Why I think everyone should be trained in basic project management

Well, I would suggest that everyone be trained in project management, wouldn't I? I mean I wrote a book on it, and run training courses for newbies so, of course I'm going to suggest this.😂😂😂

But hear me out...

Everyone I speak to about their job is feeling stressed, overwhelmed or overworked. Everyone.

Every organisation is going through change, restructures, introducing new technology, new products, do it faster, use artificial intelligence, use this new tool…oh, yes and keep doing your new job at the same pace, or faster, than before. Change isn´t going away it´s only going to get more intense.

And quite often I see people being pulled into project work to act as Subject Matter Experts and they haven´t got a clue what´s going on. They are there to help document current processes, input to new processes, test new systems and processes, test training and help to train others in the new process. They go to project team meetings, sometimes they are asked to fill out status reports and complete RAID logs. And, yes, on top of that they also have to carry on with their day job.

They usually have no idea how to do any of that, or even what's going on because they haven't worked on a project before, and they haven't had any training.

And so they go to their boss for help. And the boss also has her day job of running the team, dealing with escalated customer issues, reporting to the big bosses and generally keeping things going.

She doesn't have the answers for the team. Because she has never worked on a project before, and she hasn't had any training.

Now, let´s imagine that there are at least 10 other middle managers in the same situation as her across the organisation. They are providing their team members to support projects and nobody knows what´s going on, how projects work or what to expect.

Let's multiply that by the number of organisations that are going through major change.

Oh, right, yes, that would be every organisation, everywhere at the moment!

It´s a huge problem, and companies really need to think about training their people in the basics of project management before throwing them to the wolves.

Not only will they be less stressed and do a better job, they will be less likely to throw in the towel and walk away.

And the project will have a much better chance of success.

You don't need to go on a training course to learn how projects work and understand the jargon. My introductory book is easy to read and funny. Start with that. 

Buy "I Would Rather Eat a Cactus than...Run a Project".