PRE COURSE ASSIGNMENT

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PRE-COURSE ASSIGNMENT

Introduction

You have been selected to attend RA Project Management training based on PwC’s Programme and Project Management (PPM) methodology from 15-19 July 2002.

This brief contains details of the work you need to do BEFORE attending the course.

The deliverables from this pre-course work will be used during the classroom-based section of the course. Therefore, you need to allow yourself time to complete the deliverables if you are to take full advantage of your own participation in the course, and if you are to support the learning of the other participants, particularly the team to which you are assigned.

Aims and Objectives

The overall aim of this course is to enable you to understand the principles, skills, tools, and techniques that will enable you to succeed in your role as a consultant Project Manager.

As you progress from being a Team Leader to a Project Manager, you will need to manage all the 7 Keys of Project Management, not just a selection of them. You will take on increasing responsibility for the client relationship and the RA’s profitability for the assignment. You will have to take a more thorough view of risk and scope management. You will be dealing with stakeholders who can influence your project in positive and negative ways. You will need to manage increasing complexity – be that in the number of work streams you manage, the complexity of the deliverables, or the diversity of the team (client and RA). Above all, you will be expected to exercise increasing creativity and judgement in the approach you take to successfully completing a project.

This course will enable you to learn more about the tools and techniques in the PPM method that will be useful to you. It will also enable you to practice your new skills in a safe environment, before you are expected to practice them for real with a client.

Specifically, this course will allow you to:

Experience the role of a Project Manager through each stage of the PPM method
Gain an appreciation of the complexities and skill involved in juggling the 7 Keys to project management success
Learn about and practice a number of PwC’s project management techniques that will help you in your Project Manager role

Introducing PwC’s “7 Keys”

We recognise that while some of you will be familiar with PwC “7 Keys” approach to Programme and Project management, others will not be so familiar. Well, we will spend five days learning about how to use PPM. However, to help you complete this pre-course assignment we have provided a brief overview of the 7 Keys and what they mean in the context of managing a consulting project.

KEY	OBJECTIVE	ACTIVITIES
Stakeholders	Stakeholders are committed	Identifying, evaluating, informing, and influencing the individuals and groups who are affected by or who influence the project.
(Client) Business benefits	(Client) business benefits are realised	Estimating, measuring, and monitoring the benefits the client organisation will gain from the project. Benefit includes expected result and the associated cost, both financial and non-financial, of achieving that result.
Work and Schedule	Work and schedule are predictable	Controlling the production and acceptance of project services and deliverables, and ensuring their provision to specified performance and acceptance requirements.
Team & Infrastructure	Team & Infrastructure are high performing	Identifying, mobilising, and developing the people required for the project team. Obtaining and maintaining appropriate space, equipment, and other resources required for successful completion of the project.
Scope	Scope is realistic and managed	Agreeing, maintaining and amending the boundaries of the project.
Risks	Risks are mitigated	Identifying and evaluating risks and issues. Developing avoidance, mitigation, and resolution activities to counteract those risks and issues.
Delivery Organisation (i.e. RA) benefits	Delivery organisation benefits are realised	Establishing how the project will contribute to the wider organisation (RA). By supporting other programmes or projects in the organisation. Maintaining and protecting the organisation's interests in relation to the project.

Where do you want to get to?

Hopefully, you want to develop to be a really good project manager. Completion of this pre-course work will enable you to get the most out of the classroom-based sessions. Taking the course will then equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to become an excellent project manager. Hopefully you want to get to the top – for yourself, your colleagues and your clients. This course for new project managers will help you scale the heights.

In designing this course, you will work through a project scenario, in all its stages, and examine many real life complications and challenges. The theme of ‘getting to the top’ and ‘scaling the heights’ inspired us. So on this course you will be performing as the project management team leading a commercial expedition to Mount Everest. Such teams have to:

Draw up and agree contracts with their clients and suppliers about the scope, nature and timing of deliverables (the ascent date, oxygen supply, etc.)
Set up and manage a diverse project and team infrastructure
Ensure reasonable milestones are set, and project plans adhered to
Ensure they meet a budget as well as getting the clients safely up and down the mountain
Meet or manage the needs of all interested parties
Minimise the risks associated with climbing Everest.

This aligns closely with the core project management method we use in PwC. It covers the core concepts we too have to manage in our projects.

