PMcrunch

We all want to learn more and indeed “speed learning” is a requirement in today’s fast paced world. I recently heard an interesting quote from an entrepreneur who said that he looks it what he has learned as an entrepreneur and he realized that he already been taught that in business school but he wasn’t paying attention.

 Well that entrepreneur found a humorous side to his experience. It sparken me the idea that this is further proof that education needs to be in some way experience based. What I mean by that is not necessarily that we can only learn by experience, but by that we must attach any new learning to past experiences. We must draw connections between what we know and we are learning.

 When we learn we are reading a web of knowledge. We often learn anecdotally through small experiences where our mind collects data and draws conclusions by connecting that data together in some sort of logical way.  The connecting of that data is something that we can do proactively.

 Here are few ways that we can learn proactively particularly in the subject of project management.

1. As we learn new concepts in project management, think back on past experience on project where things might have been done differently had you known these concepts. This will connect the new concepts to your experience.

2. Apply new concepts immediately. Often times what we are learning has direct application on what we are doing. If we’re working in some aspect of project management there’s no reason we can not apply new concepts related to scheduling, building work break down schedules, working with stake holders, identifying risks and more.

3. Create a project of our own. As we are learning new concepts we may not have a direct application either via past experience or current problems that will enable us to immediately apply a new concept. Sometimes it behooves us to actually create a project where we now can apply those concepts. This type of pro-activity can really separate us from the crowd. This approach has a double benefit; not only where we firm up the concepts in our minds by connecting them through experiences but we will also differentiate ourselves as visionaries and creators.

4. Imagine a project. Many times we come on to a project when the project has already been established. Many of the issues that we have with projects pertain to how they where established and in particular a project initiation process which may have been less than optimal. Potential projects abound around us and really only a few of them are actually implemented. As we learn and build stronger project management skills we can practice supplying them “virtually” by imagining projects that may never actually take place but we can think through how we would initiate them and put them together.

Learning project management is challenging especially if we do not relate it to our won experiences. Given that part of the benefit of becoming certified in project management is that we learn to take a more holistic view. It only behooves us to try to attach the new concepts we are learning to new experiences and we need to be creative in-order to that. If we do that we will not have to wait until the day when we actually experience each thing that we are learning and perhaps even forget what it was we have learned in the process.

John Reiling, PMP
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