Professional Project Management Skills | Google Project Management Certificate

Summary

This video script delves into the role of project managers, emphasizing their value addition through prioritization, delegation, and effective communication. It illustrates the project manager's non-hierarchical guidance, focusing on task management rather than direct supervision. Key skills highlighted include decision-making facilitation, communication, flexibility, and strong organizational abilities. The script also underscores the importance of interpersonal skills for relationship building and influencing without formal authority, crucial for navigating project complexities and ensuring success.

Takeaways

• 📅 Project managers shepherd projects from start to finish using their organizational and interpersonal skills.
• 📊 They add value to their teams and organizations through prioritization, delegation, and effective communication.
• 📌 Effective prioritization involves breaking down large tasks into smaller steps and determining critical tasks for project success.
• 👥 Delegation is matching tasks to individuals who can best complete the work, utilizing team members' strengths.
• 🔗 Effective communication involves being transparent, keeping in regular contact with team members and stakeholders, and providing support.
• 🛠️ Project managers follow a process that involves planning, organizing, managing tasks, budgeting, and controlling costs.
• 💡 Core skills for project managers include enabling decision making, communicating and escalating, flexibility, and strong organizational skills.
• 🤝 Interpersonal skills like communication, negotiation, conflict mediation, and understanding motivations are key to influencing without authority.
• 🔍 Project managers are not always the direct managers of their team members but are responsible for guiding and supporting them.
• 📈 Project managers use productivity tools and create processes to track project completion and ensure that tasks are accomplished within set timelines.

Q & A

What is the primary role of a project manager?

A project manager shepherds projects from start to finish and serves as a guide for their team using their impeccable organizational and interpersonal skills every step of the way.

How do project managers add value to their teams and organizations?

Project managers add value through prioritization, delegation, and effective communication.

What is prioritization, and how does it add value?

Prioritization involves effectively identifying and breaking down large tasks into smaller steps. It ensures that critical tasks are completed first, setting up the team for a better project outcome.

Can you give an example of prioritization in a project?

In a house-painting project, prioritizing tasks like laying out drop cloths and applying blue tape before painting ensures that the project progresses smoothly and efficiently.

What is delegation, and why is it important in project management?

Delegation involves matching tasks to individuals who can best complete the work. It ensures that tasks are handled by those with the right skills, improving efficiency and effectiveness.

How does effective communication contribute to a project's success?

Effective communication involves being transparent with plans and ideas, making information readily available, and keeping in regular contact with team members and stakeholders to ensure the project stays on track.

What responsibilities fall under planning and organizing for a project manager?

Responsibilities include using productivity tools, creating processes, developing plans, timelines, schedules, and maintaining documentation throughout the project.

How do project managers handle budgeting and controlling costs?

Project managers monitor and manage the budget, track issues and risks, mitigate those issues, and remove barriers that can hinder project progress.

What are some key skills a project manager should possess?

Key skills include decision making, communicating and escalating, flexibility, and strong organizational skills.

What is influencing without authority, and why is it important?

Influencing without authority refers to a project manager's ability to guide teammates to complete their work without being their direct manager. It is important because it helps in motivating and leading the team effectively.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Understanding the Role of a Project Manager

This paragraph introduces the role of a project manager, emphasizing their critical function in guiding projects from inception to completion. Project managers are portrayed as organizers and leaders who facilitate tasks, budgeting, and cost control to ensure projects are delivered within the set timeframe and financial constraints. The paragraph also highlights the value project managers add through prioritization, delegation, and effective communication, with examples provided to illustrate these concepts in both professional and personal contexts.

05:02

📈 Project Management Skills and Responsibilities

The second paragraph delves into the specific skills and responsibilities of a project manager. It discusses the importance of planning and organizing, budgeting, cost control, and task management. The speaker uses the analogy of a house-painting project to illustrate effective prioritization and delegation. The paragraph also touches on the collaborative aspect of project management, explaining how project managers work with their teams and other stakeholders to navigate changes and maintain project momentum.

