Download EM-636 Engineering Project Management

EM-636-851 Engineering Project Management: Welcome Letter
Dear Student:
Welcome to EM-636 Project Management!!
Did you know that Computer World Magazine has named Project Management one of the top 9
skills needed in 2009? As quoted in their Dec 2008 issue: “Project Management is one of the
areas that endure all economies and climates, where companies are constantly looking for people
who understand the project and the systems development life cycles and make sure the project
goals are closely aligned with the business objectives," says Harvey Koeppel, executive director
of the Center for CIO Leadership in New York. So I am delighted to have this opportunity to
interact with you and help share the knowledge and experiences of project management. I hope
you will learn much, and find some useful processes and tools that will make your job easier.
My Background
Since I will be asking each of you to post a brief bio of yourself to the course bulletin board, it only
seems fair that I tell you something about myself as well. I received both a BS and MS in
Engineering Science from NJIT and the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification
from George Washington University. I obtained most of my corporate experiences at Bell
Laboratories, where I spent most of the first half of my career working on defense projects for the
US Navy, designing underwater systems to track Russian submarines. I later managed wireless
communications projects ranging from 5-year multi-million dollar contracts with strict government
controls, to 1-year $500,000 projects that were run more informally, so I’ve seen the full spectrum
of project management rigor. After 20 years I left the corporate world and for the past 8 years
have been employed as an independent consultant and trainer, teaching for Boston University,
Pace University, NJIT, and other independent training organizations. I also hold the concurrent
position of VP of Professional Development and Training for the Project Management Institute
(PMI) of New Jersey. So as you can see, I am very interesting in teaching and sharing the
experiences of project management.
Course Description
The course can be accessed by going to http://moodle.njit.edu and logging in with your UCID.
This is a distance-learning course, hence this is a virtual classroom set up. Although it is possible
to review lectures on your own schedule, this is a rigorous course that will cover the material
taught in a typical structured classroom and it is strongly recommended that you keep up with the
lecture schedule. I will post lecture notes, and you will have an opportunity to apply the learnings
through the homework exercises which are due weekly on specific dates. There will also be
midterm and final exams.
Although there will be some individual homework assignments, for most of the class you will be
working in groups on an assigned project and provide one submission per team. Since this is a
distance-learning class, you will have to interact with your team members using various
communications media. While at first you may find it difficult to work as a team in this way, it is
very common in today’s business for teams to be geographically dispersed. So it is not just the
information content of this course that will be useful, but all the skills that you will hopefully
acquire in learning how to work as an effective team in a virtual environment.
All students will need to participate actively in these group assignments, as you will be graded on
your participation and more importantly your teammates will depend on you. If this type of
environment is not something you are comfortable with, this may not be the right course for you.
It requires being pro-active, participative, and is labor intensive.
I will also hold a weekly chat session on Tuesday evenings from 8:30pm – 9:30pm (day/time is
subject to change.) During the chat sessions I will review key points from that week’s lecture and
answer any questions you may have. These sessions are for your benefit and will be much more
helpful for you if you read that week’s lecture in advance of the chat.
Your semester grade will be based as follows: 10% participation, 30% homework, 30% midterm,
30% final.
Course Materials
Two texts are required for this class. The course is organized to follow closely our main text
which is the “Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge” (aka The PMBOK) Fourth
Edition, and is the ANSI standard for Project Management. By following this text, anyone using
this course as a preparation for PMP Certification will have an excellent head start. The PMBOK
is the main text for this course. There will be reading assignments from “Project Management: A
Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling,” by Harold Kerzner 10th edition.
This is an advanced text that will be useful for both new and seasoned project managers and help
augment the learnings of the lectures. These are the only books required.
As mentioned in the course profile, you will also need some software to be able to view
powerpoint files, and it will be helpful to have MS Word, MS Excel, or MS PowerPoint in order to
submit homework.
You will also need to get a Skype ID (www.skype.com) to participate in online chats.
Your Background
As an aid to helping me form the teams, and allowing you to all get to know each other a bit
better, I request each individual to post a brief synopsis of yourself to the bulletin board which
includes:
a. your educational background
b. practical experience
c. reason for taking this course
d. a fun fact about yourself
There is a discussion thread for these bios at the course homepage and request that you post a
follow-up to that thread so everyone in the class can see your response and get to know you.
A final word – there is a link on the home page which is for the NJIT Academic Honor
Code. I expect each of you to abide by that code and demonstrate professionalism and
personal integrity in all aspects of the course – including, but not limited to, homework,
exams, and class interactions.
I look forward to meeting you all and spending a fun and informative semester together!
Ava Heuer, PMP