Welcome to the Club! (Free PDU)
First of all, congratulations! Earning your Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification is a tremendous achievement that places you in truly elite company.
With our rapidly expanding global population, it's worth considering just how select this group really is. Currently, there are approximately 1.5 million PMPs worldwide. That might sound like a lot—after all, 1.5 million dollars would certainly look impressive in your bank account, and 1.5 million puppy snuggles would be a welcome comfort after managing challenging projects. 1.5 million seconds of paid time off would be over 52 8-hour days spent with friends and family away from the office.
But let's put this in perspective: our world population exceeds 8.2 billion people. This means PMPs represent roughly 0.018% of humanity. How small is that? If we translate this to time, it would be equivalent to being PMP certified for less than 5 days out of a 72-year lifespan. That's an exclusive club indeed!
This rarity is no accident. As you've personally experienced, the PMP certification is deliberately challenging. Across social media platforms, we regularly see stories of candidates who studied diligently for months only to fall short on their first attempt. As John Hawkins wisely noted, "If success were easy, everybody would do it. Because it's not, you have the opportunity to distinguish yourself by solving problems." This sentiment perfectly captures both the essence of project management and your recent accomplishment.
So what have we established? The world has billions of people. Very few hold the PMP certification. Earning it requires significant dedication and expertise. You absolutely should feel proud of yourself—and yet, this is just the beginning of your professional journey!
For many (myself included), the path to PMP certification was hardly enjoyable. The timed exam format, the pressure of preparing, the cost, and the anxiety of test day all made for a stressful experience. I remember vividly: surrendering my belongings to a locker, entering an unfamiliar testing facility with nothing but a scrap piece of paper, and feeling it was "now or never." When I passed, I felt more relief than joy.
No sooner had I earned those coveted three letters than my colleagues started reminding me about Professional Development Units (PDUs). "Get started right away!" they insisted. Initially, this felt like yet another burden—more studying, more PMP "things." But I quickly realized that earning PDUs is fundamentally different from exam preparation. It should be an enjoyable process rather than a stressful goal. This is a way for you to grow your skills as a project manager and learn more effective ways of working, leading to less stress and better project outcomes.
For starters, you have three years to fulfill the requirement of 60 PDUs. Even reading this article will help you begin accumulating them, with minimal effort but meaningful takeaways.
I began my PDU journey listening to webinars, which I initially thought were free, but then realized my membership costs were partially funding this access. These webinars earned me many of my first PDUs before I concluded that this approach, like much of my PMP study, was a form of mental torture I didn't need to endure. The auto-reporting of PDUs to PMI was convenient, but I discovered I could find more engaging content elsewhere with better takeaways, and it only took an extra 30 seconds to self-report PDUs, with no approval issues.
As time passed and I accumulated dozens of PDUs, I found myself growing restless with these standard resources. I craved more—content that ventured beyond clichéd topics into territory that was more intriguing, sometimes more challenging, and ultimately more enjoyable. This realization sparked my mission to create a platform specifically designed for PMPs to earn PDUs that are, quite simply, more interesting.
Let's be honest—some project management topics can be about as exciting as reading the warning tag on your mattress. Explaining the project management life cycle or dissecting a project charter isn't exactly edge-of-your-seat material. But what if you could watch an animated video instead of listening to a dry webinar? Complete a puzzle instead of passively consuming a podcast? Solve a virtual escape room rather than trudging through an entire textbook? That's the vision behind PDU Hero—making professional development genuinely engaging.
Beyond making content more interesting, I want every PMP to truly enjoy the process of earning PDUs and remember what those letters actually stand for: Professional Development Units. Earning PDUs just to maintain your certification is like eating only your least favorite food to stay alive. Why not find something nourishing that you actually enjoy? My goal is for PMPs to walk away from each course, no matter how brief, with at least one valuable "nugget"—one thought-provoking concept or practical method they can apply to their projects immediately.
A friend of mine who recently passed away often said, "There's nothing new under the sun." While this might sound blunt or even pessimistic, consider how rarely genuine "secrets" emerge that transform entire industries. Project management is no exception. New methodologies develop, certainly—projects in 2025 are managed differently than those in 1965. We're continuously learning and evolving, which is the essence of professional development. Yet if we're hunting for revolutionary secrets or dramatic breakthroughs, we're likely to be disappointed unless we look more carefully at what's already in front of us.
