Good project management skills are essential to help students bring group projects and assignments to completion. It involves having strong organisation, communication and planning skills, which are important to see a project through from start to finish.
As students are equipped with project management skills in school, they will be able to use these same skills in the workplace when they become professionals as well. With tons of practice handling school projects, you will sharpen your communication skills, which can be key in building a good working relationship with different stakeholders in the future.
Adaptability, communication and time management are all part of the skills needed for effective project management, but other key project management skills that you should possess before you enter the workforce post-graduation include:
- Planning and forecasting
- Tracking and monitoring
- Meeting facilitation
- Subject matter expertise
- Leadership
- Collaboration
- Problem-solving
Read on to find out how you can improve your project management skills as a student at PSB Academy.
1. Plan Project Timelines
A good way to improve time management skills would be to make project timeline planning a habit whenever you start on a new project for school. This encompasses scheduling milestones and deadlines for the group when mapping out the project timeline to ensure that each task gets checked off the to-do list efficiently.
A good way to start on the timeline would be to discuss with your groupmates the time needed to complete a specific part of the project. This can include research, coming up with topics, design, etc. An open discussion with your groupmates will ensure that everyone in the group is comfortable with all the deadlines and their job scopes. You can continue to hone this skill by doing timeline planning for your own personal projects as well.
2. Take Initiative to Plan Meetings
Meeting facilitation is one of the fundamental tasks that the project manager usually undertakes in the workplace. Start practising this skill by taking the initiative to schedule meetings, briefings or presentation rehearsals ahead of time for your group. You can also create an agenda before hosting each meeting to ensure that each meeting is productive and helps to move your project forward. Meeting agendas can include status updates of certain tasks, project wrap-ups or a briefing before starting on a specific task.
As a meeting facilitator, you can even go the extra mile to send out a brief recap of the meeting on the group chat to ensure that everyone is on the same page for upcoming deadlines.
3. Don’t Work Alone, Work Together
Teamwork is highly important in the workplace, what better way is there to learn how to work with your peers than in small groups for school assignments? As a project manager, you will have to learn how to manage a team with different expertise and personality types. It is not only your job to ensure that your team is able to complete the assignment on time, it is also important to ensure that your team members work well together to make the project a success.
Regularly asking the team for feedback about their challenges and frustrations during meetings can help you with structuring the team and task allocation as you will be able to identify the strengths of each team member. Real-time collaboration tools such as Google Docs can also help to increase transparency and align goals.
Hone Your Project Management Skills at PSB Academy Today
Here at PSB Academy, we encourage all students to take a hands-on approach to their learning and especially so when it comes to group projects. Enrol now to find out how we can help our students hone their leadership and project management skills now.
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