Why do I need project management skills?

 I would like to start with a story of my children who are one and one-half years apart. They were fourteen years old and they were planning a summer party in the garden and were also busy with exams in their school. My oldest son always felt responsible for his little sister, and she would come home from school and not do her homework because of all the event planning. She thought that she didn't know how to plan the project and wanted to get involved. My son recommended that he attend their mother's project management training.

So why did he recommend this training?

• What skills did he find useful?
• What did he learn in this training?

He learned how to breakdown a complex task into manageable pieces. He learned that a project has a deadline. And he learned that he had to focus all energy on the project result. He learned how to sequence and schedule tasks.

My son attended the first project management training when he was twelve years old, together with experienced business managers, and enjoyed the teamwork in creating project plans, defining objectives, writing down all tasks on sticky notes, and organizing them into a logical sequence.

The ability to break down complex issues into manageable pieces, to create checklists, to get focused on a specific result, to start with a brain dump in order to organize your thoughts in an effective way; to get support from people who have money, expertise, and who have influence and who would sponsor a project - all this is important for project management skills.

 Project management is more about communication and connecting with people than sitting in front of a computer and using a fancy tool, making check marks and watching checklists.

 A lot of people assume that project management is about making check marks on checklists and using a fancy online tool. One of the biggest real estate projects, the reconstruction of the Reichstag in Berlin was planned using Excel because all participants had access to this tool. Sure, the drawings of the building were distributed in pdf form and communications took place at meetings, on the telephone, and per Email. For an average construction in the city, you need 180 days to get permission, which requires a lot of communication.

 So, project management is a mindset that helps you get focused on a specific result. You can use pm methodology in order to sell and deliver industry solutions, services, events, construction, develop new projects or services, and much more, or example, launching a rocket, building a plant or factory, developing a website, launching a service or product, etc.

Do you know the 5 different types of projects?

Basically we have 5 different types of projects where the budget, time and results are fixed:

For example, construction projects, where there are a lot of known factors and events, where there are also a lot of known factors. When you have done a similar event multiple times, then you know about the budget and the time you need to prepare.

When you do the event the first time, however, you may run into debt as you do not understand all the potential risks and factors and resources you need to consider in order to make the event a success in time.

When you are developing a new product, you may have a clear understanding of the product itself and its functionality, but you cannot be sure how much budget and time it takes you to get it done. This depends, once again, on how much expertise you have with similar processes.

The more unknown factors you have, the more you may consider an agile approach of checking the visibility of that project step by step, and starting with a mini-project called Sprint for two weeks, for example, and building on the results of that mini-project for the following two weeks. Mini-projects are used in software development projects, to create marketing projects, and everywhere where you have a lot of unknown factors.

How do I organize the communication between the team members 

I remember a story now about why we need project management. I attended my first pm course. Coming home, after four weeks, I got assigned to lead a team of translators and experts, to translate workshop materials for decision making, translating from the English language into the German language. Sitting in my office at my desk, I felt stressed, and asked myself, “How do I get started? How do I organize the communication between the team members who I didn't know? How can I make sure that I deliver a great result?” Finally, I called a friend, who was an experienced project manager at the time, and he gave me the following advice, “Thea it is very simple. Define the scope, identify the sponsor, create a list of objectives, and be sure these factors agree with all the stakeholders.”

What is the basic foundation of project management?

The main idea of project management is how to focus all your energy, time, resources and contacts on a specific result or outcome.

Project management is not only about using software tools. It is a mindset, how to focus and get results. In a business environment, we have a lot of projects like hiring people, starting a company, financing a construction project, refurbishing an office, selling machines to a large corporation, launching a new product to the market, automating a process, finding new clients, creating a corporate culture, improving business processes, etc.

Who will integrate all moving pieces?

So, for all these projects it is good to have a project manager who drives the communication between all parties involved. If you as a small business owner who feels responsible for these factors, you may consider having your assistant trained in project management methods in order to develop a mindset to support you and to integrate all people involved.

If you are integrating several parties in order to achieve a specific result, a project management mindset and logic are a great navigation system for you to identify the next steps, priorities, important questions to be asked, making the right decisions, minimizing risks, finding money, support, and resources, resolving conflicts, and creating an atmosphere of collaboration between other team members.

Do I need a certificate?

Project management is not about a specific license. You can start your project today without theoretical training, and with the use of our simple step-by-step approach. We have been preparing managers to get certified for PMI for many years. We have trained managers for up to 12 months to enable them to lead large projects with a budget of 100 million or more Euros, and we learned that becoming a project manager means getting experience and a framework for asking the right questions and navigating daily surprises successfully.

In our training, we focus on three pillars: one is to lead yourself, the second is to build and lead your team, and the third is to learn and apply project management knowledge and processes.

Who needs Project Management? 

Five characters who could benefit from a project management mindset and skills include:

• Why does an entrepreneur need pm?
• Why does a marketing manager need pm?
• Why does a sales manager/key account manager…?
• ...engineer… human resources manager...CEO...secretary...need project management?