Hi, we're so excited that you're here. I'm Emilio, and I'm a program manager on the responsible innovation team here at Google. And I'd like to officially welcome you to Google's certificate program in project management. Let's start with a simple exercise. Take a moment and think about some of the different tasks that you've completed in your life. Maybe you planned your wedding or a birthday party, or you filed your annual tax returns. Maybe you moved from one state to another. Or maybe you're the family member who somehow every year is tasked with organizing the annual family reunion. Believe it or not, you've been developing all kinds of skills through these tasks that will help you become a successful project manager for any organization or your own business. With this program in project management by Google, we've put together a set of courses, activities, quizzes, and exercises that'll teach you the fundamentals of project management. And of course, help you get a job or advance in your career. Wondering how I started my own career in project management? Well, in college, I always gravitated towards things that were more hands-on and action-oriented and less theoretical. I wanted to make an impact in whichever career I took on. So my first job out of college was as a Spanish and leadership teacher in Los Angeles, California. My main objective in guiding the student leadership team at the school was to identify, mobilize, and inspire the student leaders. After two years of teaching, I realized that the moments when I felt the most energized were when I was building a vision for how to get a big project done. Or when I was working to bring different groups together around a common goal. That's when I realized I had a lot of core project management skills. And I could focus on growing and developing them in the business world. I'm grateful that I get to be here for the start of your journey. When I was first starting to think about my career, project management wasn't even on my radar. It was one of those professions that I didn't even know existed until I entered the business world and experienced how great of a need there is for folks who are organized, action-oriented, diligent, and strategic. I hope that by the end of this program, you'll be as excited as I am about the prospects of a career in project management. OK, let's get into it. We'll start with an important question. What exactly is project management? Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet the project requirements and achieve the desired outcome. It's possible that you've been project managing every day on some level without even knowing it. In this course, you'll learn how to hone those skills to become a truly great project manager. And the awesome thing about project management is that it spans a lot of industries and company types, and it doesn't require deep technical knowledge. This means that any job or life experience you've gained so far will help you in building those skills to become successful in a project management career. There are a lot of people around the world like you who are hoping to learn the skills to get a project management role. Whatever your reason for being here, we're glad you've joined us. This program is rooted in a belief that a strong foundation in project management can help anyone start a great career as a project manager. This program includes six industry-relevant courses that focus on topics like project management fundamentals, goals, objectives, and deliverables, risk management, team dynamics, project management methodologies, data-driven decision-making, and more. Each course is made up of personal anecdotes, reading materials, quizzes, and case studies. And you can go through the program at your own pace, skip the sections that you might already know, and review the videos again if you need a refresher. You'll be doing a lot of hands-on learning. You'll build project plans and timelines. You'll learn how to manage budgets and meet the needs of the people involved in the project. And you'll learn different project methodologies like agile, scrum, and waterfall. You'll use tools like Kanban and learn about project management software like Asana. You'll also develop your soft skills, some of which you likely already have. Don't worry, even if you aren't quite sure how to tap another yet, we'll explore which skills are transferable to a project management role. Above all, this program will help get you ready for a new job. But we're taking it one step further. When you complete this program, you'll have the opportunity to share your work with Google and other top employers aiming to hire project management professionals. And the best part is, you'll have professional work examples you can share with them to showcase what you've learned. Along the way, you'll hear from Google employees like me. We'll share personal stories about how we became project managers and how our foundations in project management, launched our careers. We'll also share what we do at work every day and give you tips for job interviews. We've got a truly amazing group of course instructors for you to learn from. Ready to meet them? Hi, I'm Joanne, a senior program manager on cloud security programs. I'm your instructor for course two, where we'll learn more about what's needed to set the stage for a successful project. Hey there, my name's Rowena, a senior program manager in Google Cloud. I'm your instructor for course three, project planning, putting it all together, where we'll learn about the importance of thorough project planning, identifying key milestones and dependencies, documenting project plans, scheduling, budgeting, and risk management. I'm Elita, a senior engineering program manager at Google. And I'm your instructor for course four, project execution, running a project, where we'll learn about communicating effectively, managing risks, understanding team dynamics, using data to inform decision making and tracking progress. Hi, I'm Sue. I'm a technical program manager for Google support platform. I'm your instructor for course five, agile project management, where we'll gain a deeper understanding of agile project management, including principles and practices, the benefits and costs of agile transformations, the dynamics of agile teams, and the process of running sprints and releases. And I'm Dan, a program manager in Google research. I'm really excited to be your instructor for course six, applying project management in the real world, where we'll take all the knowledge, skills, and understanding you've built up throughout this certificate and apply it to an advanced project scenario. Ready to get started? Let's go. So far, we've previewed what you can expect throughout this program. In this video, we'll discuss the details of this course, and you'll have a greater understanding for which types of jobs are suitable for learners like you. We'll cover some key project management terms and the roles and responsibilities of any entry level project manager. Plus, we'll discuss the kinds of jobs you can pursue after you complete this program. One thing you'll learn soon is that there's other roles and jobs outside of just project manager that this program will prepare you for. Later in this course, we'll have a video on how to search for those roles and how to view project management as both a position and a skill. But for now, we'll start by going even deeper into what a project is, what a project manager is, and what kinds of skills they have. We'll provide real life examples to help illustrate that you probably already have learned some of the skills required to become a successful project manager. Then, you'll learn more about adding value to projects and tips on being a successful project manager from real life Googlers. Pretty exciting, right? We'll also cover the project's life cycle. You'll learn all about a project's different phases, the corresponding tasks in each phase, different methodologies for completing tasks, and which is effective for a given project. And finally, you'll learn about different types of organizational structures and cultures and how to impact project management. Coming up, we'll start exploring the concept of a project and the project management field as a whole. Are you ready to crank things up a notch? See you soon. Hey again, let's get back into it. In this video, we'll define a project, define project management, and explain its value to an organization. Let's start by defining exactly what a project is. A project is a unique endeavor and usually includes a set of unique deliverables. It's also a temporary pursuit. It has a defined beginning and an end. To put it another way, a project is a series of tasks that need to be completed to reach a desired outcome. Reaching that desired outcome takes collaboration and careful planning that keeps the project on track and on budget. That's where project management comes in. Project management is critical to the success of projects both big and small. So let's break it down into the what, the why, and the how. So what is project management? Why is project management an important part of an organization? And how is it vital to a project's success? As I mentioned, project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet the project requirements and achieve the desired outcome. Project management is valuable to businesses because it helps ensure that a project delivers the expected outcomes both on time and within budget. To demonstrate what I mean, I'll take you through a real life example of project management. Imagine a school district signs a deal with a telehealth company to make sure students don't have to miss school for simple health issues like fevers or headaches. The deal will be completed by the end of the school year. The students can now interact with the doctor through a tablet, smartphone, or computer while they're at school. Implementing this technology into the school's procedures is the project. It's got a clear outcome and start and end date. So how is that project managed? Well, this project has several tasks and each one has to be carefully planned out and tracked or managed in order for the project to be completed. For example, to start, you can organize training sessions for faculty to get them better acquainted with the technology, policies, and procedures. You can budget for tablets, computers, and other vital equipment to facilitate the virtual checkups. And you can maintain strong communication with doctors, the telehealth company, and school staff members, and so much more. To successfully launch the product in the schools, all of those things need to get done and that is project management. Seems pretty important to an organization's success, right? More and more companies are starting to understand how project management can save them lots of money and time. Poor project management can lead to trillions of wasted dollars every year for organizations around the world. More specifically, poor project management can lead to 48% of projects missing delivery dates, 43% missing budget targets, and 31% failing to meet an organization's goals. As a company that serves so many different purposes in communities, it's no surprise that project management's a huge part of Google. But here, many of our project managers are described as program managers because they manage multiple projects for specific products, teams, or programs. There's thousands of people here with a job of keeping projects and programs running smoothly, people like me. I'm a responsible innovation program manager. My team is responsible for ensuring that the technology we produce, the research we pursue, and the publications we put out are all done with Google's artificial intelligence principles in mind. I review the processes for each of these types of technologies and I give ideas for how to continue innovating responsibly to meet our organizational goals. So my job adds value to Google through the core aspects of project management we've mentioned, planning and organizing, managing tasks, and budgeting and controlling costs. Hopefully you have a better sense of what a project is, what project management is, and why project management is an important part of every company and how it's vital to a project's success. Next up, we'll learn more about what a project manager does. Hey, so we've covered what project management is and why it's important to organizations. Now, let's learn more about what project managers do on a day-to-day basis. Project managers usually follow a process that involves planning and organizing, managing tasks, budgeting, and controlling costs and other factors. Everything they do helps make sure the project can be completed on time and on budget. In broad terms, a project manager also needs to make sure that the project outcome is bringing value to the company. A project manager can add value in many different ways, whether that's creating a new service for customers or modifying an old service so it's more tailored to the customer's needs. No matter what the task is, a successful project will always add value and it's the project manager's job to make sure that project is both valuable and successful. You may be asking yourself, well, if I'm a project manager, how do I add value to an organization every day? What does the day-to-day life of a project manager look like? Well, a project manager's responsibilities can vary depending on the project, the industry, and the company they're working in. Are you constructing a new building? Are you project managing a renewable energy product in a startup?  