Best Project Management Training Resources for 2020
How important is project management training for your career?
Keeping up with project workloads demands constant improvement. PMI’s 2018 Pulse of the Profession Report compared the education of underperformers to that of champions. The latter are seen as masters when it comes to project management practices and can handle all kinds of projects successfully regardless of their complexity or time constraint.
Meanwhile, underperformers have lower success rates (32% compared to 92% for champions), waste more money, and can’t handle unexpected project situations as efficiently.
The report revealed the project champions’ level of education was also significantly higher than that of underperformers. 77% of champions had undergone a formal process to improve their project management abilities, while only 19% of underperformers did so. This shows that successful project managers made significantly better and more investments when it came to their education.
And since project success can only be cultivated in time, we had a look at both paid and free project management training opportunities you can benefit from and picked only the best ones out there.
Here are the results you can check out:
- Official Project Management Training
- Project Management Training Seminars, Conferences, And Other Events
- Project Management Training Webinars
- Free Project Management Training
Official Project Management Training
The best way to ensure you’re getting accurate project management training from an official institution is, well… to take one from an accredited institution.
Official training providers get their accreditation from an official leading project management institution like PMI® or APM®. These courses offer widely-recognized certificates that all project management practitioners can get to prove their knowledge of this field.
On the other hand, non-official project management training is offered by companies and trainers who don’t have this accreditation. While their content might be the same as that of official training sessions, these courses haven’t been checked by any official institution and might lack compliance when it comes to their organization, learning materials, or certificates.
To help you pick worthwhile project management training opportunities, we took a look at what former students had to say about them on Quora, LinkedIn, and Twitter and divided their opinions into pros and cons.
Here’s the list of such project management training possibilities you can consider:
PMI® Courses — The Project Management Institute
The Project Management Institute offers hundreds of online project management courses suited for all levels of expertise from project management beginners to advanced practitioners. You can find their courses in several different languages (e.g. English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and more).
All of these project management training opportunities offer Professional Development Units (PDUs) and Continuing Education Units (CEUs) that help you maintain your Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
Currently, some of the most popular project management training opportunities on PMI® are:
- The Complete Agile Project Manager (9-course series)
- Introduction to Project Management
- Project Management Basics — An Official PMI Online Course
- Introduction to Agile
- Talent Triangle Bundle
Required level: Depends on the course
Cost: Depends on the course (costs are lower for PMI® members)
Pros:
- There are courses for all project managers, regardless of their experience
- It’s a useful way of getting PDUs and CEUs
- Outstanding course materials and tools
- Courses are available online so you can study at your own pace
Cons:
- Courses are more expensive for non-PMI® members
Where can you take the courses:
- These courses are entirely available online and allow you to study at your own pace.
PRINCE2 Certification Courses — ILX Group
The PRojects IN Controlled Environments (PRINCE2) project management method offers clear control over project resources, increased risk management, defined team duties, emphasis on the final user and product, consistent reviews of the project’s cycles, and better planning organization.
The courses and certifications they offer change every once in a while but there are 2 main paths you can follow at all times:
- PRINCE2® Foundation — proves basic knowledge of the method
- PRINCE2® Practitioner — demonstrates if the candidate can use PRINCE2 in real-life project situations
Required level: Intermediate
Cost: Prices change occasionally and vary from one course to another
Pros:
- Can add more value to your resume when you’re looking for a new project management position
- Provides fundamental knowledge of the PRINCE2 method
- The PRINCE2® Foundation certification never expires
- Trainers can offer consultancy as they have experience with real projects
- Support is provided before, during, and after the certification training
- Easy to book and you’ll receive the pre-course materials in no time
- Excellent course materials that students can later reference
Cons:
- Can be costly
- The PRINCE2® Practitioner certification expires after 5 years
- You can’t start the PRINCE2® Practitioner course without having gained the PRINCE2® Foundation certification
- Some trainers might lack teaching experience and not be as effective when explaining the course’s content
Where can you take the courses:
- The courses are available online (study at your own pace without a tutor), virtually (you get to interact with instructors as well but are restricted to attending classes at a specific time), or face-to-face at a specific location.
Scrum Courses — Scrum.org
Scrum is an Agile framework that is usually used for product or software development. This framework divides work into a series of sprints that usually last for about 2 weeks (depending on team and company). Daily (or weekly) stand-up meetings are held for the team to review what has been done so far, what’s next, and what problems they encountered.
Scrum.org offers comprehensive training, assessments, and certifications to improve product and software development based on Scrum and the Agile Manifesto principles. The courses offered are:
- Professional Scrum Foundationsâ„¢
- Professional Scrum Masterâ„¢
- Professional Scrum Master IIâ„¢
- Professional Scrum Product Ownerâ„¢
- Professional Scrum Developerâ„¢
- Scaled Professional Scrumâ„¢ with Nexus
- Professional Scrum With Kanbanâ„¢
- Professional Agile Leadershipâ„¢ Essentials
Required level: Intermediate
Cost: Available upon demand, depending on each trainer or educational organization
Pros:
- Can deepen your understanding of the Scrum framework and help you use the knowledge on real project challenges
- Can be an opportunity for you to find a mentor and make connections in the industry
- No need to take a course in order to sit your certification exam
Cons:
- Not available in all locations
- Check out the value you get for the money you pay before you decide on a course as some courses might be too introductory in nature
- Can be costly
- Some certificates require renewal
- Learning Scrum via a course might not be as effective as learning it in practice in a real team environment
Note:
Many former students believe that taking a Scrum course is only beneficial for beginners. Experienced practitioners, on the other hand, won’t find them as valuable since most tackle topics they’re already familiar with and don’t prepare you for all possible real-life project scenarios.
Where can you take the courses:
- Find a public class near you (prices vary).
- Find a Scrum trainer for a private training lesson.
Tip:
You can also try their Open Assessments section to test your knowledge of Scrum. The tests are free but offer no certificate.
