Conrad van Niekerk on Project Management Concepts
As an independent consultant, Conrad did the online Project Management Concepts course along with a team in his client company. We asked him about his experience.
What Project Management insights that you gained during the course have been most useful to you?
The course contents provides confirmation of many aspects I found lacking in the project managing environments I found myself in, most of all being the fact that the project manager should stay away from performing the technical tasks, even though he/she may have the knowledge to do these tasks. Also, the fact that top management is responsible for making sure the company has a project management strategy is something that sounds so obvious, especially now that the course material confirmed it. Overall though, the course content for me is like a lot of study fields out there — it makes a lot of sense, but now one can trust it because the experts told me about it after they found the solutions to the problems most of us face in the project management space 😉
Have your writing skills improved as a result of the course? If so, in what way?
I don’t think so. Well one thing that was really refreshing is the official manner in which a document should be set up, like the List of Terms document we were exposed to — Revision control and clear references makes this a very professional and useful document.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how comfortable were you with reading basic schedule information* before the course and by the end of the course?
5 before and 10 by the end.
* Schedule information refers to plans drawn up in project scheduling software such as Microsoft Project, using the Critical Path Method (employing a network diagram), and Gantt charts.
What advice do you have for others to prepare for the exam?
Relax — the course content and practice exams covers it all! Well enough of it…
How would you describe your overall experience of the Project Management Concepts course?
This topic was actually discussed a few times between some of our team members — I think it could have been condensed a bit, especially considering that most of us have pressing work matters. One thing that I really hated was having to wait a few hours after failing a test before being allowed to attempt it again. I did not always see the benefit to wait a few hours after failing the test at 20h00 😉
How did this course and method of learning differ from other formal studies which you’ve done (or which you’re doing right now)?
The stepped approach really helps to ensure one does not get left behind.
At only R3,910, Project Management Concepts is a unique gateway to personal growth in the world of Project Management. Find out more.
