Course Length:           2 Days             (14 PDUs)

Course Description
This seminar is designed as a graduate-level course for experienced project managers.  It is designed to reinforce many of the project management “Best Practices” taught in other project management classes.  It focuses specifically on how to recognize that a project is in “trouble”, and concentrates on the actions that project managers need to take to assess, and ultimately plan to recover or terminate a project that has experienced significant difficulties.  Tools and templates will be presented and put into context through various exercises and scenarios and case studies.

Target Student:                    Students enrolling in this course should be PMPs®, Program Managers,                                                            Senior Project Managers and or have significant project management                                                                  experience.

Prerequisites:                       To ensure your success, we recommend you have significant working                                                                  knowledge or experience in working in a project environment.

Delivery Method:                Instructor-led, group-paced, classroom-delivery learning model with                                                                  structured minds-on and hands-on activities.

Homework Assignment:  Each participant will be required to read a white paper and provide a                                                                   5-minute report summarizing the key points made in the report, along                                                               with any recommended best practices contained in the report.

Benefits:                                   Students will learn how to use project management techniques to plan,                                                               organize, control, document, and close out their projects successfully                                                                 and with minimum risk.

Performance-Based Objectives

• Develop working definitions of project success, failure and trouble.
• Discuss how and why projects get in trouble.
• List and discuss the root causes of project failure.
• Discuss techniques for performing project reviews.
• Determine the type of project review required
• Develop the Intervention Plan for fixing a troubled project.
• Discuss techniques and strategies for recovering a troubled project.
• Discuss techniques and strategies for terminating a troubled project.
• Discuss project closure activities

Course Content
Day One

1. Introduction
   Session Overview
   Class Norms
   Resource Table – Homework
   Key Questions

2. Project Success and Failure
    Exercise – Define Success and Failure
   Successful Outcomes
   Failed Project Objectives
   What About Casualties?
   Zones of Success/Failure
   Project Outcomes
   Exercise – Identifying Trouble Indicators
   Labels for Projects in trouble
   Runaway Projects
   Crunch Mode
   Death March
   Project Disasters
   Troubled Project
   Exercise – Root Causes of Troubled Projects    
   Questions – Root Causes
   Acceptable ranges for Variance
   Range of Problem Projects
   Team Exercise – develop a working definition of a “Troubled Project”

3. Project Reviews – Diagnosing Project Problems
   Project Status Meetings
   When do you want to find out about problems?
   Project Audits or Delivery Review
   Objectives of Audit
   Project Delivery Report
   Planning for the Project Audit
   Exercise – Review an Assessment Report
   Project Health Check
   Project Health Check Template
   Troubleshooting Review
   Troubleshooting Process
   Troubleshooting Review Ground Rules
    Team Exercise – Develop a template for conducting a Troubleshooting Review.
   Review Focus Areas
    Discussion – How are Quality Issues addressed on troubled projects?

Day Two

4.  Project Rescue – Recovering from problems

Project Rescue Effort
Types of Project Rescue
Runaway Project Remedies
Exercise – Project Rescue Process
Rescue Project Charter
Turnaround Strategy
1.  Analyze Current Position
2.  Define Target Position
Exercise – Ideal Solution Element
               3.  Evaluate Strategic Options
4.  Generate Plans & Endorse Strategy
Outcomes for Project Rescue
Other Ramifications
Checkpoints
 Discussion – Why is it a challenge to terminate a project?

5. Terminating a Troubled Project – Planning and Executing a Project Termination
   Project Termination needs to be planned
   Why terminate a project?
   Making the termination decision
   Guidelines for project termination
   Lessons Learned
   Team Discussion – Project Closure
   Final Exercise

6. Class Closure
   Course Summary
   Course Review

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Rescuing Troubled Projects