10:03

🤝 The Collaborative Nature of Project Management

This paragraph explores the collaborative nature of project management, clarifying that project managers are not the direct managers of team members but are responsible for guiding the project to success. It uses the analogy of organizing a camping trip to explain the delegation of tasks based on expertise. The paragraph outlines the importance of accountability, issue and risk tracking, understanding and adopting the right workflows, and collaborating with other teams within an organization to meet project requirements.

15:04

🛠 Core Skills for Successful Project Management

The fourth paragraph focuses on the core skills that contribute to successful project management. It discusses enabling decision-making, communication and escalation, flexibility, and strong organizational skills. The speaker emphasizes the inevitability of change in projects and the need for project managers to remain adaptable and organized. The paragraph also mentions the importance of industry knowledge, tools, templates, and project management styles like waterfall and agile.

20:06

👥 Interpersonal Skills for Project Managers

The final paragraph discusses the interpersonal skills crucial for project managers to build relationships with team members and stakeholders. It covers communication, negotiation, conflict mediation, and understanding motivations as key skills for influencing without authority. The speaker provides examples of how these skills can be applied in personal life and the workplace, highlighting their importance in leadership and team guidance within project management roles.

Keywords

💡Project Manager

A project manager is an individual who shepherds projects from start to finish, guiding their team using organizational and interpersonal skills. They play a crucial role in their organizations by planning, organizing, managing tasks, budgeting, and controlling costs to complete projects within the approved time frame.

💡Prioritization

Prioritization is the process of determining the order of tasks based on their importance and urgency. Project managers use prioritization to help team members identify and break down large tasks into smaller, manageable steps, ensuring critical tasks are completed first. For example, in the context of painting a house, laying out drop cloths and applying tape are prioritized before starting to paint.

💡Delegation

Delegation involves assigning tasks to team members who are best suited to complete them. Project managers add value by matching tasks to individuals based on their skills and expertise. For instance, a friend with professional painting experience is tasked with painting the ceiling and detailed molding in the house-painting example.

💡Effective Communication

Effective communication is the clear and transparent exchange of information between project managers, their teams, and stakeholders. It includes being upfront with plans and making information readily available. Project managers keep in regular contact with their team and stakeholders to ensure progress and address any support needed, such as checking if there are enough supplies for the painting project.

💡Stakeholders

Stakeholders are individuals or groups who are interested in and affected by the project's completion and success, such as the leader of an organization. Project managers gather information from stakeholders to prioritize tasks and make informed decisions. In the house-painting example, the landlord is a stakeholder who needs to be informed about the project plans.

💡Planning and Organizing

Planning and organizing involve creating plans, timelines, schedules, and other documentation to track project completion. Project managers use productivity tools and develop processes to improve information sharing across the team. This helps in managing the project efficiently from start to finish.

💡Budgeting and Controlling Costs

Budgeting and controlling costs entail monitoring and managing the project's budget, tracking issues and risks, and mitigating barriers to ensure the project stays within the approved budget. Project managers address unforeseen barriers, such as securing resources needed by the team to continue the project.

💡Task Management

Task management involves keeping track of tasks to help manage the team's workload and ensure progress. Project managers use tools like project trackers to outline tasks and responsibilities, as seen in the example of creating technical curriculum for students. This helps in updating stakeholders and achieving project goals efficiently.

💡Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills are abilities that help project managers build relationships with team members and stakeholders. These skills include communication, negotiation, conflict mediation, and understanding motivations. They are crucial for influencing team members without having direct authority over them, ensuring the project's success.

💡Influencing Without Authority

Influencing without authority refers to the project manager's ability to guide and motivate team members to complete their tasks without being their direct manager. This involves using interpersonal skills to communicate effectively, negotiate compromises, mediate conflicts, and understand individual motivations, as demonstrated in the examples of handling a coworker's punctuality or motivating teammates.

Highlights

Project managers are defined as guides who shepherd projects from start to finish using organizational and interpersonal skills.

They follow a process involving planning, organizing, managing tasks, budgeting, and controlling costs to meet project requirements.

Project managers add value through prioritization, delegation, and effective communication, which are key to team and organizational success.

