Project Management


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“Project management is like juggling three balls – time, cost, and quality.” – Geoff Reiss

Isn’t it impossible to be behind the scenes and in the spotlight at the same time? Not if you’re a Project Manager! Project management is a balancing act of contradicting skills. Sometimes you have to be the driver of change while someone else is at the wheel.

Many of us project manage without realizing it. Informal project management can look like a team meeting, a calendar reminder, or even a text checking in on your teammate. True project management is a responsibility to those communications, and the capacity to hold others accountable for the assignment. Project management practitioners and experts have different ways of describing the discipline of project management. One common way is to think of project management as balancing three key areas of time, cost, and quality of work:

  • Time - How long does it take to finish each task? When can we start our next step? Are we meeting our deadlines?
  • Cost - Are we sticking to our budget? What resources are being used that need to be replaced (including people resources)? What is the opportunity cost of these decisions?
  • Quality - Does this meet our accessibility standards? Does this meet the requirements of the original assignment? Did we use reliable resources to inform our work?

Project management is an exercise in teamwork. Knowing your resources and the talents of your team will help you meet your deadlines, keep within your budget, and produce quality work.

Resources from the Enterprise

Relevant Resources

  • Article: What is Project Management?
    Provides an introduction to project management from the largest project management (PM) community of thought leaders.
  • Course: KICKOFF: Learn the Basics of Project Management
    Free 1-hour interactive course from Project Management Institute (PMI) that teaches you the basics of managing projects.
  • LinkedIn Learning: Managing Projects with Microsoft Teams
    This learning opportunity introduces how to leverage Microsoft Teams with project management in mind. This is a great secondary course to advance your skills from beginner to intermediate.
  • Resource Library: Project Management Institute Learning Library
    PMI provides a Professional Development library of online courses, training, webinars, PM thought leadership, and PM standards.
  • Check with your own agency’s Learning and Development Department. Agencies who have responsibility is managing large scale projects may offer PM training, too.