PM 101: Preparing Students for the Class of Life

Christina is a technology project manager that has worked for some of Canada's largest technology companies. She also teaches project management part-time at Wilfrid Laurier University and OCAD University.

  Education   New Practitioners  

I have been teaching project management at one of my local universities for the past nine years. I teach a semester-long PM course to senior-level students that usually have one or two semesters left before they graduate. The overwhelming majority of my students have no formal project management training or knowledge when they start my course at the beginning of the semester.

Some students are curious about the topic, some have seen “project management” mentioned on job ads and think it would be good to learn about it, and some have been told that it might be “good for the future.” As we start another academic year at colleges and universities globally, let’s think about the real value that studying project management can bring to students.

Apart from teaching them about PMI’s process groups and knowledge areas, I also spend part of my time educating students on the value of learning project management fundamentals and how some of the tools and techniques can be useful in everyday life. However, instead of presenting it as theory and principles they need to learn, I present it as “life skills that will help you be successful.”

Below are some of the reasons I have shared with students on why studying project management is valuable…

1. Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail
How many of us have heard this expression and …

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