Underestimating project complexity is widely accepted as one of the major causes of project failure. Based on international benchmarking activities (Merrow, 2010), we know that an average of 40% of projects do not deliver what they promised. So how can you as an engineer with a technical background improve your project performance? In this program, you will learn the project management skills you need to successfully manage engineering projects. First you will focus on the early project phases, which are crucial to achieve project success. The areas covered include the project manager and the team, the project process and the project context. At the end of this part of the program you will have created your own project execution plan. But how will you deal with the inherent uncertainties linked to the length and scale of engineering and infrastructure projects and their constantly changing environments? As with most external factors, many of the causes and consequences of these uncertainties are difficult to avoid or control. Attempts to overcome these challenges by simply trying to reduce their causes is not enough. In the second part of the program you will learn our approach to mastering project complexity, focused on front-end development and teamwork. You will develop the skills you need to make timely actions in order to tackle complexities and improve your chances of project success. You will learn to identify what makes a project complex and how to perform a complexity assessment. You will analyze these elements in the context of your own project. Then, based on our complexity framework, you will identify the complexity footprint of your project and use it to adapt your management processes. This course has been designed by TU Delft’s international experts on Project Complexity, and is based on more than 60 years of practical experience as well as relevant research in the field. “We see projects still fail and there is a need to do things differently. That’s what this course is about: delivering the best practices for project execution based on our state-of-the-art research.” – Professor Hans Bakker.
An excellent online course offered by edX: how it works
edX courses consist of weekly learning sequences. Each learning sequence is composed of short videos interspersed with interactive learning exercises, where students can immediately practise the concepts from the videos. The courses often include tutorial videos that are similar to small on-campus discussion groups, an online textbook, and an online discussion forum where students can post and review questions and comments to each other and teaching assistants. Where applicable, online laboratories are incorporated into the course.
edX offers certificates of successful completion and some courses are credit-eligible. Whether or not a college or university offers credit for an online course is within the sole discretion of the school. edX offers a variety of ways to take courses, including verified courses where students have the option to audit the course (no cost) or to work toward an edX Verified Certificate (fees vary by course). edX also offers XSeries Certificates for completion of a bundled set of two to seven verified courses in a single subject (cost varies depending on the courses).
An edX learning programme under Other Experiences
