The Best Free Project Management Resources

Published in

Azendoo Team

9 min readJun 28, 2016

The numbers don’t lie: Managing complicated projects is a tough task. According to a study by led by McKinsey & Company in conjunction with the University of Oxford, a total of 45% of projects run over budget, 7% run late, and a whopping 56% of projects fail to meet initial expectations.

It’s clear there are a right way and a wrong way to do things. Understanding what’s at stake and choosing the right way is all about employing the proper methodology through organizing, planning, and prioritizing.

Luckily there are plenty of free project management resources out there that can assist you in moving assignments in the right direction AND arriving ahead of schedule.

We’ve narrowed down some of the absolute BEST free project management resources available on the web to help you every step of the way. Take full advantage of the best free resources and tips to tackle the most pressing assignments first. This way, if a client or another stakeholder happens to pop in for an update, you will able to present the most important results well ahead of schedule.

But let’s take a step back for a moment. What exactly is effective project management?

How to define effective project management

Project management — the successful outcome of these words mean different things for different people. Effective project management could lead to something as massive as building a new bridge or as intricate as bringing a new product to market.

Regardless of the end result, effective project management almost always involves:

Maximizing team output and efficiency
Leveraging unique knowledge, skills, and techniques
Planning and initiating predetermined goals
Completing all tasks within a given timeframe and budget

As is true with most important things, successful project management is much easier to envision as a bulleted list than it is to deliver in reality. Let’s dive in to find the best free online courses, websites and blogs, books, podcasts and expert advice for all your project management needs.

The best free project management online courses

The Internet provides a vast resource for both paid and unpaid project management information that can rival many formal education programs.

While you may have to forgo the opportunity to network and attend social events associated with traditional classes, online open access courseware and journal publications provide an incredible project management resource, and the best part is — many are available for you to access and download completely free.

Some noteworthy free resources for courseware include:

ALISON: Offering “free certified learning”, this database of great project management courses is perfect for beginners and more experienced professionals alike:

Udemy: This online learning marketplace has enough free and paid content to learn virtually ANYTHING. Including project management…

MIT Open Courseware: A free and open publication of material from thousands of MIT courses, covering the entire MIT curriculum and used by millions of learners and educators around the world. It provides free project management content worth considering:

Peer-reviewed project management publications

Aside from certified courseware, peer-reviewed journal publications offer some of the best resources for credible information. For those looking for more advanced content, check out the following online free databases:

Engineering, Project, and Production Management — This resource covers advanced cross-disciplinary topics related to engineering management, project management, and production management.

Project, Program, and Portfolio Management — This resource provides access to peer-reviewed articles, which specifically cover the different aspects of project portfolio management.

Great project management websites and blogs

Traditional websites are another common and easy way to find updates, articles, and helpful information related to project management.

Feel free to find out more about the owner of each website and look for a way to keep up with them. Social media is a great resource from which to find and receive regular information (more on that later).

Here are some worth checking out:

Projects At Work — Offers a “community” of expert-level advice on practically all things project management-related.
Project Times — Serves the project management community by offering a comprehensive database of articles, blogs, webinars and more.
The 4-Hour Work Week — For those looking to implement unconventional tactics, maximize productivity, and get things done!
Dummies.com — Provides an online database for learning ANYTHING. You are sure to find access to great, easy to digest articles on project management topics.

Aside from traditional websites, blogs are another hugely popular resource to digest great information from a first-person perspective:

FearNoProject — Updated by blog owner and project management expert, Bruce McGraw. FearNoProject serves as a platform for Bruce to share his thoughts on project management, technology, and organizational performance.
Leading Answers — Maintained by independent project manager expert, Mike Griffiths, This resource offers a complete suite of articles as well as tools for effective project management.

The leading project management communities

Need help to find an answer to an uncommon situation or problem? Communities are great for initiating dialogue with those who share similar interests and can provide insight not found elsewhere on the web. Find and connect with other project management professionals via the following online communities:

ProjectManagement.com: This is the community managed by the Project Manangement Institue, with thousands of PM professionals from various industries.
StackExchange: Offers a unique community for facilitating Q&A between project managers.
ALISON Community: Supplement ALISON’s free online training by meeting and greeting other like-minded people through the community

The best (next to) free project management books

When it comes to actual learning, books are a great alternative to website content primarily due to the overall depth of information provided. Though some books are better than others and not all are free, if you look hard enough you are sure to stumble across some unique and certainly relevant resources to meet your project management needs.