Your tasks will be different in each scenario, but here's a general overview of what a typical day might look like. A project manager's daily responsibilities always includes some version of the following, planning and organizing. An example of that might be gathering requirements from teammates or customers. This means figuring out what exactly your project's trying to accomplish. You might have a kickoff meeting or send a survey. From here, you may also work on creating project plans. Creating project plans is a key part of project management. It helps set the tone of the project, keeps everyone on pace and aligned, and helps move tasks along, which leads me to my second point, managing tasks. Once the project is underway, the project manager helps manage tasks for the team members and communicates key milestones to the larger team or customers. This helps keep team members and customers updated on how the project is progressing. The third piece is budgeting and controlling costs and other factors. Managing the budget and controlling costs is a common responsibility that project managers have to understand to keep the project on track and within budget. This is a full-time job because the plan you've created and managed may change, causing unexpected costs to come up. And that's just to name a few. I could go on for days, but the most important thing to know about the day-to-day of a project manager is this. You'll use different tools, techniques, and methodologies every single day. There's never a dull moment. Personally, my favorite part about being a project manager is that I get to watch the project's growth from start to finish. It's really special to create something from nothing, working from the ground up. It's a really satisfying feeling. As a project manager, you'll use a variety of skills every day and a lot of these skills you might already have. And we'll discuss this more coming up. See you there. Welcome back. Let's get right into it and explore the variety of skills you'll use. Have you ever been tasked with planning a loved one's surprise birthday party? There's usually a lot of pressure and responsibility, but when you get it right, it feels amazing. That's still true even if there were a couple of issues. Maybe the guest of honor arrived home earlier than expected and nearly ruined the surprise. But if you made someone feel special on their birthday, you probably planned a successful project. As you chose a venue, sent out invitations and calculated your budget based on your number of guests, you were using several project management skills, like planning and organizing, managing tasks, budgeting and controlling costs and more. Or maybe you've never planned a party. Have you ever worked in the retail space or in the service industry? Then you might have experience that'll translate into the project management field too. For example, you might have been in charge of managing several employees' schedules. To do that, you had to plan and organize which employees' work styles would compliment each other in a productive way. You also had to make sure that all duties and responsibilities would be covered during each shift. Plus, you had to be aware of all employees' availability. Doesn't sound familiar? Well, have you ever had to relocate for a new job and plan to big move? To successfully move all of your belongings, you may have coordinated friends and family to help. You would have had to budget and control costs for moving companies, boxes and miscellaneous expenses. And you probably packed your boxes one room at a time and clearly labeled the boxes so that you knew what each box was when you arrived at the new place. You had to manage all of these tasks simultaneously. You've likely handled several tasks like these in your lifetime. And in studying project management, you'll learn to further advance and sharpen these skills so that you'll be equipped to manage even bigger, more daunting tasks. The abilities that helped you complete these past projects are a great selling point for yourself as a future project manager. So be sure to bring up these examples in job interviews to demonstrate your skills. For instance, if you're asked questions like tell me about a time when you had to juggle several tasks at once or tell me about a time when you had to influence a customer or a teammate, it's good to have examples that demonstrate your skills with time management and leadership in both your everyday life and previous workplaces. Are you thinking about all of the skills that you already have and can use in your future project management role? Perfect. Up next, we'll learn more about the types of project management roles that you'll be qualified for after this program. We'll also discuss how to start exploring the various job opportunities out there for you. See you soon. Hey everyone, my name is X, yes, just the letter. And at Google, I'm a program manager for a department called Responsible Innovation. Most of us in our everyday life use program management. When you have only a couple hours left in a day and you have to figure out, well, do I clean my house or do I go to the grocery store and how long will each of those tasks take? Those are just different elements or variations of program management and project management. My path to program management is pretty nontraditional. I didn't go graduate from a great college. In fact, I dropped out of high school and I dropped out of college. So a GED is like the highest credential that I have. So after I dropped out of high school, I taught myself how to code. I built a whole bunch of websites but realized like I didn't have the responsible skills to make me a mature adult. So I ended up joining the military. After spending eight years in the army, I traveled the world building apps for really big companies and governments around the world. When I came into Google, I realized I could still be technical, but then I'm just using the skills I already have. So how can I grow myself as a person by learning new skills? And that's when I heard about the program manager role. The program manager role at Google is super cool because it varies depending on which team you're on. So if you're a program manager in Google Cloud, that could look very different than being a program manager in YouTube. That switch up and that change from coding all day long in front of a computer screen was something that was really, really attractive to me. Some of the biggest skills from my past and my history that helped me become a program manager and make that transition from somebody who was managed by program and project managers, it's actually becoming one myself, was taking a little bit more accountability in my personal life. There's lots of things I wanna learn in life and I started doing things like making schedules to practice like different instruments like the bass guitar. And each of my roles, whenever I worked with the project or program manager, I also made sure to check in with them about why they were doing what they were doing. I'm someone who doesn't really learn from books if you can't tell by me dropping out of school. So I always found somebody who was willing to teach me why they were doing what they were doing because that's how I learn. I tend to be more kinetic, I learn as I go. Program management to me was a natural calling. Not because I like to run around and make sure everyone, tell everybody what to do, but because I have a real personal passion for bringing people together and getting everybody on the same page to move towards the same goal. Whether that's convincing all my friends to go to my favorite vegan spot in downtown LA like four times a week or whether that's getting us all together to resolve conflict or to work on an idea to collaborate on projects on the side together. Those skills that you use in your everyday life to keep your tasks together can apply to program and project management very easily. You just have to be a little bit more intentional around them and there's a lot more paperwork involved. Welcome back. Now that you have a general understanding of what a project manager does, let's focus on the types of jobs that you may be qualified for after completing this program. To start, I've got a question for you. How many open roles do you think are out there for project managers? Hint. The answer is a very big number. Project managers are in high demand. In 2017, a study by the Project Management Institute found that by the year 2027, employers will need 87.7 million people filling project management-aligned roles. According to that same study, the industries with the most growth are manufacturing and construction, information services and publishing, management and professional services, finance and insurance, utilities and oil and gas. Project management plays a big part in helping all of these industries grow. In some industries, you'll find the term project manager grouped with a more industry specific qualifying word. For example, construction project manager or IT project manager or engineering project manager. Don't worry, these are all still project manager roles. They're just specific to an industry. And it's important to keep in mind that the skills you learn in one industry can be applied to another industry. New projects are popping up every single day. Across all industries, we notice that new technology is introduced, which leads to processes changing and a need to manage those processes. So all kinds of companies need people like you who can tackle a variety of projects from start to finish to help them navigate these changes. By now, you might have noticed that you already have some of those skills like organizing or planning an event, problem solving or even managing a budget and you use them effectively in your everyday life. Reflect on some of those skills. We mentioned earlier and ask yourself, what are some of the parts of project management that you're drawn to? While you may not have the answer just yet, thinking about these things can help you find suitable roles later. As you keep going in this program, try to keep track of the lessons and activities you prefer and the ones you didn't like as much. This will help you narrow your choices as you search through job boards later. The beauty of project management is that you don't need to be an expert on a focused technical topic. You just need to be able to manage projects. You could be a construction or technology project manager or you could enter the healthcare industry and work in patient management. You could also enter the energy sector and act as an environmental project manager. The possibilities are almost endless. What's equally exciting is that you could even end up with a completely different title altogether. For instance, there are roles that entail a sequence of ongoing projects that are considered programs or operations in the industry. In this case, the role may not be described as a project manager, but instead something a little more evergreen like operations manager or program manager. Other titles that might make sense for you could include operations assistant, project assistant, project coordinator and program assistant. When it comes to job duties, your responsibilities might change depending on the type of company you choose. For example, the workload and specific tasks at a small agency will be different from those at Google. It's also important to keep in mind that as the world continues to change and evolve, so do industries and the job opportunities you'll find there. So be sure to cast a wide net. You'll be able to find more and more jobs you're qualified for in addition to being qualified for project management related jobs. There's plenty of other roles or paths that may interest you. Internships can sometimes be a good place to start. An internship is a short-term way to get hands-on experience in an industry. Plus, internships are a great way to help boost your resume and set yourself apart from other candidates. One of the key benefits of internships is that you get real work experience while simultaneously networking with people in that industry. It's a win-win. Now some internships in your field might not technically be project manager roles, but a lot of roles are easily transferable. For example, something like an events manager intern role can become a full-time project manager position later on. Internships aren't great for everyone's lifestyle, but if you can make them work, they're a fantastic option. Another path you can take is contract work. Working for companies on a contract means you'll work with them on a project-by-project basis, but you won't be a full-time employee. This kind of work is a great way to get your foot in the door and build your portfolio. Plus, it gives you the flexibility to try your hand at a few different projects at once, depending on the commitment level required for that. Another benefit of contracting is that it lets you explore different kinds of companies and project types. Since it's a temporary position, you can explore what type of company is the best fit for you. Maybe you find you like working with a large or a small team, or you find you enjoy specific types of projects. And if you find a situation that suits you and the organization, your contract position might just lead to a full-time position. As you keep charging forward, try thinking about the type of job you might be interested in going after when we're done here. Every new topic you discover brings you one step closer to your first role in project management and one step closer to where you wanna be. In the next video, we'll learn how to identify and search for job titles best suited for a project manager. We'll see you there. Hi again, let's discuss how to search for a job in the project management field. It's no secret that job searching can be a challenge. Even the most detailed, specific job listings can leave you wondering what the company's really seeking in a candidate. Don't worry, we've all been there and we're here to help you sort through the lingo and the confusion. The more job listings you find, the more buzzwords you'll likely notice too. Words like data-driven, team player, self-starter, understanding all the buzzwords and job listings will help figure out if a job is right for you. Up to now, we've discussed project management as a role, but many companies actually list it as a skill. Here's some more good news. You'll soon be qualified for a position as a project manager and a position that lists project management as a skill. Here's the even better news. If you have the skills to manage projects, you'll be qualified for program manager or operational roles that require you to manage an end-to-end system or department two, which ask for the same skill set. Now, let's check out different types of jobs that use your project management skills. When job hunting, keep your options open. As I just mentioned, you don't have to limit yourself to just project manager titles. There's lots of other titles you're qualified for too. You'll know what's a good fit for you by reading the job descriptions, so cast a wide net. Depending on the field you choose, you might find roles like operations manager, program manager, operations associate, or project assistant. All of these could be a great fit for your skills. For example, let's say you're searching a job board for project management roles when you notice a community operations manager role for a small city open up. The job title isn't project manager, but you'll notice that the job functions match your skill set and years of experience also match the job requirements. The job description may include a list of required skills like organizational management, strong planning and communication skills, budget preparation and monitoring. Sound familiar? Maybe you'll even start to notice that the job's responsibilities seem like tasks you've covered in this course, like creating monthly status reports, helping to implement new and necessary technologies, tracking work plans and performance metrics, assisting other members of the operations team on given projects, and ensuring timely responses to requests for information. These duties are nearly a perfect match for your project management skills. And there are plenty more listings like these too. How great is that? The skills that go into project management are used in all kinds of roles and professions. Believe it or not, we've all worked with or learned from a project manager at some point in the past. Can you guess who that is? It's your teachers. Think about it. Everything that goes into being a teacher takes project management skills, designing a curriculum that's accessible to students with unique needs, managing a budget, communicating with others like parents, department heads or school admins, developing processes to make things run efficiently in the classroom and so on. For example, when I went for my first interview at Google, I highlighted my experience as the founder and advisor to a student leadership group. I told them about how I assembled and led a team of 20 students to plan and execute events like fundraisers, community gatherings and academic assemblies for over 300 students during the academic year. I even kind of surprised myself looking back at how much relevant project management experience I had. Now, I'm sure you'll think back on your own experiences and feel the same thing. One more thing to call out is networking. Networking is when you meet other people in a professional setting with the goal of learning, sharing knowledge and creating new business connections. This plays a big role in job hunting. So it is a great tool to start learning and perfecting. The skills you learn here will prepare you for all kinds of project management jobs. Knowing how to search for jobs will make it even easier to match those skills with the best opportunities for you. My name is Gilbert and I'm a talent outreach specialist here at Google. Talent can mean many