Insegnamento a.a. 2019-2020

20329 - PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Department of Management and Technology

Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
PPA (6 credits - II sem. - OP  |  SECS-P/10)
Course Director:
MARCO SAMPIETRO

Classes: 31 (II sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: MARCO SAMPIETRO


Mission & Content Summary

MISSION

Let us start by considering a few facts: - Product variety has more than doubled in the past 15 years; - In the same period, product life-cycles have shortened by about 25%; - 50 percent of annual company revenues across a range of industries are derived from new products launched within the past three years. What does that mean? That companies have to recover the project investments in less time, and project mistakes (e.g. over-time and over-budget) can disrupt the ability of the companies to return investments. That is, being able to manage projects successfully is not longer a nice-to-have but it is now a must-have.

CONTENT SUMMARY

The course addresses the most value-added topics in project management and related disciplines.

  • Starting from setting the project strategy, the course goes through the most important project planning and control methodologies both in the predictive and Agile project management
  • Trends in project management are discussed as well in order to distinguish between myths and reality.
  • Best practices, real examples and typical issues are presented and discussed.
  • A key characteristic of this course is highlighting the link between methodologies and human behaviors. In fact, many project management approaches are correct in theory but, when applied, they fail to provide the expected benefits because of human interaction.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Define a winning project strategy.
  • Identify and manage the most relevant stakeholders.
  • Describe the project scope and objectives in a clear, complete and effective way.
  • Identify the work that has to be done in order to reach the project objectives.
  • Assign responsibilities to the proper team members.
  • Develop a realistic project schedule.
  • Identify and manage the most relevant project risks.
  • Monitor the project performance.
  • Decide which project management approach (predictive or Agile) has the best fit with the project characteristics.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Develop a professional and realistic Project Management Plan.
  • Apply the project management approach with the best fit to the project characteristics.

Teaching methods

  • Face-to-face lectures
  • Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
  • Exercises (exercises, database, software etc.)
  • Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
  • Individual assignments
  • Interactive class activities (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)

DETAILS

  • Guest speaker: at the end of the course a Guest Speaker show how project management methodologies have been applied in his organization.
  • Exercises and case studies: almost every session start by supplying the methods that are immediately applied to case studies or exercises.
  • Interactive class activities. A simulation is run in order to practice the difference between predictive and agile project management.
  • Individual assignment. Every participant is asked to develop an individual project management plan (see next section).

Assessment methods

  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Written individual exam (traditional/online)
    x
  • Individual assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
    x
  • Active class participation (virtual, attendance)
x    

ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • Written individual exam. It accounts for 40% of the total grade. It is composed on 30 multiple choice questions. It permits to test the knowledge on the main characteristics and aims of the most important project management methodologies.
  • Individual assignment. It accounts for 50% of the total grade. Participants have to select a project and develop a professional Project Management Plan. The aim is to test the ability to apply project management in real case scenarios.
  • Active class participation. It accounts for 10% of the final grade. The aim is to create engagement and a dynamic class environment.

NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • Written individual exam. It accounts for 100% of the final grade. It is composed of 10 multiple choice questions to test the knowledge on the main characteristics and aims of the most important project management methodologies; 1 open question, to evaluate the deep understandanding of project management topics and finally 1 mini-case, to test the ability to analyze or solve real case situations. 

Teaching materials


ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • M. SAMPIETRO, A. CANATO, F. PENNAROLA, The Tiscali UNIT Case (D), The Case Centre, 2006.
  • M. SAMPIETRO, Stakeholder Management, SDA Bocconi, 2013.
  • M. SAMPIETRO, The Project Scope Statement, SDA Bocconi, 2017.
  • M. SAMPIETRO, The WBS, SDA Bocconi, 2017.
  • M. SAMPIETRO, Responsibility Assignment Matrixes, SDA Bocconi, 2017.
  • M. SAMPIETRO, The Project Network Diagram and the Critical Path, SDA Bocconi, 2013.
  • M. SAMPIETRO, Project Optimization, SDA Bocconi, 2014
  • M. SAMPIETRO, Poli M. Project Risk Management. ETAS (translated from), 2004.
  • V. FIORILLO, R. SECCHI, S. ZAMBONI, 787 Dreamliner: Cleared for take off? The Case Centre, 2013.

NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • M. SAMPIETRO, T. VILLA, Empowering Project Teams: Using Project Followership to Improve Performance. Boca Raton: CRC Press – Taylor&Francis Group, 2014.  ISBN-13: 978-1482217551  ISBN-10: 1482217554.
Last change 15/06/2019 09:17