Learning Project Management - where to get started?

[CheeseWraith]

PMP is a nice badge on the curriculum, but it's not the PM holy grail.

I followed a course about it and our teacher (also a PM with more than 20 years of experience) put it this way: it's a toolbox. You need to know how to use each tool and when to use it. You're not going to need all of them all the time. Also: you'll get the best results if you are able to adapt your tools to the environment you're working in. Last but not least: reality always wins.

I know it all sounds obvious, but there are times when "obvious" will be useful.

So, in the end: start with PMP certification to get a start, then expand your horizons with other readings and/or courses. It would be best if you actually try to apply PM techniques to your own hobby/family projects, just to get some practice.

 

[kagete]

I was a very successful PM for 10+ years before i got my PMP... and got a 40% pay bump soon after getting the certification by applying for a higher position. My manager and HR both said it factored heavily, if not being the primary reason in me getting the job.

It does teach some structure but can really be distilled into a few dozen words:

• Take ownership of the project.
• Have ethics.
• Make a plan (for each aspect of the project) and stick to it as much as possible.
• Change inevitably happens so handle it gracefully while documenting everything and following the change process.
• Have measurable milestones, including for project completion.
• Follow the processes outlined in the material.

There, with those bullet points above you can realistically get 50% of the PMP exam questions correct. A Udemy course I got on sale for 20$ and paying for online exams on PMtraining.com were all I needed to pass the exam. No need to buy the book or go to a bootcamp (unless you really want to spend the $$$$).

 

[Septimus Prime]

More ammo against PMBOK.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90588357/we-need-to-talk-about-americas-other-employment-crisis

My point is that we must do more than get people back to work. We need to reimagine work: to make it more inclusive for people of color and Black people in particular; to provide more security and fulfillment; to welcome people into jobs where they feel valued, where their opinion counts, and where their accomplishment and advancement is not in a zero-sum competition with their life.

To deliver on this promise, leaders at every level must move away from the command and control style that is so deeply rooted in both our office cultures and our collective, deep dissatisfaction with them.

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I also made changes in how I showed up as a leader: I started showing up as a full person. I became more open about my fears, my failures, and my family challenges along with my hopes and aspirations for all facets of my life. And I encouraged my team to do the same.

It was the single most consequential leadership decision of my career. It fostered new bonds of trust and friendship. It made my team happier. It improved our performance.

Click to shrink...

PMI is all about command and control.

Never forget to be human first.

 

[BreakyBoy]

I don't know. I like it better than DevOps, that's for sure

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I'm very confused by this. How is DevOps a comparable thing to Jira?

 

[Swig]

I'm very confused by this. How is DevOps a comparable thing to Jira?

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It performs the same functions. You manage backlogs, epics, stories, tasks in it. You manage sprints (iterations in DevOps terms) assign story points, etc. PO/Product Manager work. I work for a Fortune 500 and most of our teams have migrated to it from other apps, like Jira.

Agile workflow in Azure Boards - Azure Boards

Learn how to use the Agile process to track work using its work item types working in Azure Boards.

docs.microsoft.com

 

[BreakyBoy]

It performs the same functions. You manage backlogs, epics, stories, tasks in it. You manage sprints (iterations in DevOps terms) assign story points, etc. PO/Product Manager work. I work for a Fortune 500 and most of our teams have migrated to it from other apps, like Jira.

Agile workflow in Azure Boards - Azure Boards

Learn how to use the Agile process to track work using its work item types working in Azure Boards.

docs.microsoft.com

Click to shrink...

Oh man, I guess Microsoft repackaged Team Foundation Server since the last time I poked my head into their ecosystem.

My confusion stems from the fact that DevOps is a software engineering practice that's come up pretty strong in the last decade. Like many buzzwords, it's arguable what "DevOps" actually refers to, but I've never heard anyone argue that DevOps is anything akin to Jira. But then I haven't worked at a Microsoft-driven shop in nearly a decade, so I guess I'm out of the loop.

I'm still baffled though. Except it's at Microsoft's decision to name this "DevOps". I'm sure they have a good reason for it, but man, it's already a loaded term with too many definitions. This doesn't help any.

On topic: if Azure DevOps is anything like the TFS/VSTS I remember from back in the day, I don't blame you for preferring Jira. But as someone who has used Jira for 5+ years as a dev, sometimes Scrum lead, and now management: man, I hate Jira.

I just don't know if there's anything else I'd prefer that scales to that one-size-fits-all-teams enterprise-y level. But personally, I put in work just to export/sync Jira boards to my own task/time management system so I can limit my usage of it.

 

[Xando]

I'm managing projects and i don't have any certification. Honestly the most important part is gonna be experience.

No certification is gonna teach me how to manage participants or to properly plan a project tailored to the needs of my client.

So get a junior position and gather as much real life PM experience as you can. You'll learn a lot with your first few projects.

 

[Goodlifr]

You receive an email, you choose someone and you forward it on saying "can you pick this up".. that's pretty much it.