Lean 101

Duration: 1 day

Description: Lean is a enterprise-wide business improvement methodology that can be applied to any type of business.

Is Quality Really Important?

Duration: 1 day

Description: Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution.

“Quality represents the wise choice of many alternatives.”

Advanced Techniques in Stakeholder Management

Please contact us if you would like to set up a customized training course in your city or at your corporate site.

Duration: 1/2 to 1 day

Description: Are you looking for ways to improve your stakeholder engagement to build positive relationships and get more out of your projects? Stakeholder management is the key to delivering successful projects consistently. Many project teams either don't pay much attention to stakeholders or don't know how to keep the stakeholders engaged throughout the project, resulting in delays, cost overruns and unsatisfied stakeholders and customers.

Lean/Agile Process Improvement Workshop

Description: Did you know that you can achieve 15-40% efficiency gains and cost savings in 4-8 weeks using Lean/Agile? And that most of the time, these gains also lead to generating additional revenue? Other organizations and teams have experienced this phenomenon, and you can too if you invest a day in learning how. It doesn’t matter whether your process is technical, such as software development, or business-focused, such as issuing an insurance policy; all processes can be improved significantly using Lean/Agile practices.

In RefineM’s Lean/Agile Process Improvement Workshop, you will learn about process flows and optimization using concepts such as value stream mapping, WIP limits, Kanban boards, and Agile. You and your team will identify areas of improvement, organize them into themes, visualize the current process, and build a Kanban board to identify opportunities for immediate improvement. You will leave the course with the ability to optimize and improve upon critical business and technical processes demonstrated by key metrics. By implementing Lean/Agile training and process improvement, you could increase business efficiency by as much as 15-40% within 4-8 weeks.

The benefits of the workshop are increased exponentially when more than one individual from your team participates. This allows you to not only learn the Lean/Agile concepts but apply those to your specific technical/business processes during the workshop and walk away with a value stream map and Kanban board that you can start using right away.

Course Objectives: After completing the course, you will be able to

• Optimize workflows for key business/technical processes using value stream mapping (VSM).
• Use Kanban boards to find bottlenecks in the process, resolve them quickly and improve the flow.
• Start your journey of continuous improvement of key business/technical processes using Lean/Agile practices.

Who Should Attend: This course is ideal for process owners and leadership team members as well as team members who play a role in a technical or business process. This course will also benefit business analysts and application architects who build new processes and products.

PDUs: 7 PDUs / Contact Hours per day of instruction(Strategic: 7, Leadership: 0, Technical: 0)

Course Delivery: This course will be delivered in-person over one full day.

Course Material: RefineM will prepare and provide the necessary training course material for all attendees.

About RefineM's Instructors: RefineM's instructors are experienced and certified in project management and Agile and bring real-world experience to their instruction. Our instructors not only teach concepts, we also provide insights and hands-on experience. And we don’t waste time. Our training is focused and hard-hitting. We offer practical targeted training in just the key topics that will make the most impact.

Cancellation Policy: Please refer to RefineM's Training Policies.

Contact us about future dates or to arrange for this training to be delivered in your organization or city.

Leadership Skills for Project Managers

Description: What is leadership, and how can managers become more effective leaders? These questions, and more, will be answered during this course.

In this course, attendees will learn key differences between management and leadership to discover what a leader truly does. They will learn how emotional intelligence (EI) factors into effective leadership and how to develop EI competency. Attendees will learn about six fundamental leadership styles and will examine their own leadership styles. Through interactive group and individual exercises, attendees will learn and develop key leadership skills, including communicating effectively, bringing clarity to a team, inspiring and motivating, building relationships, and coaching. Attendees will leave the course ready to become more effective leaders, not just on their project teams, but in their personal lives as well.

First Steps Toward Agility:
Incorporating Agile Practices in a Waterfall Environment

Duration: 1 day

Description: Both traditional (Waterfall) methodology and Agile methodology have pros and cons and can be effective ways to structure a project. For teams that are not practicing Agile, there are still Agile practices that can benefit them. Daily standups, retrospectives, and many other key Agile practices and ceremonies can benefit even a Waterfall team.

For many, the most arduous part of transitioning to Agile in a waterfall environment happens at the beginning—in the uncertainty of how to put the initiative into motion. In this course, strategies and best practices to begin incorporating Agile practices are revealed. Real-world experiences working with existing project teams to begin incorporating Agile practices and ceremonies are shared. By initiating practices, teams start to understand Agile principles and mindset and become better prepared to take the next steps on their Agile journey. Specific Agile practices, and how to adapt each one to a traditional environment, are covered.

Project Management Professional (PMP)^® Exam Prep Course

Description: Are you seeking your PMP certification and want a focused, hard-hitting prep course? If yes, then this class is for you.

Our previous student, Terry, had this to say about our course:

“I took the RefineM Exam Prep course and passed the exam five days after the last class. Each question that was raised by a student was met with real-world application of PMBOK® Guide principles.”
—Terry Parker, Project Manager

 
Our PMP® exam prep course is aligned to PMI's Exam Content Outline and covers the PMBOK® Guide, Agile Practice Guide, and other resources. The course incorporates real-life examples from project experiences to make it more relevant to your project environment while preparing you for the exam. You learn the most critical parts of each domain and task, understand where your knowledge gaps lie, and receive the individual attention needed to close these gaps. You also receive PMP® exam test-taking tips and tricks to improve your confidence.

