Learning Solutions for Increased Project Performance

Global Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology R&D - Challenges, Opportunities, Pathways

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What factors contribute to increased R&D productivity? What business model best reflects increasing scientific & technological complexity? How can we specifically organize R&D to be more productive, effective, and operationally efficient? This webinar will provide you with an integrated, high level approach to understand the pharma/biotech R&D challenges in the broader context of the entire value chain spanning from drug discovery research, drug development and commercialization.

This webinar will provide an integrated, high level approach to understand the pharma/biotech R&D challenges in the broader context of the entire value chain spanning from drug discovery research, drug development and commercialization. We'll discuss current approaches and opportunities to increase productivity, effectiveness, and realize efficiencies in these highly differentiated areas as well as help you understand the different overall objectives, key outcomes and potential measures relevant for drug discovery research, drug development and commercialization.

We’ll also discuss the hypothesis that individual team members, projects and program teams, team leaders, functional area line managers, governance and decision-making bodies may all need to be organized, managed and led according to the specific objectives within the value chain spectrum. Specifically tailoring R&D project teams and their governance according to the different levels of uncertainty, need for integration and learning required in drug discovery, drug development and commercialization may be a first step towards achieving productivity, effectiveness and efficiency targets.

Presenter: Thomas J Schulze, PhD, PMP®

View the recording of the web seminar by clicking here. You may also download a copy of the slide deck from the web seminar by clicking the "Download PDF" link above.

Redefining Success for Life Science Projects

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How should life science companies define program and project success? How can project managers and teams take targeted action to make their project succeed – on every level? How do we change behaviors to ensure sustainability for the longer term, including the metrics that drive critical decisions affecting the pipeline of projects?

We all know what it means to have a project fail in the traditional sense. But what about the project that has been completed, appears to do well on the surface, but has given no real value to the business? Is it still "successful"?

This webinar will introduce a foundation for redefining project success criteria for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech companies that balances short- and longer term business needs, and allows project teams to set their project on the path to success from the start. Participants will not only learn how to build their project for the right outcomes, but also what the most important factors are that help us know, along the way, whether those outcomes are still the right ones and still achievable. We’ll explore the role of the team in making success happen, and how to get every team member focused on the right results rather than just completing a set of activities.

Presenter: Tarja Mottram, CEO, Action for Results

View the recording of the web seminar by clicking here. You may also download a copy of the slide deck from the web seminar by clicking the "Download PDF" link above.

Best Practices in Scheduling Using Microsoft Project

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Many organizations use Microsoft Project to schedule their in-house projects but don’t always provide training for either the software or the project scheduling process. In this 1-hour webinar, we’ll look at some scheduling best practices that should be used in order to maximize efficiency when planning, monitoring and controlling your projects. We’ll correlate those practices with functions in Microsoft Project to help you better understand the software, even without formal training. Topics we’ll cover include critical path, lead and lag, constraints and deadlines, work breakdown structure, schedule dependencies, schedule baseline and more.

View the recording of the web seminar by clicking here. You may also download a copy of the slide deck from the web seminar by clicking the "Download PDF" link above.

Intro to Project Management Certification

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PMI's Project Management Professional (PMP®) Certification is the most well known project management credential available, but there are a number of other certifications that have similar goals. In this 1-hour Web seminar, we explore the PMP Certification as well as the scope and sources of other popular certifications.

View the recording of the web seminar by clicking here. You may also download a copy of the slide deck from the web seminar by clicking the "Download PDF" link.

What’s New with the PMBOK® Guide and PMP Certification

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On December 31, 2008, the Project Management Institute (PMI) released the latest version of their Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. In June 2009, the Project Management Professional (PMP) Exam will be updated to reflect the transition to the new PMBOK® Guide, Fourth Edition. What does this mean for project managers and team members, current PMPs and future PMP candidates?

View the recording of the web seminar by clicking here. You may also download a copy of the slide deck from the web seminar by clicking the "Download PDF" link.

Protect Investments by Managing Risk

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Originally published in Pharmaceutical Formulation & Quality magazine, this article by Jim Stewart and Todd McKee explores risk management in a drug development environment.

Project Blind Spots

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Projects are often run by subject matter experts or “accidental” project managers who are well intentioned, but lack formal project management training and experience. This article illustrates some of the project “blind spots” that may result because they are unaware of time-honored techniques that will help them to manage projects more effectively.

Project Offices: Levels & Responsibilities

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Very often, organizations establish project offices using different names for different purposes. This article provides an overview of some commonly used terms and describes the responsibilities and expectations set by organizations around the world to define “project offices.”

Stakeholder Analysis Tool

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Here’s a stakeholder analysis tool to help you map out your stakeholders and their needs. Before you fill out the table, think about who the stakeholders are, what they need from the project and what you need from them.

Project Kick-off Meeting Agenda

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One of the most important project meetings for the team and stakeholders will be the project kick-off. Use this agenda template to help you begin to organize the structure of the meeting and customize as needed.

Change Request Form

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It’s for certain that you’ll be dealing with change as you implement any project, so be prepared to explain in your project plan how you will identify and track changes. Be sure to have standardized documents such as this Change Request Form ready when you need them.

Negotiation Strategy Worksheet

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A successful negotiation not only means getting what you want and need as a project manager, team member or stakeholder, it also means coming to an agreement that works for the other party as well. Before embarking on a negotiation session, use this worksheet to help you formulate what you must gain from the process, what you can live without, and what’s important to the other party.

Project Communication Planning

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Comprehensive and effective communications are vital to project success. This overview of project communications planning includes a template for a communications plan.

Action for Results, Inc.

www.actionforresults.com
mScholar is a division of Action for Results, Inc. (AfR), an international consulting company working with pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and other healthcare organizations to connect their strategy and execution to produce innovative products and services that respond to the needs of patients and customers worldwide. AfR's specialties include strategy definition, organizational capability building, product development process optimization and governance, and portfolio and project management.

BioPharmaPM

www.biopharmapm.org
BioPharmaPM is a Pharmaceutical Biotech Project Management group dedicated to the sharing of project management best practices within the Pharmaceutical, Biotech, CRO and Medical Devices industries at a local and global level. They are an independent, non-profit, 100% volunteer based organization with chapters throughout the United States. Their project management philosophy follows the PMI and PMBOK principles.

Scope Crêpe Project Management Blog

http://scopecrepe.blogspot.com
The informative (and witty) blog of Rich Maltzman, PMP, a senior project management consultant with Action for Results and mScholar.

Project Management Institute

www.pmi.org
With more than 265,000 members in over 170 countries, PMI is the leading membership association for the project management profession. Visit this site for information about project management credentials and certifications, including Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

Information Mapping

www.infomap.com
Information Mapping helps organizations take control of their information life cycle by analyzing their information issues, needs, and requirements to create a solution that most effectively helps to develop, deploy and manage company and project information.