Are you planning to start your own business someday? Maybe your management professor expects you to know all about Gantt charts, and you haven’t a clue. Perhaps you see many job postings in your field that ask for “project management skills.” Eventually you’ll be applying to those jobs. What does project management mean in the context of your workplace someday, or even now in the context of your life as a digital, networked student?
Have no fear. Project management (PM) can seem to be a big, scary topic, and it’s true that some of the tools out there come with a big pricetag and a scary learning curve. But at its heart, PM is really just a logical way to approach a big project by breaking it down into many smaller projects, each with its own deadline and resources allocated to it. The good news is that you probably already do this, maybe without realizing it, any time you have a big class project to complete! The challenge comes when you have such a big project that even the task of breaking it down into steps seems overwhelming and even paralyzing. Especially in the world of business – where clients must be billed exactly, scarce resources allocated fairly, deadlines met, and employees’ time delegated without being micromanaged – being able to manage a big project effectively can be vital. No wonder employers ask for it in job postings! What better place to learn about it but now, when there’s no pressure from the boss looking over your shoulder? Try one of these for your next multi-step and/or group project for a class.
There are dozens of project management software options – click here for a quick overview and comparison of each one’s capabilities. I’m not going to try to review them all, but I tried a few, and here are some comments on a couple of good introductory ones.