Effective prioritization involves breaking down large tasks into smaller steps and determining critical tasks for project success.

Delegation matches tasks to individuals with the best skills to complete the work, enhancing project efficiency.

Effective communication ensures transparency, regular updates, and support for team members, crucial for project progress.

Project managers use productivity tools and create processes to improve information-sharing and track project completion.

Budgeting and controlling costs involve monitoring changes, managing the budget, and mitigating issues and risks.

Managing tasks includes tracking the team's workload and demonstrating progress to stakeholders.

Project managers are not direct managers but guides who ensure team members have the support needed to complete the project.

Interpersonal skills such as communication, negotiation, conflict mediation, and understanding motivations are vital for project managers.

Influencing without authority is a key ability for project managers to guide teams without being direct supervisors.

Decision-making, flexibility, and strong organizational skills are essential for successful project management.

Project managers need to hold team members accountable for their tasks and establish escalation paths for issues and risks.

Collaboration with other teams in the organization is necessary to meet project requirements based on scope, schedule, and budget.

Understanding and adopting the right workflows and project management styles, like waterfall and agile, are part of a project manager's role.

Building relationships with teammates and stakeholders through interpersonal skills helps in determining project priorities and motivating the team.

The Google Project Management certificate offers a comprehensive learning experience, including job search assistance.

Transcripts

SPEAKER: Now let's define what a project manager is and describe

how they add value to their teams and organizations.

Let's start with a definition.

Project managers shepherd projects from start

to finish and serve as guides for their team

using their impeccable organizational and

interpersonal skills every step of the way.

As you learned earlier, project managers usually

follow a process that involves planning and organizing,

managing tasks, budgeting, and controlling costs

so that the project can be completed

within the approved time frame.

We'll dig deeper into these topics throughout this program.

What you need to know right now is

that project managers play a crucial role

in their organizations.

Project managers add value to their teams and organizations

in key ways that include prioritization, delegation,

and effective communication.

So let's break these down.

First, we'll discuss prioritization.

Project managers add value to their teams and organizations

through effective prioritization of tasks

required to complete a project.

They're experts at helping team members identify and break down

large tasks into smaller steps.

There will be times when a project manager may not

know which tasks to prioritize.

To determine which ones are the most critical

to the success of the project, they'll

connect with their teams and with stakeholders

to gather information and make a plan.

Stakeholders are people who are interested

in and affected by the project's completion and success,

like the leader of an organization.

You've probably used prioritization

to complete work in the past.

In any kind of project, personal or professional,

there are tasks with different levels of priority.

For example, let's imagine that you've

decided to rent a house and plan to repaint the rooms.

You've picked out your paint, and you're

eager to get started.

While it may be tempting to start painting right away,

you'll need to prioritize tasks like laying out

drop cloths to protect the floors and furniture, applying

blue tape to the room's edges, and much more.

Those preliminary steps are critical

and need to come before painting.

Other related steps like choosing new face plates

for your light switches can come later in the process

or be switched out of the project

entirely if you run out of time or money.

But when you choose to take care of these preliminary steps

before wedging open the paint can,

you're prioritizing the tasks or steps of your project.

You're also increasing the likelihood

that you'll be satisfied with your newly painted rooms.

This process is similar for professional projects.

When you effectively prioritize important tasks,

you set up your team and yourself for a better project

outcome.

Now let's discuss delegation.

Project managers use delegation to add value to their teams

and organizations by matching tasks to individuals

who can best complete the work.

Let's return to our house-painting example

for a second here.

Painting multiple rooms can be a time-consuming project.

So it's possible that you might enlist a few friends to help

you get it done.

Maybe one friend has professional painting

experience.

Now, with that in mind, you might

ask her to handle the more challenging aspects

of the project like painting the ceiling

or the detailed molding.

You might also schedule her to paint the molding

before another friend paints the walls.

So by delegating this task to the person

with the right skills to complete the work

and ordering the tasks appropriately,

you're applying knowledge of your team's strengths

to the planning of your project.

That makes sense, right?