Whether you are hunting for best practices, wrestling with a current project, or hoping to take on a leadership role on the subject, the following books can currently be bought for around one cent (just add shipping and handling):

The most valuable project management podcasts

For those looking to be more productive while sitting in traffic or up their knowledge while having lunch, podcasts offer one of the most convenient resources for learning project management. Here are some of the industry’s top picks for those on the go:

People and Projects Podcast: Provides “interviews and insights” related to improving teamwork and tackling projects.
The Lazy Project Manager: Led by best-selling author, Peter Taylor, this podcast revolves around the ‘work smarter, not harder’ approaching to getting things done.
PM-Podcast: This resource offers a mix of valuable Podcasts and eBooks covering various topics on the industry.
Sensible Project Manager Podcast: This Podcast is backed by 15 year’s worth of experience, providing listeners with an “insider’s edge” into practical project management.
PM For The Masses: Hosted by Cesar Abeid, this podcast combines personal stories and stories from other industry experts to provide a comprehensive resource “for the masses.”

The best free eBooks and other ‘downloadables’

EBooks and other content made for download are great resources for many reasons. They are easily accessible, just save them to any personal computer or smartphone, plus they read just like a book. Some popular free choices for all of your PM needs include:

The most influential project management experts

Apart from devouring content from online courseware, blogs, books, and websites, the best way to learn is by actually following the experts. Many project manager gurus are a good resource because they’ve experienced success, and in turn offer advice through social media and other websites.

Here is a list of our select project management masters and how you can stay up to date on their latest tips, thoughts, and expertise:

Glen B. Alleman: Glen is a blogger focuses on performance-based project management.

Access his blog here: Herding Cats
Follow him on Twitter here: @galleman

Shim Marom: Shim is a project management professional consultant specializing in offering free thinking-style tips and advice.

Find his blog here: quantmleap
Follow him on Twitter here: @shim_marom

PMStudent: PMSudent is owned by Margaret Meloni, and stands to provide project management professionals with “PMP study advice that works”.

Find the PMStudent website and blog here: PMStudent
Follow the PMStudent on Twitter at: @pmstudent

Additionnal Project management influencers on Twitter:

You can find a Twitter list of all these Project Management influencers here.

What effective project management looks like — Putting it all together

Now that you have some of the best free project management resources at your disposal, it’s time to take action. As you spend time reviewing relevant information and following the experts, just remember:

Successful project management comes down to proper organization, planning, and prioritizing.

And the BEST way of ensuring success is to figure out what works and then focus on creating a repeatable system around it. Since the process of setting specific tasks and initiating the appropriate call to action involves a sequence of events, your strategy to arrive at the end objective should also include a sequence of events.

Generic 5-Step process you can use to outline your next assignment

Step 1: Initiate
Decide on the team’s goals. Is it realistic to assume these goals can be met? What resources do you have at your disposal?

Step 2: Plan
Outline and write down the overall strategy. Prioritize your work by defining a budget, setting a scheduled due date, and getting ready to take action!

Step 3: Launch
Get all systems ready to GO. Communicate with your team to assign tasks and divvy out responsibilities. Then bring all available resources to bear.

Step 4: Control and monitor
Once the project is well underway, it’s crucial to keep an eye out for things such as deviations from budget and current pace towards target. This is the time to self-correct and get back on track if and when needed.

Step 5: Close
The deadline has arrived. Were the results as accurate as intended? Was the client happy with end results? What could you have done better? This is the time for evaluation of the entire project.

Reading helpful project management content, studying top course material, and accepting outside professional advice related to the subject is great for building a foundation. And of course, it also helps to have a repeatable process to mimic each time you have a new assignment.

But neither all the best content in the world nor the most well-defined execution process is enough to guarantee your team’s success. What you also need is visibility. Visibility to share, track, and keep up with your team’s progress.