things. It can mean folks that have never envisioned themselves at Google. And so part of our team's remit is to identify talent that Google or other companies may not necessarily reach out to or consider for roles in the past and helping them navigate the interview process. It could also mean candidates that are already interested or have expressed interest in opportunities at Google in the past and engaging them to support them through the interview process today. At Google, you have to wear the program and project management hat regardless of what role you're in. And that's definitely been the case for me. So in my role, I've had to practice skills such as communicating to stakeholders, managing a budget, managing a project timeline in many different projects within my role. An example of this could be organizing events for university students to come to Google's campus and hear from guest speakers about the projects we work on, the roles and their career journeys. And so as you can imagine, this can be a complex project. My first job out of college was completely unrelated to what I'm doing now. I was an assistant manager at a big box retailer. And so a lot of the skills that I actually learned in that role have translated to support me in my role and allowed me to have success. So some of these skills are being able to talk to and have difficult conversations, being able to manage a budget, managing resources and managing your time. These are especially important in the retail setting. I started applying a lot of these project management frameworks or practices, even into the smallest projects. Maybe it's related to my goals for the next three months, setting a project plan based around that, right? I was the only stakeholder. I was the only one reviewing maybe this documentation, but the practice of being able to do this really helped me so that when I had to do it for a project at Google with multiple stakeholders, with multiple timelines, competing priorities, it was already second nature to me because I even applied it just in my day to day. So I think one of the biggest support that I had as far as working through imposter syndrome or lack of confidence as I stepped into a lot of these skills is really just practice. And you can practice it in many different ways in your personal life and your professional life and anything in between. So that was really important for me as I've gone through this journey of upskilling as a program and project manager. So I'd say that by joining this course and stepping into this, you're already taking the first step and I think that's just as important, right? Like not letting fear or fear of failure get in the way of new opportunities for you. And the second piece is don't be afraid to ask for help. I think that folks are generally willing to help and support you. So the biggest thing that you can do is reach out and not be afraid to ask questions, not be afraid to do an informational interview, to ask for resume tips, to ask for advice from people that are maybe already in the role that you're hoping to step into or in the field that you're looking to work in. Just reach out to them, ask them questions. I think people like to connect with folks that are intuitive, that are curious and are just eager to learn. And so if you can leverage those two pieces, I think that you're gonna have success in whatever you do. And just like that, you're done with the first module. Congrats on hitting this exciting milestone. You're one step closer to becoming a rock star in project management. Let's revisit the concepts we've learned so far. We started by discussing how project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to meet the project requirements and achieve the desired outcome. Then we learned that project management is alive in nearly every industry and company. So you're working on an incredibly useful and versatile certification. We also learned what a project is, a unique endeavor and temporary pursuit carefully planned out to achieve a particular goal. Hopefully by now, you're familiar with the idea that every project has a defined timeframe, cost, scope and dedicated resources. We've covered some broad concepts and key terms that'll help you become a successful project manager. And we've gone over how to search for jobs when that time comes. We've also discussed how to effectively translate your past experiences into talking points for why you'll be a successful project manager. We talked about how you can transfer skills from your previous job into your new project management role and how that'll really set you apart. Everything from juggling a to-do list to budgeting for a loved one's birthday party demonstrates that you probably already have some of the skills to be a phenomenal project manager. But no worries if you don't, we're starting from scratch here. By the end of this course, you'll have the skills, but also the experience and knowledge to find the role you want. Whether that's contract work, internships or general project management positions, you'll be able to figure out what's the best fit for you. And as we go forward, I want to encourage you to keep thinking about what kind of work you might like to do in the future. And let's not forget the most exciting news we learned about project management. Just about everyone needs a project manager. This position's in high demand and that demand just keeps growing. Wow, okay, that's a lot of ground we covered and we've just barely scratched the surface. I hope you've enjoyed the course so far because it's about to get even more fun. Coming up, we have your first graded assignment and I know you'll ace it. Remember, take your time and relax. Trust yourself, you've got this. Don't forget, you can always review your notes and readings or go back and re-watch some of the videos if you're unsure about an answer. Good luck and I'll see you again soon. Welcome back. Let's start by reviewing what we've discussed so far. Earlier, you were introduced to project management as a career path. We discussed how this course can help you advance your career goals with a project management certification. And we also discussed some of the basics of project management, like how to define a project and its different components. Then we went over some distinct project management careers, roles and responsibilities. Now, it's time to gain a deeper understanding of a project manager's role. By the end of this module, you'll be able to explain the unique value a project manager brings to their team. You'll also be able to describe a project manager's roles and responsibilities and list their core skills. This course will help you continue to recognize the skills that you already have that will help you become a successful project manager. It will also help you identify new skills that you may need to learn in preparation for your new career. Ready? Let's get started. Earlier in this course, we introduced you to the world of project management. We discussed how project management spans industries and companies of all kinds, from large corporations to small businesses. Now let's define what a project manager is and describe how they add value to their teams and organizations. Let's start with the definition. Project managers shepherd projects from start to finish and serve as guides for their team using their impeccable organizational and interpersonal skills every step of the way. As you learned earlier, project managers usually follow a process that involves planning and organizing, managing tasks, budgeting and controlling costs so that the project can be completed within the approved timeframe. We'll dig deeper into these topics throughout this program. What you need to know right now is that project managers play a crucial role in their organizations. Project managers add value to their teams and organizations in key ways that include prioritization, delegation and effective communication. So let's break these down. First, we'll discuss prioritization. Project managers add value to their teams and organizations through effective prioritization of tasks required to complete a project. They're experts at helping team members identify and break down large tasks into smaller steps. There will be times when a project manager may not know which tasks to prioritize. To determine which ones are the most critical to the success of the project, they'll connect with their teams and with stakeholders to gather information and make a plan. Stakeholders are people who are interested in and affected by the project's completion and success, like the leader of an organization. You've probably used prioritization to complete work in the past. In any kind of project, personal or professional, there are tasks with different levels of priority. For example, let's imagine that you've decided to rent a house and plan to repaint the rooms. You've picked out your paint and you're eager to get started. While it may be tempting to start painting right away, you'll need to prioritize tasks like laying out drop cloths to protect the floors and furniture, applying blue tape to the rooms' edges, and much more. Those preliminary steps are critical and need to come before painting. Other related steps like choosing new faceplates for your light switches can come later in the process or be switched out of the project entirely if you run out of time or money. When you choose to take care of these preliminary steps before wedging open the paint can, you're prioritizing the tasks or steps of your project. You're also increasing the likelihood that you'll be satisfied with your newly painted rooms. This process is similar for professional projects. When you effectively prioritize important tasks, you set up your team and yourself for a better project outcome. Now, let's discuss delegation. Project managers use delegation to add value to their teams and organizations by matching tasks to individuals who can best complete the work. Let's return to our house painting example for a second here. Painting multiple rooms can be a time-consuming project, so it's possible that you might enlist a few friends to help you get it done. Maybe one friend has professional painting experience. Now, with that in mind, you might ask her to handle the more challenging aspects of the project, like painting the ceiling or the detailed molding. You might also schedule her to paint the molding before another friend paints the walls. So by delegating this task to the person with the right skills to complete the work and ordering the tasks appropriately, you're applying knowledge of your team's strengths to the planning of your project. That makes sense, right? Finally, let's talk about effective communication. Project managers deliver value through effective communication, both with their team and with key stakeholders. This refers to being transparent, which means being upfront with plans and ideas and making information readily available. Project managers keep in regular contact with their team about the progress of the work and help identify areas where a teammate may need support. In our house painting example, this might involve checking in with your friends periodically to ask if they have enough paint or supplies left to complete their tasks. Checking in regularly means you'll know if you need to buy more paint before the can is empty, which ensures that the project stays on track. In addition to keeping up with teammates, project managers keep in regular contact with people outside of the team, like company leaders who are invested in the project outcomes. For example, you might reach out to your landlord to get permission to paint and to share the days you'll be working on this project. Though your landlord isn't directly involved in the project's execution, the outcomes will affect her property, and so it's important to keep her informed. Without your project management skills, you might run out of paint halfway through the project, your walls might get painted without drop cloths to protect the floors, and your landlord could be caught off guard about your plans. So it's a good thing you're here to keep the project running smoothly and efficiently. Great, now you should be able to define what a project manager is and explain how they use prioritization, delegation, and effective communication to deliver value to their organizations. Coming up, you'll hear about the career path of a real-life project manager at Google. Their journey to me is fascinating, and we can't wait to share it with you. My name is Joanne. I'm a senior program manager at Google. I'm a first-generation Chinese American. My family and I came to the United States when I was young. My parents worked really hard when I was growing up, and I spent a lot of time by myself, basically just having to take care of myself, you know, planning my meals, doing my homework, taking care of chores. So I feel like I got a little bit of my program management skills from just being really organized, like having to be really organized all the time. My path to being a project manager really started as a business systems analyst. I was writing requirements or gathering requirements for our customers and translating them into documentation for our engineers so that they could implement it. Through that process, I became a project manager. I started to manage the timelines, manage the tasks, understand all the pieces and who needed to be involved. And there you go, you have a project manager. I think the funnest part about being a project manager is really working with people. You get to meet all different kinds of people, different personalities. Sometimes you get to travel to places to meet them, but even when you don't, I think just meeting new people and understanding how we interact, how people interact and behave is fascinating. I think if you build a relationship, focus on the relationship, and really understand what their style, where they're coming from, what their concerns are, it will help your relationship, your working relationship much better. You can communicate with them in the style that's necessary. You can work with them in the style that's more receptive to them. And that would just make the project better all around. Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed that last story because for me, it's always helpful to hear about someone else's career path. Maybe you even noticed a few parallels between their career path and your own. Or you felt inspired to pursue a specific area of project management. So far, we've discussed the types of project management roles you'll be qualified for and how to search for them. And earlier, we discussed the value that project managers bring to their teams and their organizations. Now let's learn more about the roles and responsibilities of a project manager. Earlier, you learned that project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet the project requirements and achieve the desired outcome. So, how does that actually happen? Well, that's where you come in. Project managers usually follow a process that involves planning and organizing, managing tasks, budgeting, and controlling costs, and other factors so that the project can be completed within the approved budget and timeframe. Let's break these down into examples of responsibilities that you might find in a job listing for a project management role. We'll start with planning and organizing. One responsibility that falls under the umbrella of planning and organizing is making use of productivity tools and creating processes. During the planning and execution of a project, you might need to use certain tools and develop processes to improve information sharing across the team. You may also need to create plans, timelines, schedules, and other forms of documentation to track project completion. And you'll usually need to maintain those documents throughout the entirety of the project. The next task is budgeting and controlling costs and other factors. As the project is underway, changes to the plan and budget are bound to come up. Believe me, this will require you to monitor and manage the budget, track issues, and risks as they arise and manage quality by mitigating those issues and risks. One way to do this is by removing unforeseen barriers that come up. Now, by barriers, we mean things that can get in the way of project progress. For example, if your teammates lack the resources needed to complete a task, you might identify that issue or barrier up front. Escalate the issue to a stakeholder and work to secure the resource so your team can move forward. Another huge piece of the project manager's role is managing tasks. A project task is an activity that needs to be accomplished within a set period of time by you, your team, or your stakeholders. Keeping track of tasks is a great way to help manage the team's workload and ensure that things are getting done. Keeping track of tasks is also a great tool for demonstrating progress to people outside the immediate team, like your stakeholders. Back when I was a program manager in student development here at Google, one of our goals was to create pathways for students who identify with communities that are underrepresented in the technology industry. A large part of my day-to-day responsibilities involved working with two separate engineering teams to create our technical curriculum. To manage the tasks associated with this project, I created separate project trackers for each team that outlined the vision for the curriculum. These trackers kept both teams in the loop about the timeline for delivery, the categories and subcategories for work, and the team members assigned to each task. I also made sure to update our stakeholders every step of the way. By actively managing tasks throughout the project lifecycle, I was able to keep tabs on everyone's work and efficiently inform stakeholders which allowed us to achieve our project goal with minimal issues. Nice job. Now you should be able to describe the roles and responsibilities of a project manager. Coming up, we'll discuss a project manager's role within the extended team, including how to work alongside the people tasked with executing the project. Catch you in a bit. Hey, and welcome back. Earlier, you learned more about the responsibilities of a project manager. And while it might seem like a lot to keep track of, it's important to know that you, as the project manager, won't need to do everything on your own. Let's discuss the role of the project manager and how that role relates to other roles within the project team. It's easier to hear the term manager and immediately think of your boss. But a project manager is not often the direct manager of the people working on a project team. Here we're discussing the project manager as someone who manages the tasks of a project. But what does that really mean, right? Well, although you might have a few teammates working with you on a project, you're probably not their day-to-day boss. With the help of your team, you can get a lot more done together. Everyone on your team will have their own set of roles and responsibilities. And you'll come together to ensure that everyone is able to do their part to advance the project. Each person will be an expert on their portion of the project, but no one will be an expert on every aspect of the project. And honestly, neither will you. For instance, the graphic designer will focus on graphic design, but probably won't be an expert on copywriting. Similarly, you'll be an expert on project management, but may not be an expert on marketing. Here's another way to think about it. Imagine that you're organizing a camping trip. You might be the person in charge of planning the trip, but that doesn't mean you have to be a camping expert. Maybe you've never been camping before, but your partner grew up spending every summer by the campfire. In that case, you might assign them the task of picking out the right number and style of tents for your group. So in this example, you are planning the trip by giving your partner the job of finding the right number of tents and the right size tents to make sure everyone's covered. You aren't doing the research or the task yourself, but you're making sure that things are getting done. It's similar in the workplace. As the project manager, you won't be an expert in every project role, and that's okay. As we said, your job isn't to be the expert on everything. Instead, you're responsible for guiding your team and making sure that they have the support that they need in order to complete the project. So how does a project manager go about doing that? Let's discuss using a few more examples of the required responsibilities you might find in a job listing. First, you'll need to hold all team members accountable for their assigned tasks. Managing tasks will help you hold your team members accountable by giving them ownership over specific pieces of the project. Second, you'll need to ensure that issues and risks are tracked and visible and be able to establish escalation paths. Now, by escalation paths, I mean that you should know how you'll communicate risks to the right people at the right time. Third, you'll need to understand and help teammates adopt the right workflows and project management styles. As the project manager, you'll likely have the best idea of which style is best for the work. It's your job to ensure that the team adheres to that style and the other systems in place. And fourth, you'll need to collaborate with other teams at the organization to meet the requirements based on project, scope, schedule, and budget. In other words, a project may affect not only your team but other teams at an organization, as well, say, the marketing or the finance team. So you'll need to work with those teams to ensure that everyone is happy with the project outcomes. You'll learn more about working with other stakeholders in a later course. Catch all that? Let's recap. You've learned that a project manager isn't always the direct manager of each member of the project team. Rather, they're responsible for guiding those people and ensuring they have the support they need to complete the project. Now that you have a good sense of the way that a project manager fits into the project team, let's move a little bit ahead, where we'll discuss the types of skills that a project manager needs to succeed. Meet you there. A great project manager is some funky combination of EMT, Ninja, and jazz musician. An EMT who can show up on a scene that's full of chaos, figure out what needs to happen. Now, triage all of the things on site and then develop a plan of action while also participating in that action. A ninja, because you kind of have to be stealth about how you go about influencing other people. Overt action or pushing people too hard isn't necessarily received well. And a jazz musician, particularly a jazz drummer, who keeps a steady beat as a lot of things are happening around you.  I spend most of my days with my product and engineering counterparts, talking a lot about strategy, updating status to key stakeholders, and trying to figure out what comes next for our product. Some things about my job never change, from this day to my very first day. The fact that I communicate with a lot of people in a day, a lot of different types of people from engineers to product managers, to partnerships, to sales and marketing, all of that's the same. The biggest different is the number of people that I communicate with and the complexity of the topics I cover. The most important thing for you to keep in mind is staying organized. The more organized you are in your actions, the more organized your team is in their thinking and their actions. What I do to stay organized is lists. List, lists, lists. All day long, I have posted notes, I have electronic lists, I have lists and emails, and those lists help me stay on top of what actions need to happen now, what actions need to happen next, and which I can put off for a few more days. I do use the list to help manage my time. I think one of the things my lists are most important for is making sure I know what needs to be done today. And then, once my list is made, and I'm sure of what needs to be done today, I budget time for those things. A stand-up is a quick meeting, usually at the start of the day, but you can have them really at any time. My stand-ups usually happen in the morning, around 9.30 or 10 o'clock, depending on when the engineering team got in. They lasted for about 15 minutes so that we were clear on what had gotten done the day before and what was on the docket to get done today. And then we usually checked in again quickly around lunch to make sure that people were still on track or ran into any technical issues that might require a longer time to finish the task. I think the thing that makes me a great project manager is a bias to action and resilience. One of my favorite phrases is pick it and stick it, in part because I think it's important to make a decision to get yourself unstuck, to follow through on that action, learn some things and decide to take a new action once you've learned something. The latter half of that is resilience. I am resilient and my teams are resilient. So if we've taken a bad action, we've learned that we can learn and change our mind with new information. I'm Elita, a senior engineering program manager at Google. Hey, and welcome back. Now that you've learned about the roles and responsibilities of a project manager, let's discuss the core skill sets that a project manager should bring to the role. While there are lots of different skills a project manager can bring to their role, there are four specific skill sets that we think can help a project manager be successful. Those are enabling decision-making, communicating and escalating, flexibility and strong organizational skills. First, let's talk about enabling decision-making. The ability to enable decision-making on the team or gathering decisions from the appropriate leader is crucial to keep projects on task and achieve their goals. Lots of the day-to-day decisions within the project will likely fall to you and your teammates to discuss and agree on. You'll ensure that projects stay on schedule by gathering information from teammates and using those insights to help the team make informed decisions. You'll also make sure that those decisions are communicated to the necessary coworkers, whether that's the immediate team or company leaders. For example, you might provide relevant data or feedback to help your teammates make an informed decision between choice A and choice B. The second skill is communicating and escalating. As a project manager, you'll use your communication skills in just about everything you do. This might look like documenting plans, sending emails about the status of the project or holding a meeting to escalate risks or issues to stakeholders. The third skill is flexibility. As a project manager, knowing how to be flexible when changes are needed is key. Plans definitively will change, even with careful upfront planning. For example, maybe the goals of your company change or maybe a member of your team unexpectedly takes a new position at another company. A good project manager knows that unpredictable moments like these are almost always guaranteed. A quote we love here at Google is the only constant is change and that's true. By staying cool under pressure, you'll be able to adjust while helping your team stay calm too. And finally, a successful project manager needs strong organizational skills. As you learned earlier, the role of a project manager requires using a lot of different processes to keep the project on track. Having strong organizational skills means having the ability to organize these processes and the core elements of a project to ensure nothing gets lost or overlooked, which trust me, can and does happen. To prevent this, you might decide to track daily tasks in a spreadsheet or send frequent status updates or reminders. There are many ways to stay organized and hone your organizational skills and we'll talk more about them throughout the program to recap. Decision making, communicating and escalating, flexibility and strong organizational skills are four core skill sets that are essential to successful project management. You can continue to build on these skills by becoming familiar with industry knowledge that applies to most project management roles. Knowledge of helpful tools and templates and familiarity with popular project management styles like waterfall and agile can help you organize and document the project throughout its life cycle. We'll learn about these throughout this program. Hopefully, you feel better equipped to explain the core skills a project manager should bring to the role. These skills really help enforce team morale and accountability for the tasks of a project. We'll discuss this coming up. See you soon. My name is Rachel. I'm a senior program manager in Google New York. Google hired me out of a bar in the East Village about 12 years ago. For about three years, a group of NY ops and SRE drank at my bar and like everyone at the bar, they asked the bartender for advice. So I gave them advice and helped them through a lot of problems and also became friends with them. I really admired them. They were incredibly smart and charming and really good drinkers and tippers. Eventually, I wanted something different from my life than standing behind a bar all night long and there was an opportunity to apply for an admin role on their team. So I joined Google in 2008. They hired me first as an administrator for site reliability and engineering ops in New York City after about two years transferred into program management. Google's hiring is a little more conventional now, but the skills that I polished while being a bartender inform my everyday work. A wise old bartender that I knew on the Lower East Side once told me that a bar was a room full of tables and chairs and some beer and a meeting room was the same, a room full of tables and chairs. People come into a bar like they come into a meeting room wanting to leave feeling something else. So as a program manager, my job was to help people through that experience, the aesthetic experience of meeting with each other, making decisions, and coming to conclusions together. Very similar to bartending and helping people have a better night. My role as a program manager started by someone taking a risk on me. My engineering partner picked me out of the admin pool because he knew that I could build community with his engineers. When you work at a bar, you have to talk to anyone who comes into the bar. Anyone who walks through that door is your customer. You have to understand what they want, what they want to drink, whether they can continue drinking, whether they might be done drinking, all of these things. When you are working with a subject matter expert, an engineer, a product designer, a UX person, the same things apply. So you have to be able to talk to any engineer on your team, any product manager you need to work with. And you have to understand their unique needs. Program management isn't just about the process and the artifacts that you create. It's about how you relate to people. Understanding what you've learned in other parts of your life, whether it was in a bar or art school, these are the experiences that you bring into the job that make your work unique. Your skills at talking to people or deescalating conflict or understanding what people need. This is what makes you a great program manager. Earlier, you