Study Group Meeting List
This page is dynamic. Every week or two we add the upcoming topic for the next Study Group Meetings. If you’re on the Project Management Concepts course, you’ll get an invitation in your mail.
2023 SPECIAL MIDYEAR MEETINGS
| Code | When | Topic |
| S-1 | Mon 29 May 19:00-20:00 | Personal growth & professional reputation |
| S-2 | Tue 30 May 19:00-20:00 | Scheduling (includes demo using Microsoft Project) |
| S-3 | Wed 31 May 19:00-20:00 | List of Terms |
| S-4 | Thu 1 Jun 19:00-20:00 | |
| S-5 | Fri 2 Jun 13:00-14:00 | |
| S-6 | Sun 4 Jun 16:00-17:00 | Personal growth & professional reputation |
| S-7 | Mon 5 Jun 19:00-20:00 | Scheduling (includes demo using Microsoft Project) |
| S-8 | Tue 6 Jun 19:00-20:00 | List of Terms |
| S-9 | Wed 7 Jun 19:00-20:00 | Exam preparation tips |
19:00-20:00 | ||
13:00-14:00 | ||
| S-12 | Mon 12 June 19:00-20:00 | Personal growth & professional reputation |
| S-13 | Tues 13 June 19:00-20:00 | Scheduling (includes demo using Microsoft Project) |
2023 MEETING 5: Scheduling terminology
Thursday 16 March 2023 16:00–17:00
The state of your List of Terms is one of the surest determinants of whether you’re ready for the Exam, or whether you need more preparation. Join us for a Study Group Meeting on scheduling terms, the words used when working with Network Diagrams and Gantt charts.
Recommended preparation
Keep your List of Terms handy to be able to ask questions about it. You are not obliged to share it during this meeting if you don’t feel ready.
2023 MEETING 4: List of Terms Checkup
Friday 10 March 2023 09:00–10:00
The state of your List of Terms is one of the surest determinants of whether you’re ready for the Exam, or whether you need more preparation. Join us for a talk-through of a List of Terms submitted by a participant who’s preparing for the Exam.
Recommended preparation
Keep your List of Terms handy to be able to ask questions about it, or mail it in before 17:00 on Thursday. You are not obliged to share it during this meeting if you don’t feel ready.
2023 MEETING 3: Scheduling basics
Thursday 23 February 2023 13:00–14:00
Friday 24 February 2023 13:00–14:00
We’ll be doing another live demonstration of scheduling using Microsoft Project. If you’d like to ask some questions about Gantt charts, network diagrams and using software for scheduling and resource planning, this is for you. There will be tips for responding to questions in Test Series 4 and 5.
Preparation
No preparation needed.
2023 MEETING 2: Scheduling basics and exam prep tips
Wednesday 15 February 2023 19:00–20:00
Thursday 16 February 2023 11:00–12:00
This meeting covers some of the basics for thise who missed the previous meeting. If you’re preparing for the exam, be sure to come too, as we’ll be giving out tips. Anyone is welcome, even if you’re just starting the course. It will give you an idea of what to expect later.
Preparation
If you’re nearing the exam, be sure to keep your List of Terms ready for the discussion.
2023 MEETING 1: Welcome back!
Monday 16 January 2023 19:00–20:00
Tuesday 17 January 2023 08:00–09:00
Wednesday 18 January 2023: 13:00-14:00
Tuesday 24 January 2023 19:00–20:00
Thursday 26 January 2023 13:00–14:00
Friday 27 January 2023: 09:00–10:00
This meeting is for everyone who has come back from a break, and several others have been invited too. We’ll be focusing on:
- How to build a List of Terms that helps you embed concepts in Project Management as you prepare for the exam and work beyond the course.
- Project scheduling basics: Why scheduling is central to every aspect of Project Management, and how this is done with network diagrams and Gantt charts (referring to real projects, and using Microsoft Project). These topics are covered in Test series 4 and 5.
