0600 - Managing Multiple Projects: Prioritization, Capacity & Complexity
Description
Overview
This two-day workshop combines expert instruction with realistic multi-project scenarios, hands-on exercises, and group discussion. It includes:
- Scenario-based practice using realistic multi-project, shared-resource situations
- Progressive hands-on exercises that scale conventional project management techniques to multi-project environments
- Facilitated group discussion with experienced peers
- Job-embedded practice opportunities to apply learnings within your own project environment
By the end of this course, you'll have a practical understanding of how to adapt your existing project management tools, techniques, and processes to the real-world complexity of delivering multiple concurrent projects.
Why Enroll
Gain practical techniques to prioritize, schedule, and deliver multiple concurrent initiatives in resource-constrained environments.
- Solve the problem single-project training doesn't address: Most project management training assumes one project at a time. This course is built specifically for the reality of managing several initiatives that draw from the same people, budget, and time.
- Learn a robust methodology, not just a mindset shift: Leave with a practical, tactical playbook — not just principles — for prioritizing, scheduling, and delivering across a multi-project portfolio.
- Apply the Theory of Constraints to real project scenarios: Identify the true bottlenecks limiting your team's throughput and apply planning techniques that increase capacity without adding headcount.
- Career advancement: Build the portfolio-level skills that support advancement into Senior Project Manager, Program Manager, PMO Lead, Operations Manager, and Transformation Lead roles.
- Realistic, scenario-based practice: Work through multi-project situations where priorities, schedules, resources, and stakeholder expectations genuinely compete, including in AI and digital transformation contexts.
- Facilitated peer discussion: Learn alongside experienced peers managing similar multi-project, shared-resource environments.
Who Should Enroll
This course is designed for project and operational leaders responsible for delivering more than one initiative at a time, including:
- Project managers and program managers juggling shared teams and competing timelines across several active initiatives.
- PMO leads and coordinators responsible for portfolio-level prioritization and resourcing decisions.
- Operations managers and department leaders whose teams are pulled across multiple concurrent projects in addition to day-to-day operations.
- This course is best suited to leaders with hands-on project management experience. Fundamental-level project management training is recommended, as this course builds on — rather than teaches — core PM fundamentals.
- Functional leaders and schedulers managing shared resource pools across a project mix.
What you will learn
- Assess a mix of active and proposed projects to determine prioritization and next steps
- Adapt single-project PM practices and methodology to multi-project operational complexity
- Identify constrained resources and apply planning and scheduling techniques to mitigate bottlenecks and increase capacity
- Use scheduling logic and strategic buffers to limit cascading, domino-effect delays
- Apply task prioritization and time management techniques to protect high-priority work
- Communicate considerations, risk, and trade-offs clearly when new urgent requests compete for capacity
- Apply the Theory of Constraints to a multi-project portfolio
Course Details
The curriculum is compatible with the project management industry standard set by the PMI. The University of Waterloo partners with a project management training provider to offer courses that qualify for project management professional (PMP) Professional Development Units (PDUs) or contact hours. You will receive electronic course notes that parallel the course content and serve as an excellent project management resource tool.