Course overview
Description generated based on course syllabus and open data.
This course presents Project Management Fundamentals through a clear 12‑step APM/PMP/PMI process suitable for projects of any scale. Focus areas include planning, schedule and budget tracking, communications, and risks without relying on complex software.
Who Project Management Fundamentals fits and who it doesn’t
Who benefits from project management
- Beginners needing a structured step-by-step scheme without excessive jargon.
- Professionals from other domains (marketing, IT, operations) taking on project oversight.
- Leads of small teams who require reliable schedules, budgets, and transparent reporting.
- Those who prefer building PERT and Gantt charts with Excel and Post‑it notes.
Who may not benefit from this project management format
- Those seeking deep, exam-focused training strictly in PRINCE2 or niche certifications.
- Those expecting full automation in specialized software without manual planning.
Project management problems → structured process outcomes
- Vague goals → project charter, success criteria, responsibility matrix.
- Schedule slippage → network planning (PERT), critical path, buffers.
- Budget overruns → baselines, variance tracking, corrective actions.
- Chaotic communications → communication plan, stakeholder map.
- Unmanaged risks → risk register, assessment and responses.
- Uncontrolled changes → change control workflow and decision logs.
Comparison with project management alternatives
- PRINCE2/Agile families: comprehensive but often heavy to start; here the focus is on essential steps and minimal viable artifacts.
- Specialized software: valuable for large programs; here — practical tools (Excel, Post‑it) for quick modeling and visualization.
- Ad‑hoc execution: flexible yet risky; here — a 12‑step APM/PMP/PMI process with clear roles, artifacts, and checkpoints.
What is practiced in Project Management Fundamentals
- Project charter, scope breakdown (WBS), RACI matrix.
- PERT: network build, duration estimates, critical path.
- Gantt in Excel: dependencies, baselines, progress control.
- Budget plan: cost items, variance tracking, adjustments.
- Risks: identification, prioritization, responses and monitoring.
- Communications and stakeholders: channels, cadence, expectations.
- Change control: initiation, impact assessment, approvals.
- Performance indicators (KPIs) and lessons learned.
Course Description
Project Management is an incredibly powerful skill, and pretty much everything in the world relies on it! The Olympics, developing a new disease cure, putting a man on the moon, launching a new product range, or even just planning a birthday party - if you can master Project Management you can lead any project of any size with the same simple process. However, amazingly, most people are never taught it, and those who are will often be shown an overcomplicated and overwhelming version with confusing software and detailed maths. Instead, in this course, you’ll be walked through step by step on how to simply and effectively manage any project, in any industry, with any budget.
The Project Management process taught in this Project Management Fundamentals course is the APM (aka PMP or PMI) method. It’s based on decades of academic research and is widely accepted as the ultimate Project Management solution. The difference with this course is that it’s a live work-along version - so we will plan a real-life project together and show you how simple and effective the tools are. You’ll learn how to make a PERT diagram with Post-it notes, and a Gantt Chart using only Excel. Say goodbye to overcomplicated Prince2 or Agile, and enjoy the simplicity of this 12 Step Process.
After this course, you will feel calm, collected, well prepared and confident that your project will be a success. You’ll know how to come in on time, on budget, and with a very happy boss. We look at lots of real-life project management examples (some of which will definitely get you laughing) and give you practical tools you can use right away to get better results in your projects. Whether you're managing a small at-home project or an entire global corporate expansion this course will empower you as someone who is always one step ahead.
