Online Training Courses

Ali,

An excellent idea. I have found plenty of simple CPM courses on the market, do we want to have something similar on Planning Planet? I dont know.

My particular concern is to make "expert Planners" and for these I cannot find any generic courses on the market. The only things that seem to exist are those offered by toolset vendors. I want to create top level planners who can make any tool function, subject to familiarisation with a tool, because they know and understand the questions to ask. I am not quite sure what knowledge I have gained over the years to be able to get results from a mixture of tools. What topics should be inlcuded?

It seems to me that the conditions for project management vary greatly from industry to industry. It would be difficult to create a generic training system that would offer expert advise applicable to all industries. Training systems need to be targeted to specific industries to address the unique conditions of each one.

For example, some projects are by their nature different. Software development, engineering and design projects are all geared towards managing what is essentially a creative process. Planning and estimating these projects requires some different methods than construction and maintenance projects, where the scope is more determinable.

Also, the use of project management differs across industries. In the construction industry (and sometimes for fixed bid work in industrial maintenance), project management is sometimes used as a basis for determining a contractor payment schedule. This complicates the dynamics for planning and progressing as there are now political, financial and legal motives for manipulating the schedule.

And within my area of expertise, industrial maintenance projects (turnarounds), projects are very different from construction projects (see the Projects Vs. Turnarounds comparison for an overview).

I do not think it is possible to create a training program that will make people expert project managers across all industries. The dynamics are simply different.

Bernard Ertl
InterPlan Systems Inc. - Project Management Software, Project Planning Software

Hi there,
very interesting discussion. I feel, that more intense training on the job, such as approaches, tools and techniques would be appreciated by many project people. Especially if it was accompanied by on-the-job coaching.

As a matter of fact, I am just doing a small research study on project management training needs.

So, if you - as I - want to find out more about that, why dont you send me an email and I will email you the survey.

As a "thank you" every participant will get a detailed analysis prior to publication. Plus the first twenty respondents are invited to challenge me (who am I anyway? -ProjectCoach) and email me a question related to there project environment that has been bothering them lately. So, join my study and ask for the survey....thomas@integralconsulting.ca

Thanks, Thomas

Very interesting. In many respects the best learning is gained on the job, subject to having the right support mechanisms in place. The real problem is having time available from the real experts to coach- they are in great demand.

I would be very interested in your survey. what is the basis of this survery? academic, training company, etc?

Just an update to my earlier posting...

We have published two (~30 page each) turnaround tutorials on our website for those in the industrial process plant industries (oil refining, petrochemicals, power generation, pulp and paper, etc.):

Turnaround Project Planning Primer

Turnaround Project Management Primer

These tutorials cover most aspects of turnaround planning and management (not just computer software).

Bernard Ertl
InterPlan Systems Inc. - Project Management Software, Project Planning Software

Dear ali.
please see site www.4pm.com

Regards

Hi there,
I think this subject is created for definition online training in this site not showing the link of other online trainig sites!
please tell me am i right?

Well from my background experience i think we can make some tutorials on the site for some major planning programs i learned adobe photoshop from the net because it have a lot of resources and tutorials on the web and i think that the site is full of experienced users who can give us true example from thier practicle life and explain it to us and maybe upload some of the files on the site so new commers like me can gain something and move forward to pass the start from scratch situation which is the most hard to over come it
thanks alot

It would be excellent to have e-courses formatted by members of the PP.

These courses could be directed for the many diverse areas:

IT, Construction, Turnaround etc.

Or in the usage of some softwares (like Excel) for Risk Analysis, Monte Carlo Analysis, Physical Progress and S-Curve etc.

Mainly for professionals who are initiating career.

Regards.

Hi Bernard,

I like the link you provided regarding turnaround.


Thanks


Charlie

An excellent idea. yes we have to have some simple CPM courses on Planning Planet .

we have to include topics related to projects planning,risk analysis,claims,delays,issueing instructions and time control.

can we share our experiances to gain the penifet and improve our knowledge.

I’ll wait for that to happen,its very useful especially to beginners that needs substantial information about the real planning society.