Course Overview – 1 day
This course deals with an approach to achieving strategic goals by
selecting, prioritizing, assessing, and managing projects and programs
based upon their alignment and contribution to the organization’s
strategies and objectives.
The objective of this course is to
provide the participant with the tools to determine the strategic fit
for each project and its priority within the portfolio of projects. The
Strategic Planning Pyramid is introduced as a tool for understanding a
project fit to Strategic Initiatives and the Organization Mission,
Vision, and Values.
Course Content
Strategic Planning Process and Principals
Mission, Vision, Values and Strategy
Defined
The strategic
planning pyramid is presented to define and communicate the connection
of the following:
Level 1 of Pyramid
Mission-
What is our
purpose? What is most
important to us?
Vision -
Where are we going? What kind of a legacy will we leave?
Values -
How will we act? How will we treat each other?
Level 2 of the Strategic Planning
Pyramid
Strategy - What will
we focus on?
Level 3 of the Strategic Planning
Pyramid
Projects -
How are you going to get there?
Developing the Strategy
Strategic Initiatives Purpose and
Analysis:
§
How the
vision will be achieved
§
What can Not
afford to be dropped
§
Where to
start
§
What must you
say NO to
The Guidelines for Developing Strategic
Initiatives that will be highlighted
Questions to consider when
determining the initiative will be reviewed:
§
What would success in this initiative mean?
§
How will it be measured?
§
What does the team / department / organization really
need?
§
What is missing, how will it be added?
§
What is the most important thing in the next
quarter/year?
§
What project needs to be done well which can leverage
the team’s effectiveness?
§
What is
gained by achieving the results, and what do you risk by not achieving
them?
How to
Link Projects to Strategic Plans
Aligning is about creating technically
elegant systems of work.
Aligning Principles to be discussed include:
§
The parts
affect the whole, and the whole affects the parts.
§
Organizations
are perfectly aligned to get the results they get.
§
How to align the parts to achieve
vision and strategy.
Identifying Realistic Projects
During the initiation phase we will examine:
§
Analyzing the
project scope (What, When, Where, Budget, Business Case, ROI, Payback
Period, Problem to be solved, Needs to be satisfied)
§
Analyzing the Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant,
and Time- dimensioned goals (S.M.A.R.T.)
Creating an effective plan of action
06
In the Plan stage,
we will show how to develop action plans through:
§
Prioritizing performance factors (the triple constraint).
§
Identifying Project Risk, Mitigation and Contingency plans.
§
Developing the Project WBS
§
Assigning Project Resources and determining the budget.
Effective Strategy Implementation
The steps in implementation including
coordinates people and other resources to carry out the plan will be
covered. We will also detail the deliverables in the implementation
stage that need to be analyzed or developed including:
§
Status Meetings Minutes
§
Status Reports ( Stop Light Reports with tracked metrics identified such
as Schedule, Cost, Earned Value)
§
Change Control
