Course syllabus

IMS045 - Technical project management / Teknisk projektledning

7,5 Credits

Grading: TH - Five, Four, Three, Fail

Major subject: Mechanical Engineering

Department: 40 - INDUSTRIAL AND MATERIALS SCIENCE

Eligibility:

In order to be eligible for a first cycle course the applicant needs to fulfil the general and specific entry requirements of the programme(s) that has the course included in the study programme.

Course specific prerequisites

None in particular

Aim

Improve the ability of students to lead and work in projects.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

Describe state-of-the-art and important trends in project management, project management frameworks and project organizations in relation to industrial projects

• Explain the driving forces and challenges for project management and project managers.
• Explain how decisions about projects and products will affect a company's business.
• Identify and account for current future trends.
• Describe and apply different forms of project management frameworks, including Water-Fall, Stage-gate, Vee, Lean and Agile project forms.

Describe the function for different project tools and some IT tools for project management and planning.

• Describe basic project management concepts and tools.
• Design a WBS according to accepted principles for industrial projects.
• Adapt a project life cycle model according to principles for rolling wave planning and be able to follow-up and adapt it to the product life cycle.
• Write a project plan adapted to a specific project.
• Design and describe project goals.
• Categorize different project challenges based on its complexity, e.g. using the NTCP framework.

Describe how projects can be used to control development work in complex organizations.

• Explain and analyse management problems in project environments with the support of appropriate literature.
• Evaluate organizational learning and lessons learned through projects.
• Compare and adapt different frameworks for project-controlled organizations.
• Describe different roles in a project, types of leadership and ways to create motivation in project work.
• Use literature to critically evaluate project management models.

Meetings (Long Lectures)
The lectures are centered on three themes as presented in the schedule

The course is organised in integrated lectures, tutorials and exercises given in 4 hour meetings.

Each lecture will have a different theme and will require active participation. It is therefore of upmost importance to attend the lectures. Though not strict compulsory an advance notice of absence is appreciated.

Content and Schedule

The course is organised around a series of lectures, mandatory exercises and a project work.

Literature

Shenhar, Aaron J., and Dov Dvir. Reinventing project management: the diamond approach to successful growth and innovation. Harvard Business Review Press, 2007.

Steven R. Hirshorn, NASA SYSTEMS ENGINEERING HANDBOOK rev 2 (available online and as PDF), 2017

Examination including compulsory elements

For completion of the course the students must have at least a "passed" grade on a home exam, on the project work and attended the compulsory lectures and exercises. The final grade depends on the results from both the home exam and from the project work.

The home exam and the project work is weighted equally towards the final individual grade.

Project                3,0c     Grading: TH (U-5)                    3,0c                

Laboratory       1,5c     Grading: UG                                 1,5c                                         

Examination    3,0c     Grading: TH (U-5)                    3,0c                                        

Examiner: Dag Bergsjö (dagb@chalmers.se)