Looking for your insight new PM without formal training and tools

Thanks Rami! Is this separate than the state chapters? I did join the NH chapter.

I had no formal PM training until after many years of OTJ experience and found that most of what I was doing wasn’t new or novel but actually similar across industries and based in well developed theory. Different terms were used, but the general concepts still applied.

What I would recommend is starting with a high level PM overview class or book that ensures you have covered all the basics in an organized way. Having been exposed to it in practice, I found it very interesting to study the material through the lens of my own experience. I didn’t learn much new, but I was better able to organize my own mental model similar to studying music or cooking theory after years of being self-taught and seeing how the pieces fit together. Even something like Project Management for Dummies can help sure you've covered the breadth of topics before digging too deep.

From there you can study aspects most relevant to the goals of your current job. That could be documenting the work to be performed, tracking progress, or communicating your plan and performance using visual tools.

Some people try to immediately apply every concept and tool adding a lot of unnecessary work and chaos. Start simple; adapt your processes and add to them as you identify improvement opportunities.