January 28, 2021
Finding opportunities for giving back to my community are important to me. When Christine Doucet asks me to be a guest speaker at her class at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University, I jump at the chance!
Today, I attended her Integrated Natural Resource Management and Decision Making course to talk about project management concepts. This was my third year speaking to her students. She has observed a significant improvement in working in group projects as a result of me chatting with her students.
Every three years, I am required to earn 60 Professional Development Units (PDUs) as a Project Management Professional (PMP®) to maintain my certification. One of the categories I have the option of earning PDUs is Giving Back to the Profession of Project Management. Project Management Institute recognizes that sharing knowledge and actively applying my skills is an important way to contribute to the profession, while also enriching my own professional skills. Therefore, this opportunity today, fits perfectly with my goals as a project management professional.
Today we discussed some basic project management concepts including the Work Breakdown Structure and Responsibility Assignment Matrix. Christine assigned projects to her students and they had the chance to immediately apply the concepts we talked about to their projects! We also discussed the challenges of working as a team on a group project. Finally, we reviewed a suggested process to obtain consensus.
Project management is not something that is actively taught in the elementary or secondary school system. When students reach post-secondary, or the workplace, they often find themselves working with others on projects without understanding the foundational learning required. I hope today’s session provided these students with the knowledge needed to work effectively and efficiently with their groups. I wish them all the best! ~ Carole
Want to learn more about project management? Check out my Fundamentals of Project Management workshop or contact me at carole.spicer@nf.sympatico.ca to discuss further.