In the following set of meetings, we will continue with scheduling in greater detail.
We recently received an encouraging message from Malose Chaba, who completed Project Management Concepts some time ago, having focused intensely on building his List of Terms. Malose is doing well in his career, and recently went on to attain an international credential in project Management.
2022 MEETING 5: Changing the questions
Sunday 15 May 2022 15:00–16:00
Wednesday 18 May 2022: 19:00-20:00
This Study Group Meeting works as exam preparation, and also as preparation for using the concepts in real life situations.
Essential preparation
During the course, you were sometimes asked to create questions of your own, based on the questions in a Formative Test. Copy and paste at least 8 of these questions which you created into a Word file (or some other file which you will share on the screen).
If you have not yet completed Test Series 1, you do not need to do this preparation.
2022 MEETING 4: Sensory profiles at work
Wednesday 30 March 2022 19:00–20:00
Sunday 3 April 2022 15:00–16:00
Do small sounds bother you when other people don’t seem to even notice them? Do you hate to work in an environment with nothing on the walls? Like detail tasks? Or hate such finecky things?
Some people have heard about personality profiles and strengths profiles, but many people haven’t heard about sensory profiles, a more important consideration for many of us in how we work and what works for us. We’ll explore this topic in some detail, so that you can learn to optimise your work and your workspace.
2022 MEETING 3: Ways to learn about myself
Wednesday 16 March 2022 19:00–20:00
Sunday 20 March 2022 15:00–16:00
In these sessions, we’ll be talking about ways you can learn to understand yourself (and others) better, from sensory and temperament profiling through to thinking through what matters to you using a personal manifesto as a basis for goals, and learning from your own actions. These topics will take us beyond these three sessions.
2022 MEETING 2: Creating a professional WBS
Sunday 27 February 2022 15:00–16:00
Wednesday 2 March 2022 19:00–20:00
A Work Breakdown Structure is a central component of project planning. We’ll work through some practicals using tasks from a real upcoming project. Here is the background information provided by the participant:
Programme overview
A programme where community members/stakeholders learn about collecting information, designing a change plan, and then present their change plan within ten weeks.
Key challenge
Giving stakeholders as much choice as possible, teaching them as much as possible and also the time constraints. Stakeholders all have full time time jobs and a lot going on in their lives right now. Project management team is… me. Pretty much. Working within bureaucracy, so loads of red tape.
Things to create
- Curriculum. We have one from last year that took place over 6 months.
- Data collection on efficacy of program need to create metrics, survey, etc.
- Set up presentation of change solutions — final event
Recommended Preparation
Learn more about creating a WBS here.
2022 MEETING 1: Setting your personal direction
Wednesday 12 January 2022 19:00–20:00
Sunday 16 January 2022 15:00–16:00
You may have felt afraid of making New Year’s Resolutions. Many of us don’t keep these self-imposed goals and rules, and just end up feeling guilty!
In this meeting we’ll begin to explore some of the reasons why many of us fail to reach the goals we set for ourselves and what we can do about that. This will help us to each set a direction more realistically and confidently.
Recommended Preparation
Watch a 5-minute video (such as this one or this one) about the 4 Quadrants of Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix, or read an article about it.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2022
Meetings will resume on Wednesday 12 January 2022 at these times (Johannesburg/Harare time):
Wednesdays 19:00-20:00
Sundays 15:00-16:00 (this is an hour earlier than in 2021)
In 2022 participants will start convening some of the meetings to get practice in scheduling a meeting, sending a link, allowing others into the room, and running the meeting. To some, this will not be a new thing, but to others, it will provide the opportunity to play host in a safe space.
Here are some of the new topics we’ll cover…
Personal goals
What do you want to achieve in 2022, and how can we support you?
Basics of administration and professional presentation
These are the things that no-one seems to teach you, but everyone seems to expect you to know! If you’re a boss who is frustrated that your employees don’t know these things, these sessions will help you too.
