Short Term Practicum: Project Management Bootcamp

Lead Instructor: John Stadler

Catalog course description: From Zero to Sixty: Start-Up Project Management Boot Camp engages students with a Project to plan, in collaboration with at least one expert in the field. Students learn Project Management (PM) methods and practices common to for-profit, non-profit, and government projects:  basic accounting, Gantt Charts, business or project plans, project financing, metrics for success, external validation, and marketing. Students work in teams and choose a Project from a small number of options, then apply PM tools and skills to the team Projects.

Thomas Edison once said  “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”  Many of us have plenty of great ideas that never see fruition, for failure to plan or execute the 99%.  And ironically, most of the tools needed for professional Project Management could be learned in a month.  Project Management (PM) for profit, non-profit, and government projects share a wide array of methods and practices:  basic accounting, Gantt Charts, business or project plans, project financing, metrics for success, external validation, and marketing, to name a few.  This course (Z2S) will engage students with a Project to plan, in collaboration with at least one expert in the field. Students will work in project teams and choose a Project from a small number of options offered by the instructor (which may include student-suggested projects). The Project Management elements will be studied in class and readings, then applied to the students’ Projects. Offered in 2017. (Garnet Gateway listing)

Read more about the team projects here!

Learning Goals:

  1. Brainstorm a project scope and break it down into tractable parts.
  2. Clarify tasks, assign work and set project milestones.
  3. Create a Gantt Chart and build a project timeline.
  4. Plan and track project cash flow.
  5. Make strategic trade-offs in priorities and resource allocation based on your understanding of the project scope and complexity
  6. Pitch a project, including financial and marketing plans, to a jury of experts.

Bio of Instructor:

I am an experienced serial entrepreneur, angel investor, school founder, teacher, and writer with experience in the US and China. I am a NBPTS-certified Master Teacher (High School mathematics). I was a founder or co-founder of several schools, including the Francis Parker Charter School in Devens, MA, Eton Academy in Beijing, and the Institute of Digital Design (now part of Base-FX in Beijing).

I am founding a project to develop 70+ acres of oceanfront in West Bath, ME into SEAworks — Self-reliance through Energy and Aquaponics–works! — a model community and research center for aquaponics and energy efficient design.

Prior to my recent Maine endeavors, I have been a start-up manager and investor for most of my professional career. Since 1990, I have been involved in education and teaching; first, as founder of the Francis Parker Charter School in Devens, MA; as a teacher at Parker; as a recipient of National Board of Professional Teaching Standards’ Master Teacher Certification (high school mathematics); and as a teacher, founder or investor in several schools in China since 2002. In 2006 I wrote the Stadler’s Guide to International Education (Beijing and Shanghai editions) for Ringier Publications. In 2010-2011, I was first Director of Training and Support and then Director of Operations for Teach for China in Beijing. All together, I lived and worked in China for most of the period from 2002-2015.

My career as a start-up investor began after graduate school at Harvard, when I co-founded Clearpoint Research Corporation. In summary, my career has spanned interests in education, government, and technology-focused businesses.