The Colorado Department of Education

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Project Management Webinars

with Pat Wagner


The practice of project management is about improving how you get your work completed: on time, under budget, and at an agreed-upon level of quality. Also, would the people involved want to work with you and each other again? Even if you are a solo librarian or associate, or work alone, project management is also about coordinating your activities with the often conflicting needs of customers, colleagues, and bosses, as well as people in other institutions.

About the Webinars

This 3-part series is for anyone who works in a library at any level. It is meant as an introduction, but experienced project managers might appreciate the refresher and discover new ways to present info to their teams.

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#1:  Project Management Foundations: What’s the Big Fuss?

The building blocks of project management include basic concepts such as the importance of setting priorities and deadlines, making sure the chain of command is known to all, and why it is necessary to check in with your team mates more than once a year. Topics include aligning project management with your strategic plan, anticipating problems, writing and sharing your plans, and knowing when it is time to stop.

Participants will be better be able to:

  • Outline the basic steps for planning their projects
  • Identify who has the legitimate roles of authority
  • Avoid micromanagement and project creep

Webinar Recording (.WMV file - opens in Windows Media Player)
Participant Survey
Slides in PowerPoint
Slides as a Handout (PDF)
 

#2:  Project Management Case Studies: Who Forgot to Measure the Bookcases?

Want practical examples of good project management principles you can apply at your library? Here are stories drawn from real-life situations, including projects that were years late, silly mistakes smart people make, and why If the Plan is in Your Head, There is No Plan! Topics include course corrections, deciding what to stop doing, the consequences of failure, and why time is of the essence.

Participants will be better be able to:

  • Identify and fix problems in existing project management planning
  • Make hard decisions when projects have to be trimmed or eliminated
  • Avoid making the assumption that details don’t need to be written down

Webinar Recording (.WMV file - opens in Windows Media Player)
Participant Survey
Slides in PowerPoint
Slides as a Handout (PDF)
 

#3:  Proof of Concept: Applying Project Management Principles to Your Workplace

In program #2 we asked participants to take one of several principles of project management and apply it to their situation, and then give us a short report after one week. Those reports (which will remain anonymous) are shared via this final webinar. Here are the lessons of project management from your peers: what worked, and what didn’t, in real situations.

The principles:

  1. Writing and sharing benchmarks in simple language.
  2. Setting deadlines to evaluate how long tasks really take
  3. Deciding how “good” something should (or can) be.
  4. Writing one daily, personal goal to help stay focused.
  5. Choosing things to stop doing, temporarily or permanently
  6. Sorting priorities.

Webinar Recording (.WMV file - opens in Windows Media Player)
Participant Survey
Slides in PowerPoint
Slides as a Handout (PDF)


For more information, contact Sharon Morris, 303-866-6730 or Pat Wagner.