads to the APM’s Risk Management Level 2 Certificate, which is designed to determine an individual’s knowledge and understanding as well as capability in project risk management, sufficient to allow an individual to undertake formal project risk management.

Risk management is a fundamental tool in the management of projects and programmes as the only fact when bidding and planning is that the future is uncertain and needs to be predicted and managed well to prevent unforeseen problems in delivery. Done well, risk management is the most effective tool in ensuring that project and programme objectives are delivered successfully. This event takes the knowledge gained on RIPM Foundation and builds the capability needed to undertake formal risk management activities on any project. This is a 3-day event, 2 days of this is face-to-face with us in the classroom and 1 day is self-study based on materials we provide in advance. For this reason, candidates may want to have at least a 1-month gap between the Foundation and Advanced events. Please note: Although APM will award a Level 2 Certificate without the candidate also holding the Level 1 award, we strongly advise against jumping to Level 2, unless you have a deep understanding of qualitative and quantitative risk methods.

Outcomes
Participants will leave this event with:

• The ability to undertake formal risk management on any project
• An understanding of the importance of human factors in risk management
• The capability to pass the Association for Project Management’s Risk Level 2 examination
• A memorable experience with unique and useful course materials

Participants can choose to sit the 3¼ hour essay based examination at 1.30 pm on Day 2 of the event.

Our events run in easily accessible locations on various dates on a non-residential basis. We run events monthly and future dates can be found on our website. If the dates published don’t meet your needs please contact us to request others – either by telephone or register your interest on our website.

The all inclusive price (excluding VAT) for the workshop is £625 plus exam fees of £305 if you want to sit the APM examination.

The price also includes a copy of two APM recommended books, both co-authored by Managing Partners in our company. Practical Project Risk Management: the ATOM Methodology (Hillson and Simon 2008), Understanding and Managing Risk Attitude 2nd edition (Hillson and Murray-Webster 2007). These will be invaluable aids as you apply your new skills to your projects.

You’ll pay a similar price on other courses that lead to the APM’s Risk Level 2 Certificate, but we can guarantee that no other will provide a similar experience.

Participant requirements

• In house workshops can be provided on request.
• This event is not suitable for people unless they have either already passed the APM Level 1 Risk Certificate, or have a good understanding of qualitative and quantitative risk methods. Note: In order to take the APM Risk Level 2 certificate, we would advise that a candidate must already have passed Risk Level 1.
• All Events, including this workshop, are subject to Terms and Conditions for Lucidus Open Events.

This event will take place in Manchester on 4th / 5th March 2010.

For further information & to book you place on this course, please click here.