learned about the role of the project manager and the core skills you'll need to be successful in that role. You've also learned more about your role within the project team. Now let's discuss a few key skills that you'll use to build relationships with your teammates and stakeholders. Using your interpersonal skills is key to building relationships with the people involved in your project. By developing these relationships, you'll learn about the needs and concerns of the team. This will help you determine the priorities of the project and motivate your team throughout the process. Possessing strong interpersonal skills is a huge part of good leadership. Even if you've never held a formal leadership position, having these skills will help you when you need to guide a team. This is called influencing without authority, which refers to a project manager's ability to guide teammates to complete their assigned work without acting as their direct managers. There's a few key interpersonal skills that you can use to accomplish this and guide the project outcomes, even without the authority of being your teammate's boss. These skills include communication, negotiation, conflict mediation, and understanding motivations. So let's break these down. First up is a key skill we've mentioned a few times now, communication. In the context of leading a team, communication can include checking in with teammates to understand how they're progressing on a task and providing clear feedback on the quality of a teammate's work. Next is negotiation. Negotiation might include working with a teammate to compromise on a new deadline when they tell you that they won't be able to complete their work on time. Now, trust me, I know this can be frustrating, but you'll need to use your negotiation skills often with your teammates and stakeholders to balance their needs and what is best for the project. Another important skill is conflict mediation. As we mentioned, project plans can change and issues will arise. This can sometimes lead to tension and conflict within the team. So conflict mediation is a great skill to practice and develop to ensure the project does not suffer as a result. This might involve setting up a meeting with two teammates who are struggling to agree upon the best way to handle a shared task. And finally, there's understanding motivations. This means getting to know your teammates and figuring out what pushes them to do their best work. Understanding motivations might also include learning how your teammates prefer to receive feedback and how they like to receive recognition for doing a great job. You would use that individualized information to motivate and encourage each person on your team. So to recap, communication, negotiation, conflict mediation and understanding motivations are all interpersonal skills that will help you influence without authority. During job interviews for project management positions, you might be asked to discuss a time when you influenced without authority. And it's possible that you've already noticed ways that you've used these skills in your personal life without even realizing it. For example, let's say you have a coworker who's constantly late to every meeting. And I mean every meeting. While you can't force them to arrive on time, it's likely that you've thought about ways to motivate them to want to be on time. In doing so, you might have also wondered how to change the way you communicate with your coworker to influence them to be on time. Maybe you've tried asking them to arrive 15 minutes earlier than the rest of the group, or maybe you've told them how this behavior impacts the rest of the team. Both of these strategies are examples of influencing without authority and they serve to encourage specific behavior. Influencing without authority is one of the most critical and one of the most challenging aspects of project management. As you've just learned, you'll need to leverage your interpersonal skills in order to do it effectively. In later courses, we'll review and learn more about using your interpersonal skills to manage various projects. We'll see you in the next video. I'm Ellen and I'm a director of technical program management. And that means I lead a team of program managers at Google. I love project management because I really like this idea that you can do more together as a team with a group of people than you could do alone by bringing in a bunch of people together and getting organized, getting aligned around a common goal. We can do some pretty amazing things. I think a successful project manager is somebody who really knows how to pull together a group of people. To me, there's really two parts of project management. One is this laser-like focus on executing on this goal. Then the other part is the people. And so a successful project manager can do both. When I first started managing project managers, it was really about, you know, everyone works on their own project. How do I just guide them, give them guidance and help them with their projects? Over the years, I've shifted to, you know, to mentoring on project management to mentoring project managers. And what I mean by that is it's different. I'm no longer saying, here's what you should do on your project. I'm really trying to help them think about how to think about their projects. One of the things that I think about a lot as I'm building a project management team is having a really diverse set of folks who with different backgrounds, different experiences, and, you know, we're a global company, so we're really trying to make sure we are a global team as well. And when I talk about diversity of background and experience, like it really is about, you know, working in different types of environments with different types of teams. When I chat with new project managers and they say like, how, you know, how do I continue to grow as a project manager? My answer is like, work on different projects, right? Work on as many projects as you can, but like, don't be afraid to try different areas, different domains, work with different people. With every project you work on, you're gonna really learn something. Nice work. So far, you've started learning all about project managers and the value they bring to their teams. We also introduced you to a few program managers here at Google who spoke about their own experiences working in the field. You also learn more about the day-to-day responsibilities of a project manager and how they guide their teammates to do their best work. And you learned about the types of skills you'll need to succeed in a program management role. As we move forward, you'll develop and hone lots of the skills needed for the daily tasks of a project manager. And hopefully, you've also identified the skills you already have that can help you become a great project manager and an asset to employers. Next up, we'll discuss the project life cycle. You'll learn more about the different phases of a project and the tasks associated with each phase. You'll also learn more about some of the most popular project management methodologies used across industries today and how to choose the best one for your project. See you soon. Welcome back. Before we move on, let's recap what's already been covered. You learn how to define project management, what a project is, what it isn't, and how to explain its value to businesses. You also discussed when and why it's necessary to have a project manager, the role and day-to-day responsibilities of a project manager, and the core skills needed to be a successful project manager. Now's a good time to stop and recognize how much you've learned. By now, you're familiar with the job of project management, and you've started learning what it takes to be an effective project manager. Now you'll go a little further and learn some of the ins and outs of the job. And before you know it, you'll be ready to guide any project successfully. Are you ready? Well, coming up, I'll introduce you to the two most popular approaches to project management, waterfall and agile. We'll also cover the project management, lifecycle and phases, and you'll learn about the different styles, scenarios and factors that can impact a project and its tasks at any given phase. When we're done, you'll be able to explain and follow the lifecycle of a project, define and outline a project's phases and each phase's tasks, compare different project management methodologies to determine which methodology is most effective for a project, and finally, organize how a project is run according to different program management methodologies. Ready? Let's get started. No two projects are exactly the same, which means there are many different ways to manage them. Each project comes with its own needs and factors that impact how you'll take action and achieve your goals. There are many ways to manage projects and not always one right way to do so. Picture this, your project managing a political campaign for a local candidate. To make it happen, you need to think about things like your available resources, the people you'll be working with, the election date and the location. You need to be aware of lots of details to successfully complete your project. Because so many different things can impact a project, it's important to understand its basic structure. We call this structure the project lifecycle. The lifecycle is a great way to guide your project in the right direction, so that you and your project stay on track and end up in the right place. Most project life cycles have four major phases, each with their own set of tasks and concerns. Check it out. The main phases of a project are, initiate the project, make a plan, execute and complete tasks, and finally close the project. Let's talk about the first phase, initiate the project. This is the launch pad for the entire process of your project. In this phase, you'll define project goals and deliverables. Identify the budget and resources you'll need, the people involved in your project, and any other details that can impact the successful completion of your project. You'll document all this information in one place to showcase the project's value and hopefully get approval to move forward with it. Once the project is approved, it's time to get rolling. Next, you'll make a plan for how you'll meet the goals of your project. There are all kinds of ways to plan your project and we'll get into some different methods and techniques later on. But right now, the important thing to know is that for every single project, creating a plan of how you're going to meet your goals is absolutely 100% essential. Think about it. You can't hire a contractor to build a house without planning what it'll look like or how much you have to spend. These same considerations apply to any project that you manage. To be effective, your plan needs to include a lot of things. For example, a budget, a breakdown of all the tasks that you need to be completed, ways to communicate team roles and responsibilities, a schedule, resources, and what to do in case your project encounters problems or needs to change. Now that's just to name a few. Once you have your plan in place, it's time to execute and complete those tasks. It's important to point out that your project team has the job of completing the project tasks. Now, as a project manager, your role is a little different. While you might be in charge of completing certain tasks in the project, your primary tasks as the project manager are to monitor progress and keep your team motivated. You'll also remove any obstacles that might come up so that the tasks are executed well and on time. Finally, when all the tasks have been completed, all the resources have been accounted for and the project has crossed the finish line, it's time to close the project. Why is it important to close? Well, one big reason is so your team has a moment to celebrate all of their hard work, but closing the project is also a chance to evaluate how the project went. You can make note of what worked and what didn't, so you can plan better for next time. Even if the project was a massive success, it's helpful to take time to reflect. Closing the project is also a great way to connect with anyone outside your team who may have had interest in the project's goal. You can let everyone know what was completed and what you accomplished. Some projects, like the campaign example, will have a firm end date. Once the project is finished, that's it. There's no more work to do. Other projects have different finish lines. For example, a project where you're implementing a new ordering system at a restaurant is complete after the system is set up and the employees know how it works. At that point, your goals are completed. Now it's time to hand over the project to another group whose job it is to provide support and make sure the system stays running on a day-to-day basis. Another example of this is, I once project managed the creation of a dashboard that would be used by various stakeholders in my organization. This dashboard would show pertinent information to each stakeholder, depending on the team that they were a part of in our broader organization. I project managed the beginning from writing out the vision for the project to the end where we deliver the dashboard. Now, once I passed off the final product, I transitioned the continued update of each team's data and the corresponding dashboard page to the respective teams. Think of it like turning over the keys of a newly built house to its new owner. The project of building the house is complete and now it's up to the owner to take care of the house's maintenance and the upkeep. So there you have it, the project lifecycle. The exact name for each phase might change depending on the type of project or organization you work for, but the general idea stays the same and following the project processes you will learn in this course will set you up for project management success. Next, we'll take a closer look into what happens during each phase of the traditional project lifecycle. Now that we've discussed the project lifecycle, we're going to explore some of the different tasks that match up with each lifecycle phase. But first, let's review the phases. The project lifecycle phases are initiate the project, make a plan, execute and complete tasks and close out the project. Okay, great. Let's get back to the tasks that need to be accomplished during each phase. For this video, we're going to focus on the first two project lifecycle phases, initiating the project and making a plan. It's important to call out that the name or tasks for each phase might change or may be a little different depending on the type of project or the organization where you work. At Google, we use a mix of different project management methods which you'll learn more about later in the course. But regardless of the method, all projects share a lot of the same tasks needed to get the job done. So let's get into it. The first step of the project lifecycle is to initiate the project. During initiation, you'll organize all of the information you have available to you about your project. This way, when you're ready to continue on, you'll be prepared for the next phase when you can create your plan. Defining project goals makes the details of your project clear so that you and your team can successfully complete the project. For example, if the project goal is to manage a political campaign, then some deliverables, which are specific tasks or outcomes, might be to raise $5,000 or get 500 signatures in support of your candidate's cause. With this in mind, you'll need to do some research to come up with ideas that will help you meet your goals. You'll also need to find out what resources are available. Resources can include people, equipment, software