Finally, let's talk about effective communication.

Project managers deliver value through

effective communication, both with their team

and with key stakeholders.

This refers to being transparent,

which means being upfront with plans and ideas

and making information readily available.

Project managers keep in regular contact

with their team about the progress of the work

and help identify areas where a teammate may need support.

In our house-painting example, this

might involve checking in with your friends

periodically to ask if they have enough paint or supplies

left to complete their tasks.

Checking in regularly means you'll

know if you need to buy more paint before the can is empty,

which ensures that the project stays on track.

In addition to keeping up with teammates,

project managers keep in regular contact

with people outside of the team, like company leaders

who are invested in the project outcomes.

For example, you might reach out to your landlord

to get permission to paint and to share the days you'll

be working on this project.

Though your landlord isn't directly involved

in the project's execution, the outcomes

will affect her property.

And so it's important to keep her informed.

Without your project management skills,

you might run out of paint halfway through the project,

your walls might get painted without drop cloths

to protect the floors, and your landlord

could be caught off guard about your plans.

So it's a good thing you're here to keep the project running

smoothly and efficiently.

Great, now you should be able to define what a project

manager is and explain how they use prioritization, delegation,

and effective communication to deliver value

to their organizations.

Coming up, you'll hear about the career

path of a real-life project manager at Google.

Their journey, to me, is fascinating.

And we can't wait to share it with you.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

You learned that project management

is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques

to meet the project requirements and achieve the desired

outcome.

So how does that actually happen?

Well, that's where you come in.

Project managers usually follow a process

that involves planning and organizing,

managing tasks, budgeting, and controlling costs,

and other factors so that the project

can be completed within the approved budget and time frame.

Let's break these down into examples of responsibilities

that you might find in a job listing for a project

management role.

We'll start with planning and organizing.

One responsibility that falls under the umbrella of planning

and organizing is making use of productivity tools

and creating processes.

During the planning and execution of a project,

you might need to use certain tools

and develop processes to improve information-sharing

across the team.

You may also need to create plans, timelines, schedules,

and other forms of documentation to track project completion.

And you'll usually need to maintain those documents

throughout the entirety of the project.

The next task is budgeting and controlling costs

and other factors.

As the project is underway, changes to the plan and budget

are bound to come up, believe me.

This will require you to monitor and manage

the budget, track issues, and risks as they arise,

and manage quality by mitigating those issues and risks.

One way to do this is by removing unforeseen barriers

that come up.

Now, by barriers, we mean things that

can get in the way of project progress.

For example, if your teammates lack

the resources needed to complete a task,

you might identify that issue or barrier up front.

Escalate the issue to a stakeholder,

and work to secure the resource so your team can move forward.

Another huge piece of the project manager's role

is managing tasks.

A project task is an activity that

needs to be accomplished within a set period of time

by you, your team, or your stakeholders.

Keeping track of tasks is a great way

to help manage the team's workload

and ensure that things are getting done.

Keeping track of tasks is also a great tool

for demonstrating progress to people

outside the immediate team like your stakeholders.

Back when I was a program manager in student development

here at Google, one of our goals was

to create pathways for students who

identify with communities that are underrepresented

in the technology industry.

A large part of my day-to-day responsibilities

involved working with two separate engineering teams

to create our technical curriculum.

To manage the tasks associated with this project,

I created separate project trackers

for each team that outlined the vision for the curriculum.

These trackers kept both teams in the loop about the timeline

for delivery, the categories and subcategories for work,

and the team members assigned to each task.

I also made sure to update our stakeholders every step

of the way.

By actively managing tasks throughout the project

lifecycle, I was able to keep tabs

on everyone's work and efficiently inform

stakeholders, which allowed us to achieve our project

goal with minimal issues.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Let's discuss the role of the project manager

and how that role relates to other roles

within the project team.

It's easier to hear the term manager

and immediately think of your boss.

But a project manager is not often

the direct manager of the people working on a project team.

Here, we're discussing the project manager

as someone who manages the tasks of a project.

But what does that really mean, right?

