Programme overview
Introduction:
IT project management fails in predictable places: requirements that never settle, estimates built on hope, vendors delivering to a different scope, testing squeezed at the end and systems handed to operations teams that were never prepared to run them. This ten-day course addresses those failure points directly for software, systems, SaaS, cloud and infrastructure projects. Participants learn to select and tailor predictive, agile and hybrid life cycles, control requirements and technical risk, manage delivery partners and take releases safely into live service. Each participant leaves with an IT Project Delivery Playbook built for a live project in their own organisation.
Course Objectives:
- Select and tailor a predictive, agile or hybrid life cycle for software, systems and cloud projects, and justify the choice to sponsors.
- Translate business needs into prioritised requirements, product backlogs and defensible technical estimates.
- Direct vendors, SaaS providers and cloud partners through statements of work, integration plans and data migration plans.
- Control IT project risk, technical debt and quality through structured testing and go or no-go gates.
- Plan release, deployment and hand-over to IT operations using ITIL 4 practices.
- Report IT project performance to sponsors with delivery metrics, dashboards and post-implementation reviews.
Target Audience:
- Managers accountable for delivering software development, package implementation or systems integration projects
- Delivery and programme leads coordinating internal teams with external technology vendors
- IT PMO managers responsible for project governance, reporting and delivery standards
- Application, solution and platform managers who own systems through build, release and live service
- Business-side managers who sponsor or lead technology projects and must steer technical decisions
Course Outline:
Day 1: IT Project Delivery Context and Life Cycle Choices
- IT Project Types: Software Build, Package Implementation, Infrastructure and Cloud Migration
- Predictive, Agile and Hybrid Life Cycle Selection Matrix
- IT Project Charter and Technical Scope Statement
- Business Case Links: Benefits, Total Cost of Ownership and Run Costs
- IT Stakeholder Map: Business Owners, Architects, Operations and Security Teams
Day 2: Frameworks for Hybrid IT Delivery
- Agile Values, Iterations and Increment-Based Planning
- Hybrid Tailoring Using Agile and Hybrid Project Management Strategies
- ITIL 4 Project Management Practice and Its Service Interfaces
- ITIL 4 Change Enablement for Project-Driven Changes
- Definition of Ready and Definition of Done Agreements
Day 3: Requirements, Backlog and Technical Estimation
- Requirements Elicitation Workshops and User Story Writing
- Non-Functional Requirements: Performance, Availability and Security
- Product Backlog Prioritisation with the MoSCoW Method
- Technical Estimation with Story Points and Three-Point Estimates
- Release Roadmap and Milestone Plan for Hybrid Projects
Day 4: Delivery Tooling and Project Data
- Work Management Tools: Boards, Backlogs and Issue Trackers
- Burndown and Burnup Charts for Progress Tracking
- Requirements Traceability Matrix Construction
- Environment Planning: Development, Test, Staging and Production
- Configuration and Version Control Essentials for Project Managers
Day 5: Week-One Case Study: Planning a Hybrid IT Project
- Case Brief: Customer Portal Build for a Retail and Logistics Group
- Case Task: Life Cycle Selection and Tailoring Rationale
- Case Task: Backlog, Estimates and Release Roadmap Draft
- Case Task: Charter and Traceability Matrix Review
- Peer Critique Using a Hybrid Plan Review Checklist
Day 6: Vendor, SaaS, Cloud and Integration Delivery
- IT Vendor Selection: Request for Proposal and Weighted Scoring Model
- Statement of Work and Service Level Terms for Software Contracts
- SaaS Implementation: Configuration versus Customisation Decisions
- Cloud Migration Waves and Landing Zone Readiness Review
- Systems Integration and Data Migration Plan: Mapping, Cleansing and Reconciliation
Day 7: IT Project Risk, Testing and Quality Gates
- IT Risk Register: Technical, Security and Vendor Risk Categories
- Technical Debt Log and Remediation Decisions
- Test Strategy: Unit, System Integration and User Acceptance Testing
- Defect Triage and Severity Classification Scheme
- Quality Gates and Go or No-Go Criteria for Release
Day 8: Release, Deployment and Transition to Operations
- ITIL 4 Release Management and Release Packaging
- ITIL 4 Deployment Management: Cutover Plans and Rollback Procedures
- Operational Readiness: Runbooks, Support Model and Knowledge Transfer
- Hypercare Planning and Early Life Support Arrangements
- End-User Adoption: Training Plans and Change Communications
Day 9: IT Project Performance Measurement and Improvement
- Delivery Metrics: Velocity, Cycle Time and Lead Time
- Schedule and Budget Variance Tracking for Hybrid Projects
- IT Project Status Dashboard and RAG Reporting
- Post-Implementation Review and Benefits Tracking Register
- Retrospectives and Lessons-Learned Registers
Day 10: Capstone: IT Project Delivery Playbook
- Capstone Brief: Selecting a Live IT Project from the Participant's Organisation
- Playbook Build: Life Cycle, Governance and Vendor Model
- Playbook Build: Test, Release and Transition Plan
- Playbook Presentation and Panel Challenge
- Ninety-Day Implementation Action Plan
Skills You Will Gain:
- Hybrid Life Cycle Tailoring
- User Story and Backlog Management
- Technical Estimation
- Software Vendor Management
- Data Migration Planning
- Test and Defect Management
- Cutover and Rollback Planning
- Delivery Metrics Reporting
Why Attend This Course:
- Stop scope drift by anchoring requirements, backlogs and vendor commitments to one traceable plan.
- Reduce failed go-lives by applying quality gates, cutover rehearsals and rollback plans before release.
- Hand systems to operations teams that are ready to support them from the first day of live service.
- Return with an IT Project Delivery Playbook tested against a live project in your own organisation.
Conclusion:
Technology projects rarely fail on technology alone; they fail where planning, vendors, testing and operations meet. Week one builds the planning and requirements discipline that hybrid IT delivery depends on. Week two adds what shorter courses leave out: vendor and cloud delivery, technical risk and debt, release and deployment, transition to live service and performance measurement. Delivered by Core Concept for international, cross-sector cohorts, the course closes with each participant presenting an IT Project Delivery Playbook that can be put to work on their next software or systems project.