Corso Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project

Course delivered in English
Lessons: 16
Livello: Foundational
Access: Free Online Course (Audit)

What will you learn:

1. Understand the significance of the initiation phase of the project life cycle.
2. Understand the key components of project charters and develop a project charter for project initiation.
3. Complete a stakeholder analysis and utilize RACI charts to define and communicate project team member responsibilities.
4. Evaluate various project management tools to meet project needs

Week 1 - Fundamentals of project initiation
You will learn how the program is structured, understand the significance of a project’s initiation phase and describe its key components, and understand how to determine a project’s benefits and costs.
This module has 5 videos (Total 15 min), 3 readings, 2 quizzes and takes approx 2 hours to completed

5 videos

1. Introduction to Course (23 minutes)
2. Why is project initiation essential? (3 minutes)
3. Key components of project initiation (3 minutes)
4. Afsheen: Listening to learn (3 minutes)

Wrap-up (1 minutes)

3 readings

1. Course 2 overview (10 minutes)
2. Helpful resources to get started (10 minutes)
3. Zooming in on project scope (10 minutes)

2 practice exercises

1. Reflection: Project initiation and key components (17 minutes)
2. Weekly Challenge (130 minutes)

Week 2 - Defining project goals, scope, and success criteria
You will learn how to define and create measurable project goals and deliverables; how to define project scope, differentiate among tasks that are in-scope and out-of-scope, and avoid scope creep; and how to define and measure a project’s success criteria.
This module has 10 videos (Total 48 min), 8 readings, 5 quizzes and can be completed in apporx 5 hours

10 videos

1. Introduction: Defining project goals, scope, and success criteria (2 minutes)
2. Determining project goals and deliverables (5 minutes)
3. How to set SMART goals (7 minutes)
4. Determining a project's scope (4 minutes)
5. Monitoring and maintaining a project's scope (6 minutes)
6. Managing changes to a project's scope (6 minutes)
7. Torie: The importance of staying within scope (2 minutes)
8. Launching and landing a project (3 minutes)
9. Defining success criteria (8 minutes)
10. Wrap-up (36 seconds)

8 readings

1. SMART goals: Making goals meaningful (10 minutes)
2. Objectives and Key Results: Building and implementing OKRs (10 minutes)
3. Gathering information to define scope (10 minutes)
4. Scope creep: A case study (10 minutes)
5. Optional: Reviewing the Triple Constraint (10 minutes)
6. Don't forget to land: Measuring project success (10 minutes)
7. Tracking and communicating success criteria (10 minutes)
8. Using OKRs to measure outcomes (10 minutes)

4 practice exercises

1. Test your knowledge: Identifying project goals (12 minutes)
2. Test your knowledge: Defining project scope (8 minutes)
3. Reflection: Applying the Triple Constraint (19 minutes)
4. Weekly Challenge (255 minutes)

Week 3 - Working effectively with stakeholders
You will learn how to define project roles and responsibilities, complete a stakeholder analysis, and utilize RACI charts to define and communicate project team member responsibilities.
This module has 9 videos (Total 35 min), 9 readings, 5 quizzes and can take approx 5 hours to complete

9 videos

1. Introduction: Working effectively with stakeholders (1 minute)
2. Accessibility for project managers (3 minutes)
3. Choosing a project team (5 minutes)
4. Defining project roles (6 minutes)
5. John: The importance of a project team (2 minutes)
6. Completing a stakeholder analysis (7 minutes)
7. Elements of a RACI chart (4 minutes)
8. Certificate completers: Staying motivated in the program (1 minute)
9. Wrap-up (1 minute)

9 readings

1. The building blocks of a project dream team (10 minutes)
2. Essential project roles (10 minutes)
3. Prioritizing stakeholders and generating their buy-in (10 minutes)
4. Activity Exemplar: Complete a stakeholder analysis and power grid (10 minutes)
5. Building out a RACI chart (10 minutes)
6. Exemplar: Set project roles and responsibilities in a RACI chart (10 minutes)
7. Getting the most out of a RACI chart (10 minutes)
8. Activity Exemplar: Assign project roles and responsibilities in a RACI chart (10 minutes)
9. Why projects fail: Initiation missteps (10 minutes)

