Management sounds like a simple word, but it is a crucial and very significant thing. Starting a project takes courage, but managing it takes blood and sweat. When you know about your goals, how to achieve those goals, what kind of resources you will need, and how much time will it be to reach the goal, it is called project management. In project management, it is essential to make sure that every one that is a part of the project, knows everything about it. Because knowing the goals makes you want to achieve it even more.
Whenever a project starts, there are always some solid reasons behind it. Those reasons get you the approval of the project. Every project has some components that need to be looked after for its management. The first and most important thing is to define the reasons why do we need this project? After that, we have to specify the requirements of the project., estimates of resources, quantity, and timescales. And to justify these investments, there will be a need for business case preparation. We need to collect the fundings now and develop a management plan to implement. A project manager is a leader, and he has to keep motivating his team for the best results. Along with these things, there is a need to manage the risks, issues, and all the changes that take place. Managing the project budget and monitoring the progress of the project is also an essential role of a project manager. Well, here we talked about a few components of project management, as we see it. A project manager has to deal with these things daily. Managing the project and the team is not a piece of cake for everyone. Project management, although it is a very troublesome yet well-respected job.
How to Learn Project Management?
Every business in the world has only one dream, and it is to grow bigger every day. To achieve this goal and become a successful business, the company needs to run smoothly, operate in a streamlined way, generate profits, and keep delivering successful projects. It could be anything from building software to launching a new product. To make sure everything happens in a streamlined way, a company needs a project manager.
Like every other profession, you have to make sure if choosing this career right for you. Researching about the profession and the professionals who have had a say in this is the best way. After being sure of this, you are now ready to learn project management. There are degrees, certifications, and courses you can learn this from, but before that comes the phase where you start learning on your own. Let's look into some ways you can study project management before even getting enrolled in a course.
- Reading: Reading is a powerful tool that can teach you almost everything in the world. As there is a saying that 'Not all the readers are leaders, but all the leaders are readers. By reading the stories of great project managers, you can get inside their heads and learn their thinking process.
- Podcasts: Listening to podcasts about project management also helps a lot, and you can learn some useful insights from it. There are a lot of free podcasts available online.
- Video Courses: Try some video courses available on YouTube and other streaming websites. This experience is like a classroom experience, and you can see practical examples through these video courses.
- Blogs: Blogs are a way of sharing, and a lot of project managers and professionals do share their experiences and learning through their blogs. So that people can learn and take guidance from their experience.
- Join a Community forum: Look for a community forum about project management online and join it. You can share what you have learned by far, and look at what people have to say about project management. There are experts as well in the community to help you with your difficulties.
Best Courses to Learn Project Management
There can be only two cases why you are interested in project management. Either you are already a professional and want to be better, or you are a beginner and want to pursue your career in project management. In both ways, you should consider some formal project management training courses. You must have seen organizations that provide free IT online certification training. Let me tell you it is not only the case for IT, even for PM you can find free training online. If you decide and take the course, you will get to learn a lot and your skills will be polished as well. These courses teach you how to manage the time and resources that you have efficiently.
Well, there are tons of courses available; we will talk about some top courses here.
- Online PMP Certification Exam Prep
It is one of the top courses available online, and it is offered by QuickStart. This course is designed in a way that it covers all the topics thoroughly that you should know to take the exam. There are practice exams available that you can take after the completion of the course.
- The PM PrepCast
It is also an online course that has almost 140 video lessons that cover every topic related to PM syllabus. You can speed up the course at your convenience.
- Project Management The Basics of Success
It is a course in which you get to learn from an experienced teacher. It is offered by the University of Florida through the platform of QuickStart. It is a free course, and you get the best material to learn from.
- Project Management Expert
It is a course by QuickStart in which six courses cover the PMI syllabus completely with PMI certification and the software course as well.
We are lucky to live in an era where learning something easy and inexpensive. In some cases, we do not even have to pay for the courses, and we learn some great skills from it. QuickStart is one of those organizations that offer project management courses for free. You just take the course and start learning. You just need to want to learn, and there you have hundreds of options to choose from. There are other organizations like edX and Coursera that offer free courses for students. That was all from our side.