Countdown® – A Strategy Game for Project Teams

The Business Simulation

Countdown® is a project management simulation that quickly immerses participants in an intense seven-month project. In small teams, participants use game boards to move through project milestones, make critical decisions, communicate with stakeholders and manage trade-offs – all under tight deadlines. In less than an hour into the project management game, teams are working with a Gantt chart, estimating potential delays and costs, evaluating the critical path, assessing project risks and making decisions. Finally, teams drive the project to success.

Connections – Bridging to Your Organization

The second half of the day bridges from the simulation to the participant's own work environments and project management issues. Exercises called "Connections," which are provided in the programme, deal with a number of questions:

Aims of the programme:

At the conclusion of Countdown® participants will be able to:

• define five key processes of project management (as described in PMBOK): Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling and Closing.
• explain the triple constraints of time, cost and requirements that form the "Trade-off Triangle" of project management decision making.
• explain how a project kickoff meeting and project scope statement are used to learn what project sponsors expect from the team.
• complete a risk evaluation and contingency plan and explain the importance of risk management.
• explain the purpose and importance of the following project management tools:
  • Work Breakdown Structure
  • Gantt Chart
  • Responsibility Matrix
  • Risk Profile
  • Resource Allocation Grid
  • Critical Path Diagram
  • Project Control Reports to Sponsors
• complete a resource constraints evaluation considering available time, people, workspace and money, and explain the importance of effective resource allocation.
• explain effective team responses to project changes, including scope creep and changing expectations.
• describe a project's critical path, which determines the earliest completion of the project.
• describe effective team behaviors for managing and controlling a project – communicating effectively, gaining and managing commitment, and resolving conflict – and explain the use of these behaviors within the team, within the organization and outside the organization.

Target Audience

For Managers

• To orient new leaders to project management concepts, tools and behaviors
• To complement or reinforce project management curriculum offerings

For Project Teams

• To kick off new projects with enthusiasm
• To reenergize and refocus current project teams

For Employees

• To prepare them for project team member responsibilities
• To orient them to project management terms, tools and techniques

Duration

One day and a half: To include the Countdown® simulation and a Connections session back to the business.

Training Delivery

We'll do it for you: Our experienced facilitators can conduct on-site Countdown® sessions for you.

If you have more than 250 delegates per annum, your own experienced in-house facilitators can be trained and fully equipped to deliver Countdown®.