Company Workshops in QRPD

Global Brain^®, Inc. workshops train organizations and teams on advanced project management tools and techniques known for their practical, "use it now" approach. Workshop contents can be tailored to your organization's industry, products, and current projects. The workshops include the analysis of several case studies and are strongly interactive. They apply to hardware, software, systems, semiconductor, web, medical, biotech, information and other services, financial, food, and more.

1. Quality Rapid Product Development (2 days): Course Outline 
This is the foundation management course to achieve fast-paced product development, executed by high-performance teams in demanding market environments. QRPD is a set of principles and global best practices for managing resources and risks to achieve Rapid time-to-market, high product performance and high quality. Implementing QRPD maximizes return on your company's investment (ROI)!

The following courses provide additional coverage of leadership and management skills and day-to-day techniques for the project leader and team members.

2. Project Leadership and Management Skills (1 day): Course Outline  
Studies have proven that the characteristics and skills of the project team leader are crucial to assured success of the project. Project Leaders, especially new ones, are not always aware of the scope of their critical role. This workshop provides a comprehensive overview of the job of the QRPD Project Leader in concrete day-to-day terms, and shows how to recognize and develop the appropriate skills in potential team leaders. Materials covered include leadership skills, project planning and control, contingency planning and risk management, status reporting, communication, meeting management, time management, delegating, and conflict resolution.

3. Project Planning, Scheduling, and Management Techniques (1 day): Course Outline
One of the most difficult aspects of product development is defining a schedule that is acceptable to Marketing and yet achievable by Engineering; then managing to that schedule through the inevitable project challenges. This course provides techniques for planning and managing projects based on product requirements, risks, available staffing and skills, and the reality of other competing projects. Includes intensive hands-on work on planning approaches, including your project. Overview of how to use computer-assisted project management tools most effectively.

4. Effective Meetings and Design Reviews (1 day): Course Outline
Ineffective meetings are one of the worst time and money wasters on any project. This course covers techniques for preparing for maximally effective meetings, leading the meetings, dealing with standard meeting problems and post-meeting follow-up. Emphasis is placed on understanding when meetings and reviews are needed to promote team effectiveness and to avoid costly later rework. The course also discusses how to select the right processes and tools for a given type of meeting, to avoid inefficient and demoralizing "free-for-alls" that waste precious team member time. The following meeting types are discussed: project team meetings, design and specification reviews, problem solving and creative meetings, and executive status meetings.

"Every course I've ever gone to in Project Management left me feeling that there has got to be something more - - some secret recipe that we haven't been told. That said, the Global Brain course is the best I've encountered. I also took Ori's University of California Berkeley Extension version a few years ago and felt that the return on my invested time was very good."

Russ DeLonzor
Vice President of Engineering, Puritan-Bennett, a division of Mallinckrodt, Inc.

Mini-courses (½-day each)

1. Introduction to Doing Projects at Warp Speed
Learn why most projects are 100% late, despite the use of traditional project management techniques and understand the paradigm shift & tools required to develop projects in ½ the time, at ½ the cost, & double the fun.

2. Powerful Project Visions for Developing Products in Half the Time
Learn the content and process for creating a QRPD vision that aligns the team, avoids surprises, accelerates the project, and meets cost and performance objectives.

3. Effective Meeting Management and Design Review Skills
On the average, one month a year is wasted in poor meeting management in organizations. Provides real-world tools for accomplishing effective meetings and design reviews during projects, with an immediate ROI.

4. Teambuilding and Working with Different Personality Types
Build great, synergistic, cross-functional teams that can move at warp-speed by using communication skills based on personality type preferences.

5. Rapid Conflict Resolution Skills
Resolve conflict rapidly by being aware of conflict styles, identifying the root cause of the conflict, planning intervention, and moving forward.

6. Detailed Scheduling and Estimating for Believable and Achievable Milestones
Learn how to create a schedule that meets the mission requirements, and gains full commitment from everyone whole-heartedly and knowingly.

7. Risk Management and Mitigation
Learn how to identify and assess all types of risks on a project, mitigate them, and manage them for less painful and more successful projects.

8. Project Management and Control
Learn how to manage a project entrepreneurially enough to benefit from synergy, but structured enough to meet the project's vision, cost, and schedule.

9. Project Leadership to "Make It So"
Learn the difference between management and leadership and learn how to lead a project that beats expectations.