Course Preview
Project
Management
Foundations
Five sessions · 35 structured hours
Built on the PMBOK® Guide, Eighth Edition
Built on the PMBOK® Guide, Eighth Edition
Why This Course
Built to teach judgment, not recall.
An awareness-level foundation aligned to the PMI Talent Triangle®. Every session returns to the learner’s own projects through a new lens.
35
Structured hours
5
Sessions
7
Performance domains
2025
PMBOK® 8 edition
The Course, End to End
One thread, five ways.
1
What Is Project Management & Why It Matters
Project vs. operation; the value a sponsor recognizes.
2
Focus Areas, Performance Domains & Tailoring
Two axes: how work unfolds, and what runs in parallel.
3
Project Artifacts
Which artifacts a project needs, and when each earns its place.
4
Building the Plan: Schedule, Budget & Team
Scope becomes a schedule, a budget, and a team.
5
Putting It All Together
The capstone — a plan you can defend.
Section One
Inside the
Session Decks
Five self-contained decks — keyboard-driven, animated, built to present. Two live slides follow.
Session 1 · Live Deck
Slide 4 — “A Shared Professional Foundation”
Session 2 · Live Deck
“The Five Focus Areas at a Glance”
In-class exercise · 45 min
Map a Project
Read one unbranded municipal scenario, then analyze it. The work is interpretation, not recall.
01
Read the scenario
One unbranded municipal capital project.
02
Map the Focus Areas
What work is happening, and where in the lifecycle?
03
Identify active Domains
Which domains most demand attention, and when?
04
Locate the complexity
Where do risk, friction, and surprise actually live?
Map a Project · Sample Answer Key
Domain intensity across the lifecycle
One defensible reading — how hard each domain works, phase by phase.
InitPlanExecM&CClose
GovernanceHighMedMedMedMed
ScopeMedHighMedHighHigh
ScheduleLowHighHighHighLow
FinanceMedHighMedHighMed
StakeholdersHighMedMedMedHigh
ResourcesLowHighHighMedLow
RiskHighHighMedHighLow
LowMedHigh
Facilitator: the debrief compares readings. There is a defensible answer, not one correct one.
Section Two
From the
Participant Guide
Fully typeset, session by session. Four pages from Session 2 follow — as delivered.
Participant Guide · Cover
Participant Guide · Part Opener
Participant Guide · Focus Areas
Participant Guide · Focus Area 01
In-class exercise · 25 min
Charter Content — Pick the Best
Weigh three options for each of five charter sections; choose what belongs on a one-page charter.
Business CaseObjectivesSuccess CriteriaScopeRisks
Worked — Business Case
ABoilerplate
“Enhance our parks for better recreation and to show our commitment to public spaces.”
Generic — could describe any park, any city.
BStrong charter fit
~85,000 visits a year; a 1978 playground that no longer meets ADA; a time-bound state grant. Close the gap, capture the funds, refresh the asset.
Names the need, the deadline, the cost of waiting.
CWrong altitude
“Demolish the 2,400 sq ft playground to ASTM F1487-21; regrade paths; repour 4,200 ft of walkway…”
Execution detail — belongs in the plan.
Charter · Why It Works
The distractors are not random.
Each wrong option models a failure pattern found in real charters. Naming the pattern is half the exercise.
BoilerplateWrong altitudeSentimentalAuthor-centricActivity-basedNo boundariesGeneric riskIssues-as-risks
Facilitator probe: “Which single phrase in the winning option would a Council member remember?”
Let’s Get Started
Let’s customize the course and get your team trained.
Sends your details straight to IDCI — we’ll reply to your email.
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PMBOK® Guide and PMI Talent Triangle® are marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc. © 2026 IDCI.