Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management Course - Darden School of Business, University of Virginia

Learn the basics of project planning and management so you can run effective projects at work or in daily life.

Learn how to ensure your projects run smoothly

Projects are all around us. Virtually every organisation runs projects, either formally or informally. In this course, you will learn planning principles and execution methods so your projects can be run more effectively and efficiently at work and in daily life. You’ll discover the language and frameworks for scoping projects, sequencing activities, utilizing resources, and minimizing risks.

You also have the chance to earn professional development units (PDUs) as the University of Virginia Darden School of Business is approved by the Project Management Institute (PMI®).

When would you like to start?

Most FutureLearn courses run multiple times. Every run of a course has a set start date but you can join it and work through it after it starts.

• Available now

Who will you learn with?

Yael Grushka-Cockayne

Associate Professor of Business Administration, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia.

Who developed the course?

Darden School of Business, University of Virginia

The University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business delivers the world’s best business education experience to prepare entrepreneurial, global-minded and responsible leaders.

What topics will you cover

Week 1

• What a project is, what it is not, and why that matters
• How projects are defined and a project’s three objectives
• Models for examining a project’s organization and its stakeholders
• Reasons why projects fail and how to measure success
• Key stages in the project life-cycle and the features of each

Week 2

• Why we plan and how to develop a project plan.
• Process of scoping.
• Tools that can help us identify what should be included in a project.
• Sequencing project tasks and the nature of dependencies among project activities.
• Determine a project’s duration and critical path.
• Schedule a project and making changes to a plan.

Week 3

• Identify and assess project risks
• Prioritize and schedule project risks
• Setting a project budget
• Identify methods that can be used in situations with a high degree of ambiguity

Week 4

• Execution phase of a project
• Earned value approach for monitoring and controlling progress
• How habits of individuals executing the project can impact the progress
• Alternative methods for project execution: Agile, Scrum, and Kanban

What will you achieve

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to:

• Describe how to initiate a project by defining the project goal, identifying the priorities, and establishing the organization.
• Identify factors that lead to project success.
• Explain how to execute a project by monitoring the progress, communicating with stakeholders, and deciding how to correct and control.
• Develop the language and mindset for planning and managing projects by properly setting and prioritizing project goals and objectives.
• Explain how to develop a project plan by identifying the scope, task dependencies, schedule, critical path, and risks.
• Describe the four stages of the project life-cycle and the role each stage has in the evolution of a project.
• Develop an awareness of some behavioural biases in project settings and identify how these impact the planning and execution of a project.
• Identify the most appropriate project management methodology given the project objectives, the degrees of uncertainty, and the constraints.

Who is the course for

This course is for anyone interested in ensuring their projects run smoothly. You don’t need any prior experience.