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How Can Project Management Help Me? Is It Worth It?

Dr. Angela Trego, PE, PMP provides some insight into why it’s worth gaining a bit of knowledge in project management and how it can help you become a rock star—whether at home or at work—using these skills. And while she doesn’t have experience as a rock star, she is a rocket scientist, which, let’s be honest…is cooler anyway!
How Can Project Management Help Me? Is It Worth It?
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How Can Project Management Help Me? Is It Worth It?

Imagine you work as a mechanical engineer for a $2 billion company. You are called into the CTO’s office and told that they want you to oversee the implementation of the newly designed bionic prosthetics into two manufacturing facilities located in the southern part of Shanghai, China. What will you do? How will you coordinate the work of the people both here in the US and China?

Imagine that you work for a civil and environmental engineering company. You get a call from a good friend who works for the State of Utah. She informs you your company has won the contract to install the deep foundation high-capacity piers and piles to bring the Utah State Capitol Building up to earthquake codes, as part of the Utah State Capitol Renovation project. What will you do? How will you ensure that you will be successful?

What if you knew that there was a powerful set of tools that would improve your abilities to plan, implement, and manage activities in such a way as to increase the accomplishment of specific organizational objectives? Well, there is. That set of tools is called project management! So, this is a great time to be taking a course on project management.

Project management is more than just a set of tools; it is way of thinking about work and creating value, and a results-oriented management style. One of the principal means by which we successfully change our world involves defining desirable goals, planning carefully, pulling together the right people, in the right places, at the right times, and proceeding systematically toward achieving those goals until we succeed in reaching them.

I have decades of experience as a project manager in technical organizations.  With my background in mechanical engineering, I’ve lead projects as small as planting my garden at home, to million-dollar space projects and everything in between.  I’ve used project management in my humanitarian effort supporting learning in remote villages of Ghana.  Learning fundamental project management skills has helped me, my group, and my organization be more successful.  And, as can be seen from my life’s experiences, it doesn’t just have to be at work or in engineering!

Dr. Angela Trego_Project Manager

The overall objective in SWE’s Project Management eLearning Course is to help you understand fundamental project management good practices that have been identified from many decades of practice and research, and to help you gain some knowledge and skill in the use of those practices to make your projects as successful as they can be. In the project management course, you will learn skills you can immediately use in the specific areas of initiating a project using a project charter, developing budget and tracking that budget using earned value management and performing and tracking risks through risk management. Each course, while they can sit by themselves, as a whole, supports the critical tools you will need to be successful in an easily digestible format and immediately use.  Ultimately, I want you to reach your full potential, whether as an engineer, manager, or individual.  These skills will help you do just that!


About SWE’s Project Management eLearning Course:

Designed to be both highly interactive and self-directed, SWE’s new 4-part eLearning Project Management course designed by an engineer, for engineers to help build foundational and tangible project management skills—at your own pace. It’ll also earn you credit: each course is worth 0.1 CEUs, for a series total of 0.4 CEUs.

  • Part 1: Project Management Overview
    • Define projects, project management and the role of a project manager
    • Recognize how project management processes can influence and impact teams
    • Define the key process groups of a project lifecycle.
  • Part 2: Project Charters
    • Identify the need for a project charter
    • Outline how to create a SWOT analysis
    • Identify key components of a project charter
    • Identify the steps to create a project charter document
  • Part 3: Risk Management
    • Identify the need for risk management
    • Define the key steps in risk management
    • Identify techniques and tools to perform various risk management planning
  • Part 4: Earned Value Management Systems
    • Complete the seven Earned Value Management formulas reviewed in this course
    • Discuss what these seven formulas can tell you about the state of a project
    • Practice an Earned Value Analysis
What will you be able to do after completing this series?

While part one gives you a general overview of project management, the remainder of the interactive eLearning modules gives you tangible skills and a thorough understanding of project management tools, resulting in a strong project management foundation and confidence in your project management capabilities.

Learn more and register here.

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This course is based upon work partially supported by the generosity of  Cummins.


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Author

  • Dr. Angela Trego, PE, PMP, FHEA

    Dr. Angela Trego, PE, PMP improves technical organization's ability to retain employees and increase diversity to unlock their unlimited potential. As a highly successful engineer, Angela held technical and senior leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies before focusing on her passion of empowering others. An award-winning teacher, Dr. Trego serves on several technical and non-profit executive boards. Applying a strong technical background with leadership experiences around the globe and across multiple industries gives Angela a unique perspective on technical soft skills and women in STEM. Above all, Angela is passionate about empowering others and teaching skills which will allow others to reach their full potential. Additional information can be found on her website at www.angelatrego.com.

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