How often are groundbreaking inventions truly discovered versus simply being better understandings of existing phenomena? Even the discovery of gravity was merely a clearer comprehension of what had been literally holding us down for millennia (see what I did there?). Project management follows the same pattern. Methods and tools come and go, but what truly matters is developing a deeper understanding of principles that have always existed, allowing us to better prepare for what lies ahead.
When it comes to effectively managing your projects, what's more important than your PMP certification? Frankly, everything! Having those three letters after your name demonstrates sufficient knowledge to pass an exam, but says nothing about your ability to actually lead a project, motivate a team, drive toward success, or deliver tangible value. This is where practice, practical application, and ongoing professional development become essential.
Consider the following insights that offer far more value than what certification alone provides. Enjoy this journey and perhaps jot down a few notes—they'll not only benefit your future practice but also serve as documentation of your learning when you submit today's reading time for PDUs.
Ask Dumb Questions
Do you remember that divisive internet phenomenon from 2015—the dress that some people swore was black and blue while others insisted it was white and gold? While seemingly trivial, this viral debate taught us something profound: we don't all perceive the world in the same way, even when looking at identical information.
Most of us have topics we carefully avoid at family gatherings. "Please don't ask Aunt Susie about religion or politics at Thanksgiving," my mom would warn. We understand that certain questions, however innocent they might seem, can trigger unnecessary conflict. But the color of a dress? Surely that's a simple, non-controversial question... right? Apparently not. (For the record, it was clearly black and blue ;-)).
This illustrates a fascinating truth: some questions are harmless, while others can ignite fierce debates. The dress controversy generated even more frustration than those inescapable Verizon commercials from the 2000s with their endless refrain of "Can you hear me now?"—a simple, repetitive question that somehow transformed into marketing gold.
While no lives were lost debating dress colors or enduring telecom advertisements (I hope), these phenomena sparked global conversations. This demonstrates the innate power of questions to capture attention and drive engagement.
I was recently reminded of this lesson when assembling a cabinet without questioning which way the doors should open. The result? A complete tear-down and rebuild after I'd initially assembled the entire thing backwards. I should have been asking more questions (and actually reading the instructions)!
In many instances, questions—or the lack thereof—have had far more serious consequences. Investigative reporter John Carreyrou demonstrated this when he began questioning the validity of claims made by Elizabeth Holmes and her company Theranos. His persistent inquiry helped expose that their revolutionary blood testing technology, supposedly poised to change healthcare forever, was not as advertised. Carreyrou's questioning set off a chain of events that uncovered massive fraud and ultimately landed founder Elizabeth Holmes in prison.
History is riddled with catastrophic failures caused by unquestioned assumptions, ignored warnings, or blind trust in flawed systems. The Challenger disaster of 1986, which killed all seven crew members on board, may have resulted partly from insufficient questioning or inappropriate responses to the questions that were asked. A fault with O-rings was ultimately blamed, despite test data from nearly a decade before the launch that had highlighted potential defects. Engineers voiced concerns about launching in cold weather, but these concerns weren't adequately addressed or explored, and NASA proceeded with tragic consequences.
The NASA space shuttle solid rocket booster project manager reportedly dismissed analysis suggesting insufficient data existed to determine whether the O-rings would seal at temperatures below 53°F. He apparently demanded to know if Morton Thiokol, the manufacturer of the solid rocket boosters, expected him to wait until April for warmer temperatures. He was asking questions, but perhaps not the right ones—or not in a manner that would allow the team to make a fully informed decision. Could more specific questions about the O-rings and the impact of low temperatures have prevented this disaster? Could the engineers have pushed back with questions challenging the project manager's acceptance of risk? NASA's subsequent investigation revealed a host of cultural issues that contributed to that fateful day—issues that proper questioning might have brought to light sooner.
Consider the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986, where a flawed reactor design combined with inadequately trained personnel led to the worst nuclear accident in history. During a safety test, operators disabled safety systems and ignored warnings—creating the perfect storm for catastrophe. Critical questions about procedural violations and safety protocols went unasked or unheeded.
Similarly, Boeing's Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, failures resulted in two crashes killing 346 people aboard Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, and demonstrated the deadly cost of insufficient questioning. Engineers and test pilots had raised concerns about the system, but crucial questions about pilot training, system redundancy, and over-reliance on a single sensor weren't adequately addressed before the aircraft entered service.
