Fast Forward

A 2-day course is a great way to get an overview of the principles of project management. It’s really after the workshop when the work starts when you have to implement what you learned and apply the principles to your own projects. In our experience this is where people struggle and the questions come up. This is why we designed Fast Forward as an implementation program, i.e. it does not only teach you the principles (just like in a 2-day workshop), but also guides you step-by-step through the implementation. In addition, the weekly Q&A Coaching Sessions and The Seminar Room (the Fast Forward private community for participants) are great resources for you to get all your questions answered and learn from the other members.

The program runs for 7 consecutive weeks, during which new content is sent to you every week. You will get additional support during weekly Q&A Coaching Sessions and The Seminar Room (the Fast Forward private community for participants). While the program takes 7 weeks to complete, you will have access to the content for 4 full months.

Fast Forward focuses on both learning and doing: each implementation module teaches you the principles and allows you to digest the information at your own pace. The workbooks and templates guide you through the implementation of the principles in your own projects. The weekly Live Q&A Coaching Sessions and The Seminar Room (the Fast Forward private community for participants) are great resources for you to get all your questions answered and learn from the other members.

Fast Forward is an agile project management system that we designed specifically to meet the needs of researchers. Different from the classical “waterfall” project management approaches, in which all the planning happens upfront, agile project management has been originally developed to guide complex software development projects, which have to constantly adapt in response to customer feedback. Building on Nadine’s background in research and more than 10 years of experience in working as a top-tier management consultant, we designed Fast Forward to account for the uncertainty of research projects.

You will not require software to complete the program. We are strong believers in pragmatic, hands-on approaches rather than locking you in a particular software package. You can apply all of the concepts using pen and paper or a standard office package.

We will have a virtual Kickoff together on Day 1 of the program, so that you’re off to a great start and have a chance to get to know the other participants! The course materials are shared as video content, templates and course workbooks inside the member area. During the weekly Live Q&A Coaching Sessions and inside The Seminar Room (the Fast Forward private community for participants) you can get your questions answered and learn from the other participants.

The Kickoff takes place on the first Monday of the program from 10:00-11:30 CET (Berlin time). You will receive the registration details together with your welcome email. The main purpose of the Kickoff is for you to get to know the other participants and the tutors. So it’s important that you have both a working camera on your device and an audio connection. You can also use a phone dial-in, if you don’t have a microphone on your device. You can find the details in the confirmation email after registering for the Kickoff. The Kickoff also a great opportunity to ask any questions that you may have about the program. We highly recommend that you watch the short Getting Started video series in the membership area before the Kickoff.

The private community for Fast Forward is hosted on our website. You do need to register with our community to join and will be able to navigate to it straight from the members area where you access the course materials. Everything is in one place.

No. Everything you need to complete the program is accessed in the private member area online and inside The Seminar Room (the Fast Forward private community for participants).

No. The content of each module builds on the principles of the previous modules. A new module will be unlocked each week. Don’t worry, you will be able to watch completed modules again.

Each module has several videos that allow you to go through the content bit by bit and in your own time. In addition, there is the weekly Live Q&A Coaching Session via video conference and the time needed to fill the templates and complete the workbooks. It really depends on the complexity of your project, but most of our past participants spent between 3-4 hours each week to work through the content and apply them in their projects.

The Fast Forward implementation program will teach you the principles of agile project management and guide you step-by-step through implementation. It’s only natural that you may have questions as you are applying the system to your projects. So we have set up a support system to make sure you can get help quickly. For the seven weeks of the program you will have access to our weekly Live Q&A Coaching Sessions. Don’t worry – you won’t have to wait to get your questions answered. The Seminar room, which is the Fast Forward private community, is a great place to get help from the Mind Matters team and to learn from the other members. The next few months are about you learning and implementing an agile project management system that will not only allow you to get a new level of focus and clarity around your projects and improve your productivity, but also to develop a skillset that will serve you throughout your career.

Once you signed up and signed the Course Agreement, you will receive a welcome email with your access details to the program, the invitation link to The Seminar Room (the Fast Forward private community for participants) and guidance on the next steps to get you started.

If you signed up for Fast Forward via your university, you will receive the number of credits specified by your institution. To receive credits you need to complete the implementation modules including the assignments and attend the weekly Live Q&A Coaching Sessions. If you have signed up privately, you will need to check with your program coordinator if they will grant you credits for completion of the program.

Yes, you will receive a certificate upon completion of the program. The certificate will be sent to you by email once you completed all modules and assignements, participated in at least 6 out of the 7 Live Q&A sessions (and watched the recording of one you missed, if any). You will need to complete the program and its assignments within 8 weeks to qualify for a certificate. 

The Live Q&A Sessions are delivered via Zoom video conference each Wednesday from 17:00-18:00 CET (Berlin time). This is the chance to get all your questions answered and interact with the other participants and the tutors! You will receive the registration details together with your welcome email.

The Live Q&A Sessions are delivered via Zoom video conference each Wednesday from 17:00-18:00 CET (Berlin time). This is the chance to get all your questions answered and interact with the other participants and the tutors! You will receive the registration details together with your welcome email.
For classes with more than 65 participants, a second session will be offered on Thursday at the same time. If this is the case for your class, you can chose each week which time best fits your schedule. Of course, you only need to attend one of the two weekly sessions in this case.

The Live Q&A Session are one of the most important parts of the program and attendance is a pre-requisite for receiving the official course certificate and/ or credits. If you signed up privately, you can miss one session and still receive the certificate as long as you watch the recording of the session. If you signed up via your institution, please check with your course coordinator if you are still eligible to receive a certificate and/ or credits if you miss a session. That said, all sessions will be recorded and you can watch it at any time.

The program runs 7 weeks, but you will receive access to the video content for 4 months, so that you have plenty of time to revisit the modules after you completed them.

You can find just about anything online these days. Does this mean it’s actually valuable and will work in your research? One of the reasons we created this program is because the traditional “waterfall” project management systems rarely works for research projects. Most people want to invest the time to set up a project management system only once rather than trying this way and that way until finding an approach that works.