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Frequently Asked Questions
General: Fissure offers workshops covering the topic areas of Project Management, Leadership, and Change Management. Fissure offers blended learning workshops that fully involve students through the use of computer simulation. We also offer workshops that are delivered in a traditional instructor led environment. Workshop durations range from a 1/2 day to 3 days depending upon the workshop.
The schedule for our public workshops can be found in the left panel of this web page. The workshops are held at Benchmark Learning in Minneapolis, MN. You can registration for a public workshop by following the link below. Register for a public class All of our public workshops are geared towards enrollment by individuals. We recommend enrollment with your work team for an added teambuilding experience. Please check our schedule for the next public workshop available. Register for a public class Most lecture-based training only makes us aware of skills we do not have. Rarely do we leave feeling good about using new skills; we must be allowed to practice these new skills in a risk free environment (with constructive feedback) many times over to achieve competence. This is where the computer simulations add value. The simulations allow students to run a 24 (virtual) week project during the course of the workshop, allowing them to apply their new skills. The airlines have known about the value of computer simulations for years. They have successfully integrated simulation-based training in the certification of their pilots before they ever leave the ground. Once certified, they continue to use simulation-based training to maintain certification and continually enhance pilot skills. Repetition is the key to building competency. We have found that two or three days of introducing tools, techniques and concepts, integrated with focused and intense practice (simulation training) are required to make permanent changes in a participant's workplace performance. That's a remarkably short time to initiate real change. Our workshops are designed to provide participants with hands on project management experience so that they actually learn how to perform project management effectively and not just know about project management. Taken together, our Basic and Advanced Project Management Simulation workshops cover all the crucial knowledge and tools required for PMI PMP certification. Participants actually develop their project management skills and knowledge in an integrated experience that helps them pass the certification test. Our follow on PMP Exam Preparation workshop gives participants the information they need to both apply for and prepare for the exam. Fissure identifies what you need to know to pass the exam the first time.
Our workshops are methodology and tool independent. They will not conflict with any client's methodology or tools. In addition, our project management workshops are compliant with the Project Management Institute's Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). Fissure is a charter member and recognized education provider of the Project Management Institute (PMI).
We design all of our courseware to be customizable to fit your exact needs. Give us a call with your ideas and requirements and we will design a course or simulation specifically for your company's processes, culture and nomenclature. Our prices vary, depending on the length and type of the workshop, and the number of students that attend. The typical price per student is from $250 to $450 per day. Volume discounts are available.
We suggest booking a pilot session for your company, and inviting 12-24 of your best judges -- the people who are involved in managing projects. Or attend one of our public enrollment workshops; see the left panel for up coming public workshops. Register for a public class It is our goal to make sure you fully satisfied with our services. We accomplish this by identifying and understanding your expectations and desired outcomes up-front. We will then work with you to present a solution that will address your needs. In the workshops we gather and set expectations with students and we review results during and after the classes to make sure we have met desired outcomes. Fissure also offers after workshop support through our "Lunch n' Learn" follow-up sessions. These meetings are typically held several months after the workshop with the participants to evaluate not only what the students have been able to learn and apply, but also what could be improved to help them learn and apply more of the skills, tools, and techniques covered in the workshop. The feedback can be used by the students and organization to improve the project management culture. Our after workshop support also includes responding to email and telephone questions the students may have after returning to their workplace and specific projects. This after workshop support can also be more formalized. We offer, as an option, informal and formal mentoring services and will help the organization to design, develop and implement a mentoring program for project managers. We have found that some type of mentoring program greatly increases the learning transfer. A mentoring relationship helps challenge the project managers to use the skills, tools and techniques they learned in training and provides valuable feedback on their progress as a an individual and as a project manager. Fissure is currently working on a version that students can take back to their workplace to reinforce classroom learning through another challenging simulation. This simualtion will have an ability for the student to try new project management challenges as their skill level advances. Using the simulator to perform "what ifs" is a popular request and will be seriously considered in future versions of the simulation tool. However, it is extremely important to point out that our simulation tool is primarily designed to be used as a learning tool to reinforce the learning of a skill set through the process of "cause and effect" relationship feedback in a risk free environment.
Yes, we really can. We have helped other software companies attain ISO 9000 status and improve their position within the SEI Capability Maturity Model, and we can help your company. Utilizing state of the art technology in software data management and tracking tools, we can teach you to estimate, plan, track and manage your software projects better. Many of our clients have put in place specific methodologies from such companies as Ernst & Young, Arthur Anderson, Perot Systems, etc. Our workshops are designed to complement these methodologies. They do not conflict with the organization's software development methodology. Fissure workshops follow the basic processes that are found in all of the various methodologies and in addition include the basic people management aspects which often are not fully addressed in these methodologies. In some cases customers have asked us to tailor parts of our workshops to ensure common definitions of terms between their specific methodologies and those used in the workshop. Company: With all of our products and services, including workshops, your total satisfaction is completely guaranteed. If for any reason you do not feel you received full value for the products, services or training you received, we simply ask that you submit payment for the amount of value you felt you gained. Many of our clients are surprised by the difference our training has made in their work life. You can see samples of what students say in the left panel of this page. Give us a call or email us with your questions or comments. A fissure represents a “breakthrough”; Fissure facilitates breakthrough learning and growth through computer simulation and blended learning. We chose our company name to also reflect our mission: to guide our customers in finding a path to their own solutions and discovering their own answers. The name "Fissure" and our mission was again reinforced to us when we came across the following quote which says that good luck is a result of a good plan and a good guide, while bad luck (a mistake) should be looked upon as an opportunity to learn and improve. "They returned to their work day after day, and, in short time, found a fissure in the rock, which enabled them to pass far with very little obstruction. This Rasselas considered as a good omen. 'Do not disturb your mind,' said Imlac, 'with other hopes or fears than reason may suggest: if you are pleased with prognostics of good, you will be terrified likewise with omens of evil, and your whole life will be prey to superstition. Whatever facilitates our work is more than an omen, it is a cause of success. This is one of those pleasing surprises which often happen to active resolution. Many things difficult to design prove easy to performance.' " Samuel Johnson, “The History of Rasselas”, Prince of |
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Project Management Institute and Leadership Skills Training by Fissure. 12940 Harriet Ave South Suite #250 Burnsville, MN 55337 phone 952.882.0800 toll free 877.877.6333 fax 952.882.9067 © Copyright 2007 Fissure, All Rights Reserved. |
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