Well, although you might have a few teammates working

with you on a project, you're probably not

their day-to-day boss.

With the help of your team, you can get a lot more done

together.

Everyone on your team will have their own set

of roles and responsibilities.

And you'll come together to ensure

that everyone is able to do their part

to advance the project.

Each person will be an expert on their portion of the project,

but no one will be an expert on every aspect of the project.

And honestly, neither will you.

For instance, the graphic designer

will focus on graphic design but probably won't

be an expert on copyrighting.

Similarly, you'll be an expert on project management

but may not be an expert on marketing.

Here's another way to think about it.

Imagine that you're organizing a camping trip.

You might be the person in charge of planning the trip,

but that doesn't mean you have to be a camping expert.

Maybe you've never been camping before,

but your partner grew up spending every summer

by the campfire.

In that case, you might assign them

the task of picking out the right number and style of tents

for your group.

So in this example, you are planning the trip

by giving your partner the job of finding

the right number of tents and the right size

tents to make sure everyone's covered.

You aren't doing the research or the task yourself.

But you're making sure that things are getting done.

It's similar in the workplace.

As the project manager, you won't be an expert

in every project role.

And that's OK.

As we said, your job isn't to be the expert on everything.

Instead, you're responsible for guiding your team

and making sure that they have the support

that they need in order to complete the project.

So how does a project manager go about doing that?

Let's discuss using a few more examples of the required

responsibilities you might find in a job listing.

First, you'll need to hold all team

members accountable for their assigned tasks.

Managing tasks will help you hold your team members

accountable by giving them ownership over specific pieces

of the project.

Second, you'll need to ensure that issues and risks are

tracked and visible and be able to establish escalation paths.

Now, by escalation paths, I mean that you

should know how you'll communicate risks

to the right people at the right time.

Third, you'll need to understand and help

teammates adopt the right workflows and project

management styles.

As the project manager, you'll likely

have the best idea of which style is best for the work.

It's your job to ensure that the team adheres

to that style and the other systems in place.

And fourth, you'll need to collaborate with other teams

at the organization to meet the requirements based on project,

scope, schedule, and budget.

In other words, a project may affect not only your team,

but other teams at an organization, as well,

let's say, the marketing or the finance team.

So you'll need to work with those teams

to ensure that everyone is happy with the project outcomes.

You'll learn more about working with other stakeholders

in a later course.

Catch all that?

Let's recap.

You've learned that a project manager isn't always

the direct manager of each member of the project team.

Rather, they're responsible for guiding those people

and ensuring they have the support they

need to complete the project.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

While there are lots of different skills

a project manager can bring to their role,

there are four specific skill sets

that we think can help a project manager be successful.

Those are enabling decision making,

communicating and escalating, flexibility,

and strong organizational skills.

First, let's talk about enabling decision making.

The ability to enable decision making on the team

or gathering decisions from the appropriate leader

is crucial to keep projects on task and achieve their goals.

Lots of the day-to-day decisions within the project

will likely fall to you and your teammates

to discuss and agree on.

You'll ensure that projects stay on schedule

by gathering information from teammates

and using those insights to help the team make informed

decisions.

You'll also make sure that those decisions are communicated

to the necessary coworkers, whether that's

the immediate team or company leaders.

For example, you might provide relevant data

or feedback to help your teammates

make an informed decision between choice A and choice

B. The second skill is communicating and escalating.

As a project manager, you'll use your communication skills

in just about everything you do.

This might look like documenting plans, sending emails

about the status of the project, or holding a meeting

to escalate risks or issues to stakeholders.

The third skill is flexibility.

As a project manager, knowing how to be flexible

when changes are needed is key.

Plans definitively will change, even

with careful upfront planning.

For example, maybe the goals of your company change.

Or maybe a member of your team unexpectedly

takes a new position at another company.

A good project manager knows that unpredictable moments

like these are almost always guaranteed.

A quote we love here at Google is, "The only constant

is change."

And that's true.

By staying cool under pressure, you'll

be able to adjust while helping your team stay calm, too.

And finally, a successful project manager

needs strong organizational skills.

