5 Day Project Management Challenge – I am ready to start my new PM career!

Ok, I think you are going to love this one. I am excited to tell you I have just launched a brand new FREE Online course called the 5 Day Project Management Challenge. This online project management course takes you through the steps of starting a project, running a project, and what you do week-to-week until the end of the project. This class is perfect for brand new project managers, great for new project managers still learning, and I am sure even the most experience project managers will learn a thing or two! Kidding, of course!

I want to be transparent with this, this was something I ran live with Bruce Taylor a couple months back and we had a blast. We got rave reviews and what I giving you today is that same course, however, in an online form and available for you to do at your own pace. Bruce Taylor and I have over 80 years of project management experience and we are doing our best to share a lot of that background today in this course.

How does this class work? Well, it is simple: you log in and you watch as video every day, then you go off and do the homework for that class. I give you a class a day for 5 days, and between the time you end the video, grab the files, and do the homework for the day, it will be time to start the next day’s video. This process repeats for 5 days in a row and the class files are dropped each day. Yes, we give you the files to download, and if you are seriously interested in learning how to become a project manager, this is the exact course for you!

Some people reach out and say, “Can I have all the files and all the videos at once?” No, you can’t. Sorry! If you are really serious about learning project management, then do the course properly. If you want this course as a checkbox activity because you are just looking for a random free class, this might not be the right course for you! I know it is free but trust me, don’t devalue it because it is free. I am giving this as a tribute to Bruce Taylor, and I want you to learn from Bruce. He has a ton to share and amazing experiences. Check out my Bruce Taylor interviews here. It is amazing!

Does that make sense? If you are serious, you will do the work of the class and you won’t just rush through it. Follow the process, trust me on this one, you will enjoy it.

Why is an online class like this so important?

5 Day Project Management Challenge — This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

Well, I answer that by saying that there are so many people that are so new to project management, and they really don’t know where to start, especially when they are first assigned to manage a project. That’s exactly why I created this course, because I wanted to make sure you had the steps that Bruce and I follow when we manage projects.

There are so many reasons why I like these online courses for teaching this kind of material. I think there are tons of distinct advantages for you. You can access it from anywhere. The five classes that are part of this course are short and easy to follow. The class offers you flexibility around the time of day you take the class. Be aware and plan for the fact that I have set up the classes to release one a day for five straight days. The process is you watch the class video, do the homework, wait a day, watch the next class video, do the homework…etc. Remember, there is nobody holding you accountable to do the homework but yourself. If you want to learn to become a project manager, you will do the homework and watch the videos.

One of the great things about this course too is that I can see how you are progressing through the class, so excited for that and can’t wait to hear from you on how it is going.

Does that make sense?

Great, ok let’s keep going. Let’s talk about the core concepts of the course and cover what you do when your management assigns you a project.

The first thing I say when you are first assigned a project, is to not panic. Project Management is about processes and procedures and doing things in a repeatable manner that allows you and your project team to be driving towards a common goal. In my course of managing projects over the last 30 years, I have been very successful using a core set of processes and procedures when managing my projects. I have worked across Waterfall, Agile, DevOps, ScaledAgile, IT, Marketing, Healthcare, Real Estate, and Government type projects. So, I have a wide and deep experiences in the field of project management and managed many projects across my career.

Project managers who try to “wing it” have a much harder time being successful, especially when a project gets in trouble. So, the basis of this course is to give you a framework to follow for your projects. Of course, we realize you are going to have to take it and adjust your learnings from the class to your specific organization. It would be impossible for me to give you a complete step-by-step project management process for your company specifically because I don’t know your projects or your companies, but I know project management, and I can tell you this course will give you a great foundation!

Let’s dive into this now on what are the key steps of the course.

What to see the key steps I take you through to manage a project from start to finish?

Ok, that’s great and sounds exciting, but how does the course go again, what happens? Well, I am glad you asked because let’s look inside the course.

Dow Publishing LL’s 5 Day Project Management Challenge Online Course

As you can see, this is a full course where you will watch the day’s video, grab your downloads, perform the homework for the day, and of course reach out if you have any questions. Then come back the next day, watch the video, grab the downloads, and do that day’s homework. At the beginning of the course, you are assigned a fake project, so that should be fun, and you do have to setup all the course materials in a location where you can actually fill in all the templates from the class.

By the end of the class, you will have gone through the steps that Bruce and I have done for many-many years on setting up and running a project.

Some key actions and take aways:

Don’t panic, follow the course and you will be fine.
Watch the videos and listen to Bruce! Listen to what he has to say, take his vast years of project management experience, and listen closely, because you will want to follow his advice and learn from him.
Do the work, follow the process, setup your projects like we cover in the training. Of course, you will have to adapt for your company, but the fundamentals are there.
Make sure you setup the project environment at the very beginning. Every company is going to have a different set of tools like MS Office, Google Docs…etc. Regardless, get that all setup and running for your project and for the course as one of the first things you do. The rest of the course relies on your having a project environment as you would at your own company.
Make sure you fill in all the logs and do the homework! Enjoy it, have fun with the course, and make sure to reach out if you have any questions.

What do you think?

Ok, are you ready to go? Want to get started and going on the free class now? Ok, here is the 5 Day Project Management Challenge link. Get started today!

If you like this article and want to keep learning in project management, I think you will love this article on Top Project Management tools for virtual team members. Or you might like this one on Project Management plans best practices.