This program is an ideal blend of training and consulting for the planning team about to embark on an important project. Over four days, the class learns the tools of project planning and control. Breaking into workshop teams, they practice these methods on a generic project simulation that has been specially designed to teach the intricacies of budgeting, schedule optimization, bottleneck identification, multiproject scheduling, and earned value tracking.

Finally, on Day Five, the entire class assembles to tackle the plan for their own project. With the instructor now acting as facilitator and consultant, the team puts together a baseline plan for the project, and assigns action issues for the upcoming weeks.

During this session, those who started the week as students finish it as team members. The team and the plan become as one, with each member in the role he or she will play on the project. Thus not only does each member learn her own role, but the roles of all the other team members as well. The benefits to team cohesion and morale that this session generates cannot be overstated.

Project Headstart is the ultimate extension of APM's "Tell, Show, Do, Apply" technique, in that it closes the loop between theory and application within the students' very own project. This not only guarantees the best results for the application of the training, but also goes a long way toward guaranteeing a successful project.