programs, vendors, physical space or locations, and more. Anything you need to actually complete the project is considered a resource. Now, as a project manager, you'll record all of these details in your project proposal and then get them approved by a decision maker or group of decision makers at your company so that you can move ahead with your project plans. Now, in some cases, you may be the decision maker, so be sure to consider the same set of factors when initiating your project before moving to the next stage. No worries. You will learn all the details about how to create a project proposal. We will be getting into more detail of what this is and how to create one later in the course. Voila. Once your project is approved, you'll move into the second step of the project lifecycle, which is to make a plan. In this phase, you'll create a budget and set the project schedule. You'll establish the project team and determine each person's roles and responsibilities. Let's pause for a second. You may be thinking, ugh, why can't we just get started? But that's the thing with project management. Deliberate planning is critical to a project's success. A crucial part of project management is planning for risk and change. An experienced project manager knows that plans always change. This ability to adapt is all about thinking and planning ahead. Scheduling delays, budget changes, technology and software requirements, legal issues, quality control, and access to resources are just some of the more common types of risks and changes that a project manager needs to consider. So it's important to keep in mind that planning is key to reducing those risks. But don't worry, if the idea of risks seems a little overwhelming right now, in later courses, we'll teach you all about understanding risks. Just know that it's really important not to skip this step and to always make a plan. Again, the success of your project depends on it. Once you have a plan, you'll communicate all of this information to your team. That way, each member will know which tasks they'll own and what to do if they have questions or if they run into problems. You'll also communicate your plan with others who have an interest in the project's success so that they are aware of your plans and your progress as the project continues to move forward. Nice job. We've made it halfway through the steps of a project lifecycle. Up next, we'll check out the remaining two phases. Executing and completing tasks and closing the project. Catch you in a bit. Welcome back. We just learned about the core tasks that need to be completed and the first two phases of the project lifecycle. Initiating the project and making plans. Now, it's time to put your plans into action. Remember, it's not your job to actually do all the tasks. Your primary job as the project manager is to manage the progress of the project as a whole. This means you'll oversee your team's efforts and make sure everyone understands what's expected of them, what tasks need to be done and how and when to complete those tasks. It's also your job to help remove any obstacles and to alert the right people if it looks like there might be a delay to the project. This means you'll need to communicate with your team and anyone else involved in your project through meetings, written communications like memos, emails or internal chat tools and other working documents like task reports. Quick pro tip, if in doubt, err on the side of over communication. As your project progresses, you'll make adjustments to the schedule, budget and allocation of resources, clearly communicating updates all along the way. When all the tasks are complete and you've met the project goal, it's time to close the project. This phase is usually overlooked because it's easy to assume that once the project goal has been delivered, everyone can move on, but hold up. There's still a lot that needs to be done. First, check to make sure all tasks have been completed, including any work that was added along the way. Be sure any outstanding invoices have been paid, resources are returned and accounted for and project documentation has been submitted. Next, and this is very important, get confirmation that the final outcome of your project is acceptable to the people you're delivering it to. It is crucial to your project's success that the person who asked you to manage the project is satisfied with the end result. Once your project has been accepted as meeting its goals, take some time to reflect on what went well and maybe what didn't go so well. This reflection is usually called a retrospective and it's a chance to note best practices and learn how to manage a project more effectively next time. Even if everything went great, the notes from your retrospective are also valuable to the people or organization receiving the end result of the project. That's because they can use that information to inform decisions about their business the next time they consider a project. Now it's time to collect all the project documentation that you've created or collected along the way, including all of your plans and reflections and share the final results of your project with your stakeholders. Remember, stakeholders are people who are interested in and affected by the project's completion and success. Depending on the type of project, stakeholders can include a department or organization's management team, clients or customers of your product or service, users of your new tool or process, or even the community at large if you're planning a community town hall meeting. Pro tip, stakeholders play a huge role in the development and success of your project. You'll learn a lot more about these key players later on, but for now, just know that they're like the VIPs of your project. Next, take some time to celebrate the effort your team invested in the project. The celebrations help people feel good about the work they've done and think of the work as uplifting and rewarding because it truly is. Some ideas for small celebrations are a company or a team-wide email, thanking the team and acknowledging individual efforts. Now for big projects, you may even consider a company party to celebrate the team and the project's success. To wrap up, you and your team can formally move on from the project so that you can pursue new projects in the future. Well, as you can see, being a project manager is a lot of work, but it's very rewarding and it's all, well, manageable when you follow through with the project lifecycle. You can see how the organization, communication, and improvements you add to various areas of a project can make the entire team more effective and efficient. And you can have an impact on many areas of a project in a way that's greater than if you focused on any one task on the project. Similar to a coach with a sports team, even though you aren't actually playing a direct role in the game, your guidance, your communication, and your team building can make the difference in a happy, high-performing, and successful team. In later courses, we'll discuss each of these project phases and you'll learn methods, techniques, and tools to help you. For now, we just want you to become familiar with the general project management process and we'll share some of the terms and concepts used in the field that you'll need to know as you develop your project management skills. Up next, we'll introduce you to two of the more popular project methodologies, waterfall and agile. See you soon. Welcome back. As we've already discussed, not all projects are alike. Different types of projects will benefit from applying different project management approaches or methodologies. A project management methodology is a set of guiding principles and processes for owning a project through its life cycle. Project management methodologies help guide project managers throughout a project with steps to take, tasks to complete, and principles for managing the project overall. We will talk through two different types, linear and iterative. Linear means the previous phase or task has to be completed before the next can start. A linear approach would work well for a project like building a house. You'd need the blueprint created before you can begin laying the foundation. You've got to know exactly what the house will look like, its dimensions, and what type and how many resources you'll need.  There's also a clear goal. You know exactly what the house will look like. It's unlikely that in the middle of building the house, your client is going to decide they'd rather have a multi-level Victorian instead of a single level bungalow. What's more, even if they wanted the change, it's too late. You already laid the foundation and built the walls for the bungalow. Done and done. A bungalow is what they wanted and a bungalow is what they'll get. Using this type of linear project management approach, completing each step in order and sticking to the agreed upon specific results and being able to deliver just what the client ordered. For a project like producing a new show for a television company, on the other hand, it might be more effective to use a methodology that uses an iterative, more flexible approach where some of the phases and tasks will overlap or happen at the same time that other tasks are being worked on. Your team comes up with an idea for a show and films a pilot. You run several tests of the pilot in different locations and time slots. As your team gathers feedback about the pilot, adjustments to the show are made. At the same time, you're able to make decisions and start working on other parts of the project like hiring permanent actors, starting film production and working on advertising, even while the final version of the show is being worked on. And even though the overall goal is clear, produce a new show, the type of show could end up being different from the original idea. Your team may have started out creating a one-hour show, but during testing, they realized a half-hour show would actually be more popular. Or maybe a supporting character got a lot of positive feedback so you wanna make them one of the main characters. What's more important is that you produce a show that audiences are going to watch. Because of the iterative approach, plans remain flexible and you're able to make adjustments as you go along. Each of these projects benefits from a different approach to how tasks will be carried out in order to best meet the project's goals. Linear projects don't require many changes during development and have a clear sequential process. If you stick to the plan, it's likely you'll finish your tasks within the time schedule and all other criteria. Iterative projects allow for more flexibility and anticipate changes. You're able to test out parts of the project to make sure they work before the final result is delivered. And you can deliver parts of the project as they are completed rather than waiting for the entire project to be done. Over the years, the field of project management has developed many different methods that project managers can choose from that will help them manage most effectively. Google takes a hybrid approach to project management. We mix and match from different methods depending on the type of project. Our project managers are encouraged to adapt their own style to what makes the most sense to their project and their team. So are you starting to see how different approaches might benefit the projects you'll be working on now? Pretty soon, you'll become a pro at picking an approach or combining approaches to fit with your project. Up next, we'll learn about the most well-known and most used project management methods that you can add to your project management toolbox. Two of the most popular project management methodologies are Waterfall and Agile. Each of these methods has a rich and complex history. In fact, you could take an entire certificate on just one of these methods alone. You'll have a chance to learn more about Waterfall and Agile methods in the upcoming courses of this certificate. So be sure to check those out after completing this one to learn more. For now, I'll just give you a brief introduction and provide you with some examples that illustrate how different types of projects can be more successful or easier to manage when you consider which method to use. First, let's take a look at the Waterfall approach. Waterfall, as a methodology, was created in the 70s and refers to the sequential ordering of phases. You complete one at a time down the line like a waterfall starting at the top of a mountain and traveling to the bottom. Remember the definition and example of linear from that last video? Well, Waterfall has a linear approach. At first, Waterfall was used in the physical engineering disciplines like manufacturing and construction. Then software emerged as an important field of engineering and Waterfall was applied to those kinds of projects as well. It still used a lot in engineering fields, including product feature design and application, also known as app design. Over time, other industries like event planning and retail have adapted Waterfall phases to fit their projects. There are now many styles of Waterfall and each style has its own specific set of steps. What they all have in common though is that they follow an ordered set of steps that are directly linked to clearly defined expectations, resources and goals that are not likely to change. Let's take a closer look. The phases of a Waterfall project lifecycle follow the same standard project lifecycle flow that you learned about earlier, initiating, planning, executing, which includes managing and completing tasks and closing. So when would you want to use a Waterfall approach to project management? Well, when the phases of the project are clearly defined or when there are tasks to complete before another can begin or when changes to the project are very expensive to implement once it started. For example, if you were catering an event for a client on a very tight budget, you might want to use Waterfall methodology. This way, you could confirm the number of guests first, then very clearly define the menu, get approval and agreement on the menu items and costs, order the unreturnable ingredients and successfully feed the guests. Because the budget is limited, you can't afford to make changes or waste food. The traditional method won't allow for the client to make changes to the menu once the order has been placed. You can also reserve tables, chairs and dishes because you know exactly how much and what kind of food is being prepared. A well-thought-out traditional approach to managing a project can help you reach your desired outcome with as little pain as possible during the project implementation. By spending extra effort thinking through the entire project up front, you'll set yourself up for success. Now, in an ideal world, following this approach will help you identify the right people and tasks, plan accordingly to avoid any hiccups along the way, create room for documenting your plans and progress and enable you to hit that goal. However, plans don't always go, well, according to plan. In fact, they rarely do. The Waterfall method has some risk management practices to help avoid and deal with project changes. Luckily, there are other methodologies that are entirely built for change and flexibility. One of these is agile, another popular project management approach. The term agile means being able to move quickly and easily. It also refers to flexibility, which means being willing and able to change and adapt. Projects that use an agile approach often have many tasks being worked on at the same time or in various stages of completion, which makes it an iterative approach. The concepts that shaped agile methodology began to emerge in the 90s as a