We are not going to teach you how to climb mountains. We are, however, going to examine project management with mountains in mind.

To get the most from the course, you will find it useful, as well as fascinating (some people have been so gripped by this they have sat up all night reading particular accounts) to read a little about the project management challenges of climbing Everest. On Everest, failure to manage one of the 7 Keys or project management stages may not just result in a decrease in profit, but may lead to someone’s death.

What we want you to do BEFORE attending RA Project Management Training.

ACTIVITY ONE

Read the accompanying extracts from Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. He talks about his experiences on a real commercial expedition to mount Everest in 1996. On this expedition, in spite of great experience and skills, advanced planning and committed clients, disaster struck.

As you read, imagine what it would feel like to be in the mountains. Try to understand some of the dilemmas the project team faced when things began to go wrong.

As we start the classroom-based course, you will be asked to consider the 1996 expedition. In particular you will need to be able to answer for each of the PPM keys:

What did the expedition teams do well in each key?
What could they have improved on?
What were the contributing factors to the final outcome of the expedition?
What parallels between RA project management and Everest expedition project management can you draw?
So, what lessons can you learn?

Consulting Ethics as part of professional Project Management

As you take a greater lead as a project manager, you will be taking greater control of all aspects of the project. If you decide to read the remainder of Krakauer’s book, you will find that the survivors faced a number of ethical dilemmas up on the mountain, deciding:

who to save and who not to;
whether or not to save yourself and leave others to die;
to abandon potential survivors on the mountain, although you knew they were alive at the time, because they would not manage the descent;
to lead novices up the mountain in the first place.

Being part of a wide-ranging professional services firm does present us with our own unique dilemmas, however. There are a number of key ethical themes common for the RAs.

RESPONSIBILITY TO OUR CLIENTS

Serving Our Clients
Maintaining Independence
Use and Protection of Client Information
Insider Information and Trading
Avoiding Conflicts of Interest
Professional Standards and Performance

Continuing Professional Education
Professional Performance

Respecting Client Practices and Property

RESPONSIBILITY TO OUR PEOPLE

Treating Each Other Respectfully, Courteously and with Dignity
Respecting Employee Privacy
Work-Life Quality
Diversity
Equal Employment Opportunity and Non-discrimination
Sexual and Other Forms of Harassment
Appropriate Use of Communications Tools
Family and Personal Relationships
Maintaining Safety in the Workplace
Protecting the Environment.

RESPONSIBILITY TO OUR ORGANIZATION

Protecting RA Assets

Intellectual Property and Proprietary and Confidential Information
Computers, Other Equipment, and Network Security
Guarding Against Industrial Espionage and Sabotage

Obligations Relating to Prior or Subsequent Employment
Managing Client-Related Risk

Client Acceptance and Continuance
Risks Identified During Engagement

Outside Activities

Outside Employment or Business Pursuits
Political Activity
Professional Organizations
Charities and Community Service

Firm Reports and Firm Time
Public Image and Public Communications
Contracting and Signing on Behalf of the Firm
Legal Procedures

Document Retention
Communications with Outside Counsel

COMPETITIVE PRACTICES

Fair Competition

Gathering Competitive Information
Confidentiality and Exclusivity Agreements

Gifts, Entertainment and Gratuities
Protecting the Intellectual Property Rights of Others

Getting to Base Camp

As with all good mountain climbing (or consulting) teams, you will need to get to know your fellow mountaineers before you arrive at Base Camp. You will be working in teams during the ascent, and it is important that you know each other well. You will have received a list of the participant teams with your pre-course assignment and reading which will enable you to complete activity two.

ACTIVITY TWO

Before you arrive at the course, you should contact each other through telephone or e-mail.

Agree amongst yourself:

A team name

A summary of who you are collectively - what is your experience?
A summary of what you collectively want from the course - what are your objectives?
How your team is unique - what do you offer to the rest of the class?
A way of introducing all members of the team in less than 2 minutes.

You will be asked to introduce your team, its team name, and to present your two-minute team introduction as soon as the course starts. Teams will be evaluated in the course on whether they got pre-acquainted effectively.

We are still adding participants to the course. For this reason, you may receive an update in the coming days regarding late joiners to your team who also need to be included in your presentation.

Thank you for completing your pre-course work. It will give you valuable insights into the course materials, and will be used throughout the week.

We look forward to seeing you on the RA Project Management Training Programme.