As you learned earlier, the role of a project manager

requires using a lot of different processes

to keep the project on track.

Having strong organizational skills means

having the ability to organize these processes

and the core elements of a project to ensure nothing

gets lost or overlooked, which, trust me, can and does happen.

To prevent this, you might decide

to track daily tasks in a spreadsheet

or send frequent status updates or reminders.

There are many ways to stay organized and hone

your organizational skills.

And we'll talk more about them throughout the program.

To recap, decision making, communicating and escalating,

flexibility, and strong organizational skills

are four core skill sets that are

essential to successful project management.

You can continue to build on these skills

by becoming familiar with industry knowledge that

applies to most project management roles.

Knowledge of helpful tools and templates

and familiarity with popular project management

styles like waterfall and agile can

help you organize and document the project

throughout its lifecycle.

We'll learn about these throughout this program.

Hopefully, you feel better equipped

to explain the core skills a project manager should

bring to the role.

These skills really help enforce team morale and accountability

for the tasks of a project.

We'll discuss this coming up.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Earlier, you learned about the role

of the project manager and the core skills

you'll need to be successful in that role.

You've also learned more about your role within the project

team.

Now let's discuss a few key skills

that you'll use to build relationships

with your teammates and stakeholders.

Using your interpersonal skills is

key to building relationships with the people involved

in your project.

By developing these relationships,

you'll learn about the needs and concerns of the team.

This will help you determine the priorities of the project

and motivate your team throughout the process.

Possessing strong interpersonal skills

is a huge part of good leadership.

Even if you've never held a formal leadership position,

having these skills will help you

when you need to guide a team.

This is called influencing without authority, which

refers to a project manager's ability

to guide teammates to complete their assigned

work without acting as their direct managers.

There's a few key interpersonal skills that you can use

to accomplish this and guide the project outcomes,

even without the authority of being your teammates' boss.

These skills include communication, negotiation,

conflict mediation, and understanding motivations.

So let's break these down.

First up is a key skill we've mentioned a few times now,

communication.

In the context of leading a team,

communication can include checking in with teammates

to understand how they're progressing on a task

and providing clear feedback on the quality of a teammate's

work.

Next is negotiation.

Negotiation might include working with a teammate

to compromise on a new deadline when they tell you

that they won't be able to complete their work on time.

Now, trust me, I know this can be frustrating.

But you'll need to use your negotiation skills often

with your teammates and stakeholders

to balance their needs and what is best for the project.

Another important skill is conflict mediation.

As we mentioned, project plans can change

and issues will arise.

This can sometimes lead to tension and conflict

within the team.

So conflict mediation is a great skill

to practice and develop to ensure the project does not

suffer as a result. This might involve setting up

a meeting with two teammates who are struggling

to agree upon the best way to handle a shared task.

And finally, there's understanding motivations.

This means getting to know your teammates

and figuring out what pushes them to do their best work.

Understanding motivations might also

include learning how your teammates prefer

to receive feedback and how they like to receive recognition

for doing a great job.

You would use that individualized information

to motivate and encourage each person on your team.

So to recap-- communication, negotiation, conflict

mediation, and understanding motivations

are all interpersonal skills that

will help you influence without authority.

During job interviews for project management positions,

you might be asked to discuss a time when you

influenced without authority.

And it's possible that you've already noticed ways

that you've used these skills in your personal life

without even realizing it.

For example, let's say you have a coworker who's

constantly late to every meeting,

and I mean every meeting.

While you can't force them to arrive on time,

it's likely that you've thought about ways to motivate

them to want to be on time.

In doing so, you might have also wondered

how to change the way you communicate with your coworker

to influence them to be on time.

Maybe you've tried asking them to arrive 15 minutes earlier

than the rest of the group.

Or maybe you've told them how this behavior

impacts the rest of the team.

Both of these strategies are examples

of influencing without authority,

and they serve to encourage specific behavior.

Influencing without authority is one

of the most critical and one of the most challenging aspects

of project management.

As you've just learned, you'll need

to leverage your interpersonal skills in order

to do it effectively.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

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