Principles, components and rules of Action Learning
In these sessions, we’ll learn the theory of how to use Action Learning as a meeting technique for addressing pressing and difficult project problems. In future sessions, we will use Action Learning to address a real problem raised by a Study Group Participant.
Recommended Preparation
Read about the benefits and components of Action Learning at the Web site of the World Institute of Action Learning.
PAST MEETINGS (2021)
MEETING 25: Obstacles to learning and studying
Wednesday 10 November 19:00–20:00
Sunday 14 November 16:00–17:00
In these sessions, we’ll discuss some of the things that hold us back, and how to address them.
Recommended Preparation
Jot down some of the things that you loved or hated about school.
MEETING 24: Key terms in conversation
Wednesday 3 November 19:00–20:00
Sunday 7 November 16:00–17:00
In the Exam, you may get questions which are phrased differently from the ones in the tests so far. This exercise will help you to prepare for that — and for the real world of Project Management meetings!
Recommended Preparation
Update your List if Terms and have it with you in the meeting.
MEETING 23: Reading scheduling diagrams
Wednesday 20 October 19:00–20:00
Sunday 24 October 16:00–17:00
By request, we’ll be looking at network diagrams and Gantt charts, and at the common ways of showing lead, lag, summary tasks, milestones and progress against a baseline.
Recommended Preparation
Watch these videos if you have passed Test Series 3.
MEETING 22: Clarifying key concepts
Wednesday 13 October 19:00–20:00
Sunday 17 October 16:00–17:00
By special request, we’re discussing the following topics:
- What is Product Based Planning?
- Scope isn’t that difficult to understand, but what on earth is “out of scope“?
- The Project Life Cycle: What is it, and what other life cycles intersect and overlap with it?
- Project Management standards and methodologies… what’s the difference? What examples are there?
MEETING 21: Informal quiz
Sunday 3 October 16:00–17:00
Wednesday 6 October 19:00–20:00
Participate in the informal quiz by sending your answers to the meeting leader privately, via chat, or simply remain in the audience while others have a go. We’ll discuss the questions and answers in their context.
MEETING 20: Concepts that could trip you up in the Exam
Sunday 26 September 16:00–17:00
No Wednesday meeting this week
No special preparation needed for this meeting!
MEETING 19: Getting your own professional Web site gowing
Wednesday 19 September 16:00–17:00
Sunday 22 September 19:00–20:00
In this meeting you will get an overall idea of what is involved in setting up a professional Web site with your own domain name, and editing it yourself. We’ll also chat about the benefits of a professional site.
Recommended Preparation
Find one or two professional Web sites of individuals or small businesses that you find impressive, and bookmark them so that you can show them to us.
MEETING 18: You decide
Wednesday 8 September 19:00–20:00
Sunday 12 September 16:00–17:00
You determine what this meeting should be about by sending in your request in advance. We’ll deal with as much as we can.
MEETING 17: Building your competency and reputation beyond the course
Wednesday 1 September 19:00–20:00
Sunday 5 September 16:00–17:00
This meeting continues with the theme of the previous week’s meetings.
Recommended Preparation
- Read the following articles:
7 Critical Skills for the Jobs of the Future
How to get into Project Management—and how we can help you - Find out what an ‘elevator pitch’ is, and prepare an elevator pitch to introduce yourself to the group. (The idea is to use your personal elevator pitch to introduce yourself to strangers when such opportunities arise.)
MEETING 16: Concepts that could trip you up in the Exam
Wednesday 25 August 19:00–20:00
Sunday 29 August 16:00–17:00
No special preparation needed for this meeting!
MEETING 15: Building your competency and reputation beyond the course
Wednesday 18 August 19:00–20:00
Sunday 22 August 16:00–17:00
So, you’re doing the Project Management Concepts course. What more should you do to get ahead in a Project Management career?
