Google Project Management: Professional Certificate is a 6-month intensive hands-on program with over 100 practical tests to imitate real-world scenarios that resulted in two applied learning projects from start to finish. This program includes over 140 hours of instruction and hundreds of practice-based assessments which will help you simulate real-world project management scenarios that are critical for success in the workplace. The content is highly interactive and exclusively developed by Google employees with decades of experience in program and project management.
The Specialization consist of 6 courses to finish which are;
Foundations of Project Management
Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project
Project Planning: Putting It All Together
Project Execution: Running the Project
Agile Project Management
Capstone: Applying Project Management in the Real World
As of May 2022, I have finished all the courses and obtained the Professional Certificate. And I am glad to share that I managed to finish the 6 month courses in just approximately 1 month! This surely was not easy because I had to fully commit to this course. However, thanks to the vibrant content and fun learning journey that Google prepared for this course, I could say I really enjoy the course!
Throughout the course, I explored the foundations of project management and how to start, plan and execute a project. I learned a variety of approached and studied different methodologies, such as waterfall, Agile, Lean six, and hybrid. Apart from that, I also learned about stakeholder management, team management, and much more soft skills that a good project manager should have. I also worked through different interesting exercises and tools that I have never known before. I got to learn how to create Project Charter, SoW (Statement of Work), WBS (Work breakdown structure), RACI Charts, Power Grid, Project Plan, Project Roadmap, Budgeting, and also Project Management Tools by Google which is Asana.
Below are some examples of work that I completed during the courses;
SoW (Statement of Work)
It is a document that clearly lays out the products and services a vendor will provide to the organization.
Work breakdown structure (WBS)
RACI Charts and Power Grid (Stakeholder Analysis)
Throughout the courses, I also learned deeper on how to create SMART goals and Scope Triangle Constraints. Personally, I think that these parts are the most important things in this course.
Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goals are very helpful for ensuring project success.
Specific
The objective has no ambiguity for the project team to misinterpret.
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bound
Example: Office Green will raise their overall customer retention rate by 10% by the end of the year by implementing a new Operations & Training plan for the Plant Pals service
Why constructing SMART goals is important?
Identifying meaningful metrics can help move the project toward its goal. Additionally, by defining each element of a project goal to make it SMART, you can determine what success means for that goal and how to achieve it.
Scope Triangle Constraint
To manage scope and control scope creep, project managers might use the triple constraint model. It can be a helpful tool for negotiating priorities and weighing trade-offs.
The most popular model puts "quality" at the triangle's core. This is just to demonstrate that the scope, budget, and time spent on a project determine its quality. The notion is that if one side of the triangle is changed, the other sides must adjust in order to maintain a consistent level of quality. The Triple Constraint is particularly useful in client engagements, both when deciding the scope of a project and when dealing with Change Requests as they arise.
Furthermore, I learnt how to set quality management standards, illustrate the project's impact through effective reporting, and determine what team should take on the next project through evaluation reports.
During the course, I focused on a project called "Plant Pals" as the material for the exercises and hands-on projects. The samples of work can be found here.
At the end of the course, I had the opportunity to use what I had learned in a capstone project that involved installing table-top tablets at two locations to help a small restaurant chain named Sauce and Spoon reach their annual growth and expansion goals. This project helped me understand when and how to communicate in a variety of difficult situations. The portfolio for this project can be found here.
Overall, I really enjoyed the course journey. All of the challenges, knowledge, insights, and everything in between that this course provided has allowed me to understand project management better.
It has been a pleasure to deep dive into project management from the experts and through an interactive learning platform.
Off to my next learning journey! Wish me luck!
Cheers,
Dinda
You can find my certifications here.
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