Project management (master)

The purpose of the course is to enable the student to participate in projects and critically and appropriately apply project management tools, concepts, models and theories in practice.

Projects are integral to engineering work. Indeed, we argue that project management is the second most important skill of engineers. Therefore, project management competences are fundamental to all DTU students.

Through the course, the student develops unique insights into how project management is practiced through the analysis of a "real" world project. Furthermore, each student will experience the role of the project manager as each student will be responsible for planning and executing at least one day of the group work.

The course is organized around classical and online lectures, reading material, group exercises/games and assignments, peer-reviews and multiple-choice quizzes. As a large portion of the learning activities occurs in groups, class participation is fundamental!

Through the group work, the students will analyze a real-life project. Here they are expected to apply tools, concepts, models and theories, both appropriately and critically, to understand the reasons for the project ‘success’ or ‘failure’, identify challenges and develop recommendations.

IMPORTANT (TO DO BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE COURSE): Every student is expected to identify an exciting project and present it to the class on the first day of the course. The project should be completed, or close to completion, so it is possible to analyze its ‘success’.

A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:

• Appraise the relevance of projects to engineering practices
• Explain and critically assess the nature of projects based on four key perspectives (purpose, people, complexity, and uncertainty )
• Identify projects potential impact on sustainability (SDGs)
• Identify and describe typical mistakes and good practices in the management of projects
• Apply appropriate tools, concepts, models and theories to analyze cases and real-life projects
• Apply appropriate tools, concepts, models and theories to make practical recommendations
• Apply appropriate tools, concepts, models and theories to explain project success and failure
• Compare project management theory and practice and discuss its strengths and weakness in general and in relation to cases and real-life projects
• Communicate clearly, concisely and based on evidence

Evaluation of experiments and reports

A mixture of lectures, video lectures, project work and seminars.