System Project Management
Course facts
- Payment: Free, no certificate
- Credits: Non Credit
- Learning style: Self-paced, start anytime
- Resources: Design Assignments; Lecture Notes; Projects with Examples
MIT OpenCourseWare details
- As taught in: Fall 2012
- Department: Engineering Systems Division
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Planning and managing complex development projects: CPM, PERT, design structure matrix, system dynamics, earned value, risk and project organizations.
Real projects rarely unfold as planned: tasks iterate, rework appears late, and reported progress drifts from actual progress. This graduate course teaches methods and tools for preparing, planning, monitoring and adapting complex system and product development projects, with both hardware and software content. It reviews classical techniques such as CPM and PERT, then puts the weight on newer ones, the design structure matrix, probabilistic project simulation and project system dynamics, and on the strategic, organizational and human sides of running projects.
What You Will Achieve
- Build a project plan and find its critical path
- Model task iterations with a design structure matrix and analyze them
- Build and run a system dynamics model of a project’s rework cycle
- Set up project monitoring and cost control with earned value management
Program Overview
Planning and Scheduling
Classical and newer ways to plan a complex project.
- Critical path and critical chain methods
- Design structure matrix and managing iterations
- Probabilistic scheduling
- Budgeting and cost control
Project Dynamics and Cases
Why projects drift from plan, shown in models and real cases.
- Introduction to project dynamics and the rework cycle
- Project dynamics simulations
- Construction, aerospace and software project cases
- Risk management and strategic issues
People and Organizations
The human and organizational side of project work.
- Humans and projects
- Organizations and complexity in project organizations
- Managing international projects
- Multi-project program management and success factors
Course Completion
Job Outlook
These methods apply to project and program management in engineering, aerospace, automotive, construction and software development.
Good for: Engineers and managers leading complex product or system development projects who want methods beyond the basics.
Keep in mind: A fall 2012 course with lecture notes, homework designs and sample projects; it does not teach project software or lead to a project manager certification.
Bottom line: Project management taught for complex engineering work, with real attention to rework, iteration and the people involved.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do the six homeworks ask for?
A project plan with its critical path, a DSM model of iterations, a basic and then an advanced project dynamics model in Vensim, monitoring and cost control with earned value, and the design of project organizations.
Does it teach Microsoft Project?
No. The course says it is not a class on commercial project management software; tools such as OpenProj, Microsoft Project and Vensim are used so the methods are understood, not to make experts of the software.
What kinds of term projects did students do?
A DSM or system dynamics model of a real project, a survey of methods and tools used in an organization, or an analysis of a past project's success or failure; past topics range across aerospace, automotive and software.
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