1.5

credits

Average Course Rating

Complex projects have many interdependent variables. Changes in one variable can have a cascading effect on other elements. After many years of study, starting with the analysis of 258 large, complex projects the database has now grown to over 16,000 projects from over 20 different fields in 136 countries on all continents except Antarctica, it has been established that the story remains unchanged. In total, only 8.5% of projects hit the mark on both cost and time. And only a miniscule 0.5% of the projects hit cost, time and delivering the benefits promised. Looking at another way, 91.5% of projects go over budget, over schedule and under deliver on the benefits promised. Doing what you said you would do should be routine, or at least common. But it almost never happens. This course looks at project management and planning and lays the groundwork for why planning and good project management practices are important for successful projects. The book "How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project" by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner offers a framework for understanding and improving the success rate of large projects, emphasizing the importance of slow, thoughtful planning and agile execution, along with other key principles. But more than just looking at why projects are successful or more often, not successful, we will look at how planning and being organized is scalable. What is required for large, complex projects to be successful is also important for you own personal success at even the smallest task. This course will give you insight into why planning is important, and how years of studying large projects can be boiled down to some “hands on” approaches to tackling all projects.