Designing Project Information Hubs for Program and Project Performance

The most valuable resource on a project is timely information. Why? Because information changes the decisions that determine project outcomes. Learn the planning skills and techniques needed to manage information across complex programs or projects.

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What You Will Learn

  • Explain how to build a communication network for a program or project.
  • Describe different methods to manage the information flow in communication networks.
  • Create and test feedback methods to ensure that information is being transmitted accurately.
  • Analyze the information needs of the members in a program or project’s communication network.

About This Course

Communication complexity rapidly increases even with a few program or project team members and stakeholders. Project managers are the “hub” of their project communication. Program managers are the “hub” of their organization communication to meet strategic goals. Managing these networks is essential whether you manage traditional programs or projects. Or agile programs and projects.

Program managers have two additional challenges. First, they must empower their project managers with skills, processes, and assets for information management. Second they must sense and integrate the key performance data to ensure strategic objectives are met, and project processes are improved across the program.

As you learned from the Project Management Institute, Inc.'s (PMI)"A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge" (PMBOK) when preparing for the PMP exam, the number of communication channels grows geometrically with team size. If there are “n” communicators, then the number of communication channels is n*(n-1)/2. That means five team members have 10 channels, but 10 team members have 45 channels to manage. That’s over four times as many channels for doubling the size of a small team!

If you imagine each communication channel as a radio station, you can see how quickly the program or project manager can be overwhelmed with all the information coming in. As you gain more program or project management experience, what you learned for the PMP certification or similar professional certification is not sufficient. This course will help you go beyond the knowledge you needed to become a certified project manager.

This applies to all project leaders. Whether you are a just getting started as a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), or a seasoned Project Management Professional (PMP), you need to manage a lot of information transfer and exchange. And this challenge is even greater for agilists, like certified scrum masters (CSMs) and PMI-ACP holders. No matter the scaling methods, having timely information is critical for agile teams at scale, who need to move fast without driving up overhead in team-to-team communication as technical scope changes.

In this program and project management training course, you will learn effective and efficient project management tools to receive and transmit program and project-level information. Program managers and project managers need to ensure that information flows freely and where the information can do the most benefit. This online course will teach you how to build communication networks for your program or project’s success. Gain 10 professional development units (PDUs) while sharpening your program or project management skills.

At A Glance

  • Expert Instruction Build Skills
  • Self-Paced Progress at your own speed
  • 4 Weeks 3-5 hours per week
  • Free or $199.00 For the full program experience Discounted to $179.10 when you purchase the full Program Management and the Art of Communication Professional Certificate Program.
  • 10 Professional Development Units (PDUs) Earn PDUs toward your Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Mangement Professional (PMP) certification

Related Articles

Picture of Dr. Bill Brantley Your Instructor

Bill Brantley

My goal in teaching is not only to convey a body of knowledge but also help the student incorporate that knowledge into their careers and life. Teaching is not just about transmitting knowledge but also developing the student’s abilities as a critical thinker and an independent scholar.

What Our Students Are Saying

  • I truly enjoyed the class. This helped me to better prepare my teams for information creation, usage, storage, and control. This will help me mature as a project manager and drive better communication skills. I have already started utilizing several of the concepts from the class and will continue to introduce more as the team matures. Jim Hoover
  • I really enjoyed this course! It was a great opportunity to learn from such a great professor and a mentor. I gained lots of knowledge from it and this is definitely going to benefit me in my future career or even my resume too! I would love to continue learning from similar courses to further improve myself in the field and be a successful person. Anonymous
  • Handling communications between all the stake holders in a big project or program is very important and this course has given foresight to analyze the ways of establishing a good communication network. Anonymous
  • Lots of great information! I loved learning about communication and the best methods for delivering messages during meetings. Awesome course! Anonymous
  • I'm very grateful to learn from this course. I have been learning in many platforms and I think this course is well crafted and covers so many topics. Anonymous

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Syllabus

Week 1
Week One - Program/Project Communication Networks
  • Module One - What Are Communication Networks?
  • Module Two - How to Build a Communication Network for a Program or Project - Part One
  • Module Three - How to Build a Communication Network for a Program or Project - Part Two
  • Module Four - Scaling Up the Program or Project Communication Network
  • Module Five - Putting It All Together and Preview of the Next Module
Week 2
Week Two - Managing Information in a Program or a Project
  • Module One - The Types of Information in a Program/Project
  • Module Two - How Information Moves in a Program/Project
  • Module Three - Knowledge Management in Programs and Projects - Part One
  • Module Four - Knowledge Management in Programs and Projects - Part Two
  • Module Five - Putting It All Together and Preview of the Next Module
Week 3
Week Three - Program/Project Management Information Templates
  • Module One - The Program/Project Communication Plan
  • Module Two - Reporting Program/Project Status
  • Module Three - Effective Meeting Practices
  • Module Four - Communicating Program/Project Status to Stakeholders
Week 4
Week Four - Troubleshooting Program and Project Communication Network Challenges
  • Module One - The Network is Growing Too Big
  • Module Two - Information is Getting Lost in the Network
  • Module Three - Information Only Goes One Way
  • Module Four - How To Tell If Information is Being Transmitted Accurately
  • Module Five - Teaching Your Program Or Project Team Good Information Management Habits

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