5 practice exercises

1. Activity: Complete a stakeholder analysis and power grid (30 minutes)
2. Test your knowledge: Evaluating stakeholders (8 minutes)
3. Activity: Set project roles and responsibilities in a RACI chart (30 minutes)
4. Activity: Assign project roles and responsibilities in a RACI chart (30 minutes)
5. Weekly Challenge (340 minutes)

Week 4 - Utilizing resources and tools for project success

You will learn the typical resources needed to manage a project, recognize the importance of clear and consistent project documentation, understand the key components of project proposals and charters and develop a project charter, and evaluate various project management tools to meet project needs.
This module has 10 videos (Total 35 min), 6 readings, 4 quizzes and migh take 4 hours to complete

10 videos

1. Introduction: Utilizing resources and tools for project success (1 minute)
2. Essential project resources (5 minutes)
3. The value of project documentation (2 minutes)
4. Project proposals and charters (1014 minutes)
5. Developing a project charter (6 minutes)
6. Utilizing tools for effective project management (4 minutes)
7. Exploring types of project management tools (3 minutes)
8. Common project management tools (4 minutes)
9. Amar: Tools are our best friends (1 minute)
10. Course wrap-up (2 minutes)

6 readings

1. Managing resources to get the job done (10 minutes)
2. Project charters: Elements and formats 810 minutes)
3. Introducing new tools to a team (10 minutes)
4. Demonstrating your knowledge of project management tools (10 minutes)
5. Course 2 glossary (10 minutes)
6. Get started on Course (310 minutes)

3 practice exercises

1. Test your knowledge: Evaluating tools (10 minutes)
2. Reflection: Project tools (19 minutes)
3. Weekly Challenge (445 minutes)

Course details:

• Course 2 of 3 in the Google Project Management
• Flexible deadlines - Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.
• Beginner Level
• Approx. 16 hours to complete
• English with Subtitles:

This is the second course in the Google Project Management Certificate program. This course will show you how to set a project up for success in the first phase of the project life cycle: the project initiation phase. In exploring the key components of this phase, you’ll learn how to define and manage project goals, deliverables, scope, and success criteria. You’ll discover how to use tools and templates like stakeholder analysis grids and project charters to help you set project expectations and communicate roles and responsibilities. Current Google project managers will continue to instruct and provide you with hands-on approaches for accomplishing these tasks while showing you the best project management tools and resources for the job at hand.

Learners who complete this program should be equipped to apply for introductory-level jobs as project managers. No previous experience is necessary.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

1. Understand the significance of the project initiation phase of the project life cycle.
2. Describe the key components of the project initiation phase.
3. Determine a project’s benefits and costs.
4. Define and create measurable project goals and deliverables.
5. Define project scope and differentiate among tasks that are in-scope and out-of-scope.
6. Understand how to manage scope creep to avoid impacting project goals.
7. Define and measure a project’s success criteria.
8. Complete a stakeholder analysis and explain its significance.
9. Utilize RACI charts to define and communicate project team member responsibilities.
10. Understand the key components of project charters and develop a project charter for project initiation.
11. Evaluate various project management tools to meet project needs.

This course is organized by the external partner Google Academy in partnership with Coursera. In order to take this course you will need to register on their Academy platform where you can take advantage of this and many other courses on offer.  As per 23rd March 2021 the course is made available "free of charge" and therefore you should not be charged for it. This course is one part of a series of six to equip you with the skills you need to apply to introductory-level roles in project management.

About Coursera:

• Coursera offers a 7-day Free Trial
• Enroling to Coursera can cost €32 per month to continue learning after trial ends.
• Unlimited access to all courses in the Certificate
• Watch lectures, try assignments, participate in discussion forums, and more.
• Cancel anytime.
• No penalties - simply cancel before the trial ends if it's not right for you.
• Go as fast as you can - the faster you go, the more you save.
• Certificate when you complete.
• Share on your resume, LinkedIn, and CV.
• Learn on your own schedule
• Course videos and readings
• Graded quizzes and assignments
• No degree or experience required for many programs

Once you have finished the course, go back to the course page in Guilds42 to upload proof of completion (jpg / png / pdf). Your document will be evaluated and if appropriate and verifiable, you will find this certification validated in the dashboard.