Recommended Preparation
Read the following articles:
- 7 Critical Skills for the Jobs of the Future
- How to get into Project Management—and how we can help you
MEETING 14: List of Terms—Update before the Exam
Wednesday 11 August 19:00–20:00
Sunday 15 August 16:00–17:00
We’ll discuss the List of Terms of a participant who is preparing to write his exam.
Recommended Preparation
- Update your own List of Terms and have it ready for the meeting.
MEETING 13: List of Terms—Update before the Exam
Sunday 1 August 16:00–17:00
Wednesday 4 August 19:00–20:00
We’ll discuss the List of Terms of a participant who is preparing to write his exam.
Recommended Preparation
- Update your own List of Terms and have it ready for the meeting.
MEETING 12: Background to our real project
Wednesday 21 July 19:00–20:00
Sunday 25 July 16:00–17:00
You can join either of these timeslots, or both.
This meeting is a continuation of what we started in Meeting 8. You are welcome to join it even if you didn’t attend Meeting 8.
Recommended Preparation
The following resources will help you understand the goals of our primary stakeholders, who are nonspeaking autistic children and adults. From time to time, some of these stakeholders will be present in our Study Group Meetings about their project.
- The Lost Ones, a blog post by Akha Khumalo. This post provides an understanding of the goal of our project.
- What I would have told my parents before I could communicate, a blog post by Nicolaas Paulsen. (Scroll to the bottom of that page for the English translation.) This post contextualises the message that Nicolaas would like to get out there to his friends’ parents, via our project.
- Zekwande Foundation Web site. Zekwande’s organisation can help us reach a wider audience, beyond Nicolaas’ immediate goal. This raises questions about the project’s scope. The Zekwande Foundation could also be approached to manage the funds for our project.
- Reframing “Severe” Autism, video by Damon Kirsebom. This video explains some of the typical struggles that Akha, Nicolaas, Zekwande and many other nonspeaking autistic people have, and why communication is hard for them.
- Overview of Spelling to Communicate. This video shows the method which Akha, Nicolaas and Zekwande use to develop purposeful motor skills for communication. (There are also other methods for addressing some of these challenges, but this is the only one available in South Africa.)
MEETING 11: Project Planning Concepts
This meeting is a repeat of Meeting 1.
Wednesday 14 July 19:00–20:00
Sunday 18 July 16:00–17:00
You can join either of these timeslots, or both.
In this meeting we deal with the concepts of Project Schedule Management —the PBS, WBS, Network Diagram, Gantt chart, and related terminology. The demonstration will be done using Microsoft Project, so we recommend that you use a computer rather than a mobile phone to join the meeting.
Recommended Preparation
If you haven’t reached Test Series 3 yet, study these articles.
If you’re near the end of the course, work through Test Series 3 and 4 again, including the videos and other resources.
MEETING 10: List of Terms—My approach
Sunday 11 July 16:00–16:45 ONLY
A participant will talk us through their approach to their List of Terms.
Recommended Preparation
- Update your own List of Terms and have it ready for the meeting.
MEETING 9: List of Terms—Update before the Exam
Wednesday 7 July 19:00–20:00 ONLY
A participant who is preparing to write the Exam on Friday will talk us through his List of Terms.
Recommended Preparation
- Update your own List of Terms and have it ready for the meeting.
MEETING 8: Preparing to start your own small project
Sunday 20 June 16:00–17:00
Wednesday 23 June 19:00–20:00
You can join either of these timeslots, or both.
This meeting is for you particularly if:
- you haven’t managed projects before and you want to get real project experience, or
- you haven’t worked in a formal Project Management environment before, and/or
- or you want to start piecing together what you’re learning in the course in a practical way.
Recommended Preparation
- Create the headings you think you’d need in a Project Initiation Document so that you cover the main areas needed to manage the project going forward.
MEETING 7: List of Terms—Terms which puzzle you
Wednesday 2 June 19:00–20:00
Sunday 6 June 16:00–17:00
You can join either of these timeslots, or both.
