Project Management Knowledgebase

The American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) is a non-profit association for workplace learning and performance professionals. They describe this certification program as "...presents concrete steps to improve your project management skills. Participants will learn to manage the critical project management role helping deliver learning and performance solutions that better support their business goals."

The very cool IDEO methodology Kenny mentioned in a discussion during our course: It is a mindset Design Thinking is the confidence that everyone can be part of creating a more desirable future, and a process to take action when faced with a difficult challenge. That kind of optimism is well needed in education.

Resources on the use of ROI and metrics in eLearning.

Quick breakdown with links to more detail

Tons of Agile & Scrum Project Management info

This is a pretty accessible, concise outline for using ADDIE for project management in ID. I find it interesting because there is criticism that ADDIE is not adequate for project management, but I am still not entirely sure why. This adaptation looks pretty sound.

Weird but kind of amusing blog about PM issues and reviews of current trends (like this one: http://eight2late.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/motivation-in-project-management/)

BrightHubPM.com covers all aspects of project management, from introductory articles on the basics, to in-depth articles on strategic planning. Experienced project managers share what's worked and what hasn't, as well as provide objective reviews of PM tools, both OEM and open source. Follow us online or open a discussion in the comments.

An organization focused on helping individuals grow their PM skills - offering learning opportunities, professional development, networking, resources, certification and other related items.

Site with blogs on numerous interesting topics. Here's one blogger's tips on project management.

This site has a lot of great media resources. It includes two podcasts (a PM 101 for beginners and a more advanced one) which both have multiple casts. It also includes Google Hangouts that the host has put together, which speak to many topics related to Project Management. The Hangout pages include videos of the sessions, and suggested websites and books that came up during the videos. This is a great way to listen to experienced PMs and benefit from their list of recommended resources. An added bonus is that the site itself recommends related content and postings at the bottoms of pages, so you can easily browse around for information that interests you.

This is a pretty neat concept. Have you used it much? I would be interested in hearing some first hand feedback - but maybe I'll check it out and then we can discuss further!

Melissa, thanks for sharing I like the approach to search for resources that suits your specific needs.

I was researching information on writing an effective business case when I came across this blog. It's written by a practicing PM, which makes it interesting to me because I'm not officially a PM. The author's posts cover a variety of topics that are informative and interesting, and she gives a lot of helpful tips about project management. I especially like how she tags her articles and gives them simple titles, which makes it easy to skim over the pages and find something that piques your interest. Also, the articles are a good length for quick information-gathering.

OneNote is a great product from Microsoft, and it's basically a digital series of binders that you can create and customize. You can create and label binders, sections, and individual pages. You can add notes, checklists, links to web pages, embed documents...almost anything you find can be placed there. The two most beneficial features: everything you put there can be made searchable, and your binders are sharable via SkyDrive (Microsoft's cloud) and by emailed link. A project manager could use this for anything from their own simple notes to an official file of collaborative information about a project! View a demo at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote-help/demo-what-is-onenote-HA010168634.aspx.

I use OneNote all the time and wonder how I managed without it! I tried Evernote, but the bugs finally drove me away and then I discovered OneNote. I don't know why Microsoft doesn't promote it better... it's a great tool!

I am also a big fan of OneNote. I use it a lot to share information with other teachers.

If you want a way to make the most beautiful Gantt charts you've ever seen... use Smart sheet. It's not free, but there is a free trial. I wanted to make a one page Gantt chart, that was vertical rather than horizontal, and I didn't want to pay money or download open project, and smart sheet came to the rescue. It does have more features, like assigning tasks to your team members... but I really only used it to make the Gantt chart of my dreams.

Teambox is an online tool for project management. It's free for up to 5 members on a team, so it's great for small projects. I love apps and websites that help keep me organized, so I am all over Teambox. The downside is that currently there isn't a gantt chart function, but It looks like they may release one in the next update.

This is a pretty neat tool I came across the other day. It's called Quizlet, and it lets you create flashcards and other games... for Free! I like it because you could use it to send out some pre pr post training materials, (acronyms, terms, ect.)

This is great! I use Brainscape.com to put in flashcards for my Spanish students. There is an app in the app store that pairs with it called "Flashcardlet" so that you can do flashcards on your mobile. I don't know if there is android app for it, but I'm sure there is.

Thiscourseprovidesanoverviewofprojectmanagement, includingtheprojectlifecycleandprojectcontrol documents.

This site offers a nice succinct, streamlined, one page PM process break down; summarized in a flow chart with links to each individual stage of the process. It also has additional links for PM books, services, and templates. A useful link for getting people started in PM.

Wow, John, what a find! I wish I had this a few months ago when we started this course. I've been looking for a simple visual that still manages to encompass most of the detail that goes into the project process. I love the printable color-coded version (http://www.consulting.ky/files/project_management_process_diagram_large.jpg). I plan on hanging that up in my office. I could also print a copy for each project, and use it as a sort of checklist. The other things I love about the site is that it lists specific deliverables for each stage. Love it! It's definitely more usable than the visuals in our Carroll book, since it's more detailed.

Thanks, this looks to be an excellent resource, and it has that guy on the side that looks at your pointer.

This is a link for the University of Michigan Project Management Methodology - designed for use in managing the Information and Technology Services (ITS) projects. This site has several document templates with column descriptions to help with comprehension of different steps for managing projects. It has a nice excel template for project deliverables for people who need a little help getting the ball rolling in excel.

Shirky: "When ecosystems change and inflexible institutions collapse...." Article giving a broader perspective to our readings about - the new organizational model