response to the growing demand for faster delivery of products, mainly software applications at that time, but it wasn't officially named agile until 2001. The phases of an agile project also follow the project lifecycle stages we described earlier, generally speaking. However, rather than having to always go in order or wait for one phase to end before starting the next, agile project phases overlap and tasks are completed in iterations, which in scrum are called sprints. Scrum is a form of agile that you'll learn more about in the course focused entirely on agile. And by sprint, we do not mean running a race as fast as possible. In this case, sprints are short chunks of time, usually one to four weeks, where a team works together to focus on completing specific tasks. What's important to understand is that agile is more of a mindset than just a series of steps or phases. It's concerned with building an effective collaborative team that seeks regular feedback from the client so that they can deliver the best value as quickly as possible and adjust as changes emerge. Projects that are best suited for an agile approach are those where the client has an idea of what they want but doesn't have a concrete picture in mind or they have a set of qualities they'd like to see in the end result but aren't as concerned with exactly what it looks like. Another indicator that a project may benefit from agile is the level of high uncertainty and risk involved with the project. We'll talk more about those things later. An example of a project that would work well with an agile approach might be building a website. Your team would build the different parts of the website in sprints and deliver each part to the client as they are built. This way the website can be launched with some parts say the main homepage that are complete and ready for public view while other parts maybe the company blog or the ability to book online appointments continue to get built out over time. This allows the team to get feedback early on about what works and what doesn't make adjustments along the way and reduce wasted efforts. In this same website example the waterfall method will plan for and require the whole website to be complete before it can launch. Having a basic understanding of waterfall and agile will help you figure out an effective way to organize and plan out your project and knowing about these two methodologies will come in handy during future job interviews because you'll be able to demonstrate a solid understanding of the project management landscape. Waterfall and agile are two of the more common and well-known project management methodologies but they are by no means the only or the best ones. In the next videos you'll learn about Lean Six Sigma another way to approach projects. Here at Google believe it or not we select from many of these methodologies for project management. Hey again, now you've got waterfall and agile methodologies in your project manager toolbox. Lean Six Sigma is one more you can add. It's a combination of two parent methodologies, Lean and Six Sigma. The uses for Lean Six Sigma are common in projects that have goals to save money, improve quality and move through processes quickly. It also focuses on team collaboration which promotes a positive work environment. The idea is that when your team feels valued motivation and productivity increases and the whole process functions more smoothly. There are five phases in the Lean Six Sigma approach. They are define, measure, analyze, improve and control commonly known as DM-AIC. DM-AIC is a strategy for process improvement meaning you're trying to figure out where the problems are in the current process and fix them so that everything runs more smoothly. The goal of each step is to ensure the best possible results for your project. Just like with waterfall and agile there are more specific details for using DM-AIC and the Lean Six Sigma approach. But what's great about the DM-AIC process is that it can be used to solve any business problem. Let's break it down. The first phase is to define the project goal and what it will take to meet it. This first phase is very similar to the initiation phase of traditional project management. Let's take a real scenario to illustrate. Imagine that you are brought on as a project manager for a large travel company to help streamline and minimize customer service wait times that have been surging due to a recent sales promotion. Before you begin working on tackling the issue you're gonna need to define the project goal and talk to stakeholders about expectations for the project. In this case, the goal is to take average wait times down to less than 10 minutes on average compared to 30 minutes. Next, it's time to measure how the current process is performing. In order to improve processes, DM-AIC focuses on data. Here you wanna map out the current process and locate exactly where the problems are and what kind of effect the problems have on the process. Using our example, you're trying to figure out why it's taking so long for the travel company to address a customer service issue. To do this, you look at company data like average wait times, number of customers per day and seasonal variations. Then you'll set a plan for how you'll get that data and how often to measure it. This could look something like having the company generate reports on a weekly, monthly, quarterly basis. In other situations, you might have employees or customers fill out surveys or look at inventory shipping and tracking records, things like that. Once you have the data and measurements, you can move on to the next phase, which is analyze. Here, you'll begin to identify gaps and issues. In our example, after mapping out the process and data points, you may see that staffing is inadequate on days where customers are the highest. Data analysis is important for project managers regardless of which method you choose and we will learn more about that in an upcoming course. From your data, you'll have a strong understanding of causes and solutions to get to the next stage. Improve. Oftentimes, project managers may want to leap straight to this phase, but really projects and process improvements should only be made after a careful analysis. This is the point where you present your findings and get ready to start making improvements. In our example, this could be modifying staffing to address customer needs. The last step of this cycle is control. You've gotten the process and project to a good place and now it's time to implement it and keep it there. Controlling is all about learning from the work you did upfront to put new processes and documentation in place and continue to monitor so the company doesn't revert back to the old inefficient way of doing things. To sum it all up, you can remember DMAIC like this. Defining tells you what to measure. Measuring tells you what to analyze. Analyzing tells you what to improve and improving tells you what to control. Lean Six Sigma and the DMAIC approach are ideal when the project goal includes improving a current process to fix complex or high-risk problems, like improving sales conversions or eliminating a bottleneck, which is when things get backed up during a process. Following the DMAIC process prevents the likelihood of skipping important steps and increases the chances of a successful project and is a way for your team to discover best practices that your client can use going forward. It uses data and focuses on the customer or end user to solve problems in a way that builds on previous learning so that you can discover effective permanent solutions for difficult problems. There are many ways out there that break the flow of project management into digestible phases and approaches, all with the same end goal of accomplishing the desired outcome as smoothly as possible and delivering the best value. Like I said earlier, at Google, we follow a lot of different approaches. For instance, an engineering team releasing a customer-focused product may primarily use Agile when creating the product, but decide to plug in some of the aspects of waterfall project management for planning and documentation. A customer service team might focus on using Lean 6 Sigma to improve an experience for our users, like offering new features based on a recent analysis, but the team might develop parts of the code and roll out the features using Agile iterations and sprints to allow for change. Or one of our internal education and training teams may focus solely on waterfall project management to achieve a targeted goal of having all employees complete an annual compliance training. Here, waterfall makes sense since the requirements of the training program are fixed and so is the deadline and goal. The biggest takeaway is to know the various methods and tools to be able to confidently apply what works best for you, your team, and the end goal. There is no real prescription for how to execute a project perfectly because there are always pieces you can't 100% control. But the good news is you can get pretty close with the skill sets you develop through learning about these different frameworks. Congrats on completing this module on the project lifecycle and project management methodologies. So what did you think? Hopefully this introduction to a few of the core project management methodologies and hearing from a Googler about the way we approach project management here at Google has you interested and excited to keep on learning. One of the great things about project management is that it can be really creative and present you with challenging problems to solve that have a rewarding impact. You get to work with teams full of interesting, skilled, and dedicated people who help with the problem solving and idea generating process. Every project is an opportunity to learn and try something new. Waterfall, Agile, and Lean Six Sigma are solid foundations from which to build your understanding of project management. Each methodology has its own set of rules, values, and processes. There is no such thing as a right or a wrong methodology. There is no one size fits all approach to take. And there's almost no limit to the number of ways you can blend different approaches to fit the needs of your project. Your goal in choosing a methodology is to maximize the use of resources and time. The method or combination of methods will help you reach your goal in the most efficient and effective way. This might feel like choice overload right here, but hang in there. With time and practice, you'll become more comfortable with the benefits and limits of different methodologies. And you'll be able to approach your project assignments with confidence. Next, you'll build on these foundations by learning how an organization's structure and culture can impact the way you manage your project. See you soon. Hey there, how are you feeling so far? We're nearing the end of this course. And honestly, you've done a great job. Previously, we talked about the life cycle of a project, the task breakdown of phases, and some different methodologies you can use as a project manager to help ensure your project success. You also heard from my colleagues about some of the ways we manage projects at Google. Here, you'll learn about organizational structure and culture and how they impact the way you set up and execute your project. I'll describe some common types of structures that you're likely to encounter during your project management career. You'll also learn about change management, which refers to the way you present the final project to the organization and get them to accept and implement your project outcome. These are important elements to ensure that your project is adopted and lives on. Are you ready? Let's get into these concepts. Welcome back. In this video, I'm going to talk about the concept of organizational structure and the project manager's role within a given structure. Keep in mind that your role won't be the same for every team or organization because many companies are structured differently. But this overview will serve as a foundation for wherever you work. So what is organizational structure? Organizational structure refers to the way a company or organization is arranged or structured. This structure also tells you how job tasks are divided and coordinated and how all the different members of the organization relate to one another. In other words, organizational structure gives you a sense of who reports to who, but organizational structure is much more than that. Understanding the different types of organizational structures can serve as a map to help you determine where you fit in, who you should communicate with, and how frequently to communicate with them. Now that we have a basic overview of the definition of organizational structure, let's look at the various organizational hierarchies that you may encounter at work. An organization's structure is most commonly mapped out using a reporting chart or org chart, which is short for organizational chart. Reporting charts show the relationship between people and groups within the organization and details who each person or group reports to. There are a few different types of organizational structures, but for this course, we're gonna focus on two of the more popular ones, classic and matrix. Let's start with classic. The classic grouping includes what are usually called functional or top-down structures. The classic grouping follows a typical chain of command where the chief executive officer, also known as CEO, and other executives are at the top, followed by directors or managers, then their direct reports, and so on. Each of these directors or managers typically oversee teams within their function of the organization, like marketing, sales, or human resources. You can see this type of structure in effect by looking at a branch of the military. Take the army, for example. You may enter the army as a private and report up to a sergeant who oversees multiple people in your squad, and that sergeant ultimately reports up to a lieutenant and so on. If your organization works in this structure, as the project manager, you might communicate regularly with your manager, the person directly above you, and also with your peers who work on the same types of projects as you. But it isn't always a straightforward top-down approach. There are other factors at play that make organizational structures a bit more complicated than we can see on paper. For instance, you may have project teams that sit across different functions. This is common in many companies, Google included, and is usually referred to as the matrix structure. You might think of a matrix structure as a grid, where you still have people above you, but you also have people in adjacent departments who expect to hear updates on your work progress. These people may not be your direct bosses, but you are responsible for communicating with them since they may inform changes to your work. For example, at Google, we have the major functions of marketing, sales, and more, with a traditional reporting chain. But we also have programs for our products, like Google Search, where project teams consist of program managers, engineers, user experience, or UX designers, and so on. And each team member reports to their own management chains. Another example is my organization. It's called Global Affairs. I have a direct manager who oversees the work I do in my core role and who is responsible for delivering my performance reviews. But because I work with multiple people across other teams and specialties, I often get asked to manage projects where I'm informally working with lead program managers in other organizations. Similar to my own manager, I provide updates to that program manager, seek their approval, and solicit feedback on our