Services and Administration :: UMT Publications :: Mentors Studio CDs

Now, you can receive all of UMT's Mentors Studio CD-ROMs for one low price. Each CD (with an exception of Contract Management, which contains three 50-minute disks) contains approximately 50 minutes of video in which UMT's instructors discuss the latest in management theory and practice.

In Establishing a Project Office, Tom Block talks about what it takes to establish and run a project office. He describes the rationale for establishing them and highlights their strong points. He also addresses their weaknesses and offers suggestions about how to overcome them.

In Critical Chain Scheduling, Dr. J. Davidson Frame demonstrates how the critical chain perspective represents a major advance in project scheduling. He delves into the psychological dimension of estimating task durations and shows how even the best attempts at estimation often go awry. He also provides a step-by-step guide on how to build a critical chain schedule.

In The Quantitative vs. Qualitative Perspective in Risk Management, Dr. Ed Naser of UMT examines the role of quantitative and qualitative approaches to managing risk. He demonstrates that it is not really an either-or situation, because often insufficient data exists to pursue quantitative approaches. He also points out that when quantitative approaches can be taken, they can produce powerful guides to decision making.

In Real Option Approach to Decision Making, Dr. Frame explains how financial options and real options function in traditional investment environments, and then shows how they can be applied to projects. He goes through a step-by-step demonstration of using the real option approach to determine whether it is worthwhile to fund a feasibility study to expand a manufacturing plant, then he carries the methodology one step further by using the feasibility study conclusions to determine whether it is worthwhile to proceed with the actual plant expansion project.

In Team-based Project Management, Dr. James Lewis provides his views on what's wrong with the way teams are formulated and managed. Using humor and practical examples, he suggests techniques and insights for improving team performance. While he acknowledges that most attempts at teamwork are suboptimal, he holds the view that when done right, teams can generate awesome results.

In Leadership, Dr. Lewis examines what it takes to be a leaders today. He maintains that while some people appear to be born leaders, leadership can be learned. The trick is to get others to follow, because leadership requires followership.

And in Contract Management, Tom Block provides practical guidance on what it takes to manage the contracting function properly, from determining whether it is worthwhile to bid on a project, to writing winning proposals, to processing customer change requests, to bringing contracts to closure in a controlled manner.