Tell us which terms in the course you find most difficult to grasp. We’ll talk through as many as we can in the alotted time.
Recommended Preparation
- Update your List of Terms and have it ready for the meeting.
MEETING 6: List of Terms—Practice
Wednesday 26 May 19:00–19:30
Sunday 30 May 16:00–17:00
You can join either of these timeslots, or both.
This is a meeting with a difference! We’ll be pretending that we’re in an actual project planning meeting, and we’ll use the terms from your List of Terms in conversation. You’ll imagine that you’re a roleplayer in the project. At any point, someone can ask you what you mean by a term, a bit like when someone calls your bluff in a card game. If you don’t know the answer, you can get someone else to answer it.
Recommended Preparation
- Update your List of Terms and have it ready for the meeting.
MEETING 5: List of Terms—Content
Sunday 16 May 16:00–17:00Wednesday 19 May 19:00–20:00
Sunday 23 May 16:00–17:00
You can join either of these timeslots, or both.
In this meeting we focus on the elements (term, explanation, sample sentence) of the List of Terms and their how to make them work for you. We also look at other possible helpful content.
Recommended Preparation
- Revise the instructions for creating your List of Terms.
- Go through your e-mail messages about the List of Terms.
- Open this article before joining the meeting.
MEETING 4: List of Terms—The basics
Sunday 9 May 16:00–16:30
Wednesday 12 May 19:00–19:30
You can join either of these timeslots, or both.
This is the first in a series of meetings devoted to building your List of Terms. A great List of Terms is key to exam preparation—as this feedback shows—and to using your Project Management learning beyond the course.
Recommended Preparation
- Read the articles tagged ‘List of Terms’.
- Google the terms termbase and glossary.
- Think of examples of situations where a list of terminology (such as a List of Terms, glossary of termbase) can be helpful in Project Management.
- Get your List of Terms up to date.
MEETING 3: Open Q&A
Sunday 2 May 16:00–17:00
Wednesday 5 May 19:00–20:00
You can join either of these timeslots, or both.
Note that this meeting is scheduled for a full hour.
Come to ask questions about anything that has come up in the course, and to give your input in response to questions raised by others. Your questions could be about the course content or about thoughts that have come up during your studies, e.g.
- “What is the difference, if any, between a program and a programme?”
- “What should my next step be after the course if I want to become a project manager for online events?”
- “Should I try to get the Rule for Risk going with my team, and if so, how?”
Depending on the number of attendees and the complexity of the questions, we may not be able to work through all the questions during the alotted time.
Recommended Preparation
Type at least one question in advance, so that you can copy and paste it into the Chat when you join the meeting.
MEETING 2: Models, Frameworks, Standards and Methodologies
Sunday 25 April 16:00–16:45
Wednesday 28 April 19:00–19:45
You can join either of these timeslots, or both.
Key terms that come up in this meeting include PMBOK, PRINCE2 and Agile. We’ll be zooming into some of the differentiating characteristics of the various approaches to Project Management, especially their processes, authority structures and techniques as discussed in the course.
Recommended Preparation
If you haven’t reached Test Series 6 yet, Google the terms in bold above.
Read these articles:
Download this document:
If you’ve reached the end of the course, work through Test Series 2, 3 and 6 again.
MEETING 1: Project Planning Concepts
Sunday 18 April 16:00–16:45
Wednesday 21 April 19:00–19:45
You can join either of these timeslots, or both.
In this meeting we deal with the concepts of Project Schedule Management —the PBS, WBS, Network Diagram, Gantt chart, and related terminology. The demonstration will be done using Microsoft Project, so we recommend that you use a computer rather than a mobile phone to join the meeting.
Recommended Preparation
If you haven’t reached Test Series 3 yet, study these articles.
If you’re near the end of the course, work through Test Series 3 and 4 again, including the videos and other resources.