partnership and progress. So to recap, the classic structure follows a traditional top-down system of reporting, and the matrix structure has direct higher ups to report to and stakeholders from other departments or programs. Knowing which kind of organizational structure you're working in plays a major role in how you prepare for and carry out your project, or even in an interview. During an interview, you can ask about the type of organizational structure the company uses and where your role will fit in. This will help you in the interviewer communicate clearly about the people you will engage with daily and the expectations for the role. In the next course, you'll hear from a Googler about a third type of structure, Project Management Office, which you might see in some of the organizations where you work or interview. Enjoy. Hey again, ready to keep going? The previous videos explained that knowing what kind of organizational structure you're working in plays a major role in how you prepare for and carry out your project. An organization's structure provides the framework for accountability and communication. As the project manager, it's vital that you understand who you're reporting to on each project, and just as importantly, who the members of your team report to. Knowing the organizational structure also tells you how and where to get the resources you'll need so you can get the project done efficiently. When you understand the organization's structure, you'll be able to identify how it impacts the way you manage the project. One way organizational structure can impact the way you manage your project is by the amount of authority given to the project manager. Authority has to do with your ability to make decisions for the project that impact the organization. In some cases, you might have the authority to do things like select the vendors who provide services or goods for the project. Other times, you might have a set of vendors selected for you. Your level of authority and responsibility will vary from project to project. Another way organizational structures can impact project management is through resource availability. Managing a project is a lot easier when you know how to access the people, equipment, and budget that you need. Let's explore how different structures can affect the way you manage a project. In a classic structure, you might find yourself with less authority and a tighter scope. You may need to rely on getting approval from the appropriate managers, directors, and department heads in order to move forward and complete certain tasks. In this case, it's likely that these people are in charge of the people on your team and the resources you need. As a project manager, working in a classic structure, you may depend on the managers in your organization to approve resources. In other words, the amount of people working on your project or the budget that you have allocated to your project is decided by the leaders of your department or function. In a classic structure, you may have to go through a chain of approvals and advocate for more resources if you need them. For example, if you need a budget increase, you would report this to your manager. Then your manager might escalate this up to their management chain to get approval. That's the classic structure, a traditional, top-down arrangement of employees and authority. Now, let's explore the matrix structure. The main difference with a matrix structure is that employees often have two or more managers or leaders they'll need to work with and update.  If members are working on multiple projects, they may have even more managers. This can affect your authority as a project manager as you will need to cooperate with more than one leader in the organization. You may need to share resources and negotiate priorities. The key is to make sure you know who your stakeholders are and who controls what. Since the chain of command isn't always as clearly defined as in the classic structure. Because there isn't always a clear chain of command in a matrix structure, you need to make sure you have identified and communicated with anyone you might need to report to and get approval from well before the project begins. Once this is established though, your project within a matrix structure should be able to run efficiently. Matrix structures emphasize a strong project focus from the team and the organization. So you as the project manager, generally have more autonomy to make decisions and gather resources as needed. As I hope you've noticed, the way an organization is structured can have a big impact on the planning and execution of your project. Understanding all of this will help you run and manage a project much more efficiently. Next, I'll tell you about organizational culture. Another factor that impacts how you manage your project. Catch you in a bit. Hi, I'm Lon. I'm a director of program management at Google. A program management director has a team of project managers to help execute and bring products to our users. I work on the project management team or the PMO team for a group called Geo. And in Geo, we bring geospatial products to our users. Things like Google Maps and Google Earth and the team that I'm a part of actually works on all of the data and imagery that powers all of those products. A project management office is a team of project managers. We are a group that coordinates all of the different parts of a project together, including folks who work on our product, engineers, and many business functions. And we help bring all of those ideas to life. My role specifically in working in a PMO is ensuring that we're connecting all of the different parts that are associated with projects to ensure that they're all connected together. Sometimes we find out when projects are happening, there's a piece of it here and a piece of it there and they may not even know about each other. One of the most critical things that project managers get to do is they get to have a bird's eye view of everything that's happening in a project. So that's a lot of my role and what I'm working on with my team is ensuring that all of the pieces that need to connect together actually do connect together. I've had many different roles inside of many different PMOs inside my career. All the way from taking just a piece of a part of a project when I was really early in my career and then expanded that into taking a full end-to-end project which were smaller and then building up my career and then moving into really large, complex projects. And at each stage of these, I had loved every piece of it. So even from the time that I had only a part of a project, I got to go really deep inside of some of those technologies and have really deep and meaningful relationships with the teams that I have been working with. And that's not always possible when you're working on a really large project that has hundreds of people. You won't be able to develop deep relationships across that large group. On the flip side, when you're working on a large, complex project, you get to see all of the different gears turning inside of a large ecosystem of things that are happening. But that took a long time in my career to build up but at each phase of it, I realized I was learning a little bit more and I was learning how to work a little bit more broadly and think a little bit more differently but really ensuring how do you continue to keep the execution and rigor of our project to ensure that ideas were coming to life. One of the biggest benefits I see in working in a PMO is that you get to share a lot of best practices with each other. One of the downsides I think for project management is typically we don't get to work with each other because we're working with a lot of client teams and we're working with other disciplines but a huge benefit in working in a PMO is that you get a connect with other project managers where you can share your challenges and see how somebody else has gotten through it or you can share templates or tools that you may take time to develop on your own but somebody else already has handy so you can borrow or just steal their tool for your own use. But the best part is you have a community of people who think the same way about problems in a very methodical, in a very task oriented, in a very action oriented and goal oriented way which is not typically true if you're working across all other disciplines all the time. Hey again, let's begin with two quick questions. What do you know about culture and how do you define culture? When I hear the term culture, the first things that come to mind are things like languages, food, clothing and types of dress. It's important to note that there are other maybe less obvious but just as impactful parts of culture like beliefs, traditions and customs. When we learn about someone's culture we gain a much deeper insight and more complete picture into who they are and how they navigate the world. The same can be true for organizations and organizations culture provides context and acts as a guide for what their people value, how they operate on a daily basis, how they relate to one another and how they can be expected to perform. There are many ways to define organizational culture. Some definitions emphasize teamwork and innovation while others focus on attention to detail and achievement. Entire thesis papers, workshops and conferences are dedicated to defining and analyzing organizational culture. We only have a few minutes here so I'll do my best to sum it up. Organizational culture is in part the values employees share as well as the organization's values, mission, history and so on. In other words, organizational culture can be thought of as the company's personality. Understanding an organization's culture will help you navigate your team more effectively toward achieving the project's goal. It also impacts the way you plan your project. You'll need to be familiar with an organization's culture so that you can minimize conflict and complete the project with as much support and harmony as possible. An organization's mission and values can provide clues to its culture. If you can demonstrate how the project supports the company's mission or how the project aligns with the company's values, you'll have more support from executives and stakeholders to get the approvals and resources you need. Pay attention to what leaders in the organization value when conducting business. Does the management team care about speed over perfection? How do people within the organization make decisions? Do they thoroughly examine every option for every decision? This will help inform which values are the most important to them and how you can approach your decision-making. If you're ever stuck in your project and need guidance about making a certain decision or are unsure how to communicate with someone in the organization, reviewing the mission and values may help direct you toward the right way to handle that situation. Here's an example. If the company values stability and user feedback, it might encourage expanding the project timeline to allow for testing and then making decisions based on those testing results. If the company values innovation and revenue growth, it might encourage a shorter timeline to get the product out faster and taking some risks to try out new ideas. As a project manager, when you understand the different types of values and what to prioritize, you'll have an idea of how you can better prepare for conversations within the organization. Ideally, you'll wanna have a good sense of an organization's culture before you start the first phase of your project. If you are interviewing for a project management position, asking about the culture is a great way to get more information about the company. It also shows the interviewer that you're knowledgeable about the impact culture can have on a project. To help you gain a better sense of an organization's culture, consider the following questions. How do people prefer to communicate? Is it primarily through scheduled meetings via email, over the phone? How are decisions made? Majority vote or top-down approvals? What kinds of rituals are in place when someone new comes to the office? Are they taken out to lunch, given a tour of the building or introduced to the staff? How are projects typically run? Do they prefer a classic? Do they prefer a matrix or some other style of project management? And finally, what kinds of practices, behaviors and values are reflected by the people in the organization? Is overtime or weekend work an expectation? Are there company-sanctioned social events? Finding out what the company values will tell you a lot about the culture and how to handle communication, manage expectations and identify potential conflicts as you work through your project. Once you begin working on a project, here are some ways to navigate company culture that will help you get the most out of your team and ensure that your project is supported. As I just discussed, make sure to ask questions. As you observe the culture, try asking your peers what they think is going well and what they would change. Your peers may have the same opinion as you, and if not, you may learn something new you didn't learn in the interview process. Either way, you'll be in a better place to assess risk, adjust your current project or be more prepared for projects in the future. It's also a good idea to make observations. It's important to understand how things work and what people like and respect about the company's culture. When working in different geographies, it's also important to be aware of established customs like bowing, shaking hands or wearing head coverings. This will help you gain understanding and form respectful relationships. Lastly, it's important to understand your impact. Be aware of your role as a change agent. A change agent is someone who helps the organization transform by focusing on improving organizational effectiveness and development. You and your project will most likely affect the organization in some way. Sometimes just the presence of a project manager creates changes in the office environment or employee dynamics. If your project requires major changes that the organization must adapt to, be mindful of how extreme those changes could be and seek feedback and approval early on. The company may not agree with certain kinds of changes that don't seem to fall in line with their mission, vision or culture. It's important to recognize the limits or boundaries of changes to implement and understand what would be the most beneficial for the project and the company overall. As you can see, organizational culture has a strong influence over how decisions are made about the project. The way an organization is structured usually influence the type of culture that exists. So it's important to consider both structure and culture when planning and carrying out your project. Coming up, we'll talk about the way your project can create change in the workplace and how to get stakeholders and employees on board with implementing your project. Hi, I'm Amar. I'm a senior engineering program manager at Google Shopping. And on a day-to-day basis, I drive programs which spans across multiple products at Google. The way I look at program management, it's more like life is program management, right? Everything in life is program, having kids, building a house, buying car, everything we do. There's a start and end kind of deal. And what we see across the board in anything and everything we do, there's a tremendous amount of friction in the system, in the decision making, in the budgeting, everything in life, right? And that applies equally to software program management. Or even if you're in a construction industry, if you see right from starting the construction projec