Lesson 7: Developing Yourself as a Project Manager
Technical Skills
By technical I don't necessarily mean computer-related skills, although that is a part of what I mean.
There are a variety of non-computer technical fields within the wide, wacky world of project management, and they are growing all the time. Let me start, however, with the computer-related kind.
There are a variety of software tools that you can use to support your project management abilities. Perhaps the most common is Microsoft Project.
Now, there are good courses devoted solely to understanding and using Microsoft Project, and so I will not even remotely attempt to do that here (not that I have the brains to do this, anyway). However, I do enjoy using Microsoft Project, especially its scheduling features.
Microsoft Project is not by any means the only software tool out there that can help you management a project, and I don't want to imply with this mini-spotlight that I am necesarily endorsing one product over another. What I'd like to convey is simply that a successful project manager "in this day and age" really must have ability with at least one project management software tool. If that happens to be Microsoft Project, then that's fine. But if you find another software that makes more sense to you, then by all means, choose that. But I urge you to become familliar with at least one solid project management software tool.
But there are other technical tools out there that are not necessarily software-related. In fact, there are branches of technical analysis that permeate every aspect of project management.
For example, in the world of budgeting, there is earned value analysis, which is a very useful approach to firguring out how much things cost, how much they were supposed to cost, how much they might cost in the future, and why on earth you thought it would cost that, when in reality, it cost that. What were you thinking?
Or perhaps risk is your thing? Well, there are some highly technical aspects of risk planning, and perhaps this is something that you will want to learn about. Or maybe you're into scheduling? Wait until you find out what a professional scheduling manager does. They're awesome to watch.
I could go on and on, but I won't. (You can stop clapping now.) There are, again, a variety of technical specialities within project management that might suit you. Project management is increasingly becoming a kind of specialist-generalist hybrid, but perhaps you are the type of person that really, really likes to specialize? Project management will easily find a home for you. A great place for you to learn more about this is from the Project Management Institute's website (http://www.pmi.org). You'll find a list of registered educational providers (REP's) who offer a stunning array of courses in different technical specialities within the field.