In addition to preparing for the exam, you learn how to implement project management in a way that helps you stand out as a PMP®-certified project manager, further increasing your competitive advantage. We offer multiple practice exams throughout the course, and a full-length practice exam at the end of the course.

What to expect: Our course is delivered by experienced instructors certified by PMI specifically to teach PMP Exam Prep. There will be opportunities for discussion, practice exams, and hands-on activities, making the entire course experience engaging and fun. You receive unlimited free phone/email support after the course to help you prepare to take the exam with confidence.

Course Objectives: After completing the course, you will be able to

• Better prepare for the PMP® exam to pass on your first attempt.
• Explain and apply project management domains and tasks.
• Understand critical exam topics and the highest-value project management processes.
• Perform project management practices with optimized resource management.

Who Should Attend: This course is geared toward anyone who wants to pass the PMP® certification exam.

Contact Hours: 36 Contact Hours (Business Acumen: 4 PDUs, Power Skills: 4 PDUs, Ways of Working: 28 PDUs)

Course Delivery: This course will be delivered over the Web over four consecutive weeks from 8:00 AM-12:00 PM Central time on Saturdays and 6:00-8:00 PM Central time on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We also offer a class format over five consecutive Thursdays from 8:00 AM-4:00 PM Central time each Thursday, led by Daniel Fay, PMP, PMI-PBA, DASM.

Course Material: RefineM will prepare and provide the necessary training course material for all attendees. Training course material to be provided by RefineM includes the following:

1. Pre- and post-training packages to help you get maximum ROI from the class.
2. PMP Exam Prep course material provided by PMI.
3. Short Videos targeted on specific Project Management topics.
4. A full-length (200-question) practice test provided by PMI.
5. 90-day subscription to RefineM’s on-line PMP Exam Prep test simulator with a question bank of more than 1,000 high-quality questions developed by experienced PMP instructors.
6. Lifetime access to RefineM's Agile Fundamentals Self-Paced Online Course to help you gain foundational Agile knowledge for the exam.
7. A “brain dump” of critical exam topics to record on scrap paper.
8. Unlimited Post-training support after the training to help students ace their exam.
9. Subscription to RefineM's PDU Bundle so students can earn Professional Development Units after attaining their certification.

About RefineM's Instructors: RefineM's instructors for this course are certified to teach PMP Exam Prep courses through the Authorized Training Partner Program.

	NK Shrivastava, MBA, PMP, PMI-RMP, PMI-ACP, CSP, SPC4, has over 10 years of experience teaching PMP Exam Prep courses. He is CEO / lead instructor at RefineM and an experienced and certified Project Management Consultant and coach with more than 30 years of experience leading and directing projects and delivering project management consulting and training. View NK's LinkedIn profile at https://linkedin.com/in/nkshrivastava
	Daniel Fay, PMP, PMI-PBA, DASM, is the instructor for our courses held over five consecutive Thursdays. He has over 35 years of experience as an International Consultant in organizational development, management consulting, and project management. Face-to-face and virtually, he provides a solid set of experiences and concepts for teams across culture, and across industry. He has trained over 6000 managers and leaders world-wide, virtually and in classroom-based programs. He is located in Canada. View Daniel's LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/danfaypmppba/
	Phillip George, PMP, CSM, has participated in and led project management and Agile consulting and training engagements with RefineM for over 9 years. He earned his Master of Science in Project Management and Master of Arts in English from Missouri State University. Find him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/phillip-george-a3424343/.
	Ada Avila has over 17 years of experience as a problem-solving oriented leader, and quickly connects and engages in process mapping and process improvement business strategies. She has worked in different business units gaining experience in Sales, Learning and Development, Services, Project Management and People Leader. She is passionate about using her project management skills to train, mentor, and coach others. Find her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ada-indira-avila.

Cancellation Policy: Please refer to RefineM's Training Policies.

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Agile-Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP®) Exam Prep Course

Description: Are you looking for an Agile certification that shows your ability to lead Agile projects using a variety of methodologies? PMI’s Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® certification demonstrates this ability by requiring certification holders to demonstrate knowledge of a wide variety of methodologies and proven experience on Agile projects. If you want to obtain your PMI-ACP® certification but need help with contact hours or preparing for the exam, then this course is for you.

Agile Fundamentals / Agile 101

Description: Are you looking for a way to deliver value and customer satisfaction? Are you seeking to implement Agile and unsure where to start? This course can address these problems, providing a stepping stone to take Agile practices to the next level.

Advanced Techniques in Microsoft Project

Duration: 1 day in person or two half-days online

Description: RefineM’s Advanced Techniques In Microsoft Project course is designed to introduce you to advanced tools and techniques available in Microsoft Project. This course will provide an overview of several advanced project tasks, including creating and monitoring the project plan, working with reports, customizing Microsoft Project, managing multiple projects, and exchanging project information.