Could any of these disasters have been prevented if people had asked more questions and if those in positions of power had paid attention and sought appropriate answers? It's difficult to look back in retrospect, and we may never know with certainty, but history consistently shows that major disasters rarely stem from a single fault. Instead, they result from a culmination of defects, errors, or misjudgments that went unchallenged.
With so many cautionary tales and often so much at stake, how should we proceed as project managers? First and foremost: ask questions! Don't be afraid! We likely all grew up hearing, "there's no such thing as a stupid question." While I may not fully agree with this statement, perhaps we can modify it to: "there's no such thing as a stupid question, if you require an answer to gain more understanding." The success of your projects, perhaps more than anything else, may rely on your ability to ask questions and then analyze the data and heed the warnings that come in response.
Think about it this way—without asking any questions at all, how many times will the first information you receive on any given topic be so incredibly clear that you'll immediately understand and be able to make the applicable changes to your project? I would bet the answer is never.
Consider a real-world scenario: You're meeting with a user of your product to better understand requirements or to write a user story. This user is external to your project team—a certified nutritionist and personal trainer who has been a power user of your company's software application that tracks nutritional information. She relies heavily on your application both for herself and for her clients, and is meeting with you to discuss a new feature that tracks macronutrients in a tailored way with a proposed new dashboard.
Do you honestly believe you could meet with this user, discuss the feature, and leave with a solid understanding of the requirements without asking a single question? Of course not.
How many times have you left a meeting confused, but were afraid to ask a question because you didn't want to feel stupid or embarrassed? This mindset is a project killer. Your ability to ask questions of all your stakeholders isn't just helpful—it's critical. I can't tell you how many times questioning has saved my projects from going completely off the rails.
Sometimes a request or internal change may seem so benign and straightforward that you begin planning implementation without asking any questions. But in my experience, this is rarely the case. When faced with any change or new requirement, consider questions such as:
Who is affected by this change?
How will this impact application performance?
Will this update create any vulnerabilities?
Have we done market research on this feature?
What impacts will this change have on the user?
How quickly should this change be implemented?
Does the project team have the ability to perform this update?
Does the project team have the bandwidth to implement this change?
What is our return on investment?
I can’t tell you how many times my projects have been saved by other people asking questions. Sometimes, as our minds race to process boat loads of information, we forget the basics. I have led many meetings where I have been hyper-focused on the details, and a “stupidly simple” question from a teammate or external stakeholder has jolted me back to reality. I’ll give you a quick example from a recent meeting. I had received a request from a very important client of my software project. A client that kept the lights on for us, so to speak, and the weight of their requests were heavy. The change? A simple update to our Application Programming Interface (API) to update a conversion method that was providing incorrect information. It was a bug. And depending on how you looked at it, a fairly significant one.
It was caused by one of two issues–either the field in the JSON response was wrong, or the conversion was wrong. Without detailing the actual API or the name of my real client, I’ll give you a fictional equivalent of the issue. When the client requested that we return the properties of the fruit in their refrigerator, we returned a list in which the quantity of fruit was listed as the weight of fruit. For instance, instead of returning a quantity of 5 apples, we returned a list that stated there were 5 pounds of apples. We should have returned a quantity of 5, and a weight of x number of pounds.
I ran some personal tests and documented my findings. The next day I assembled the team and other key stakeholders in a meeting so we could discuss the bug and hopefully push out an update to fix this issue as soon as possible. For this particular client, we were not going to wait weeks for the next planned release. This bug was significant enough to fix and deploy quickly.
I began the meeting explaining which client had voiced the issue, showed my test cases in detail, and explained the impact of this bug for the client. While it seemed benign on a quick glance, there was a trickle down effect that our APIs misinformation was causing our client to receive a large number of complaints from their users.
After about five minutes of proudly explaining the issue and implications, I stopped talking and asked if there were any questions. One of the software developers on my team immediately spoke up and said, “Sorry, but which service of the API are we talking about?” I felt like a complete moron. I had so confidently explained the issue, but forgot the most basic component. On a team with dozens of engineers supporting multiple applications with dozens of services, I had missed the most basic information that should have been one of the first things out of my mouth.
“No apology necessary. Thank you for that question. I am sorry. I was so caught up in the details of this bug and planning a quick fix that I failed to mention the basics of the origin of this bug.” I regrouped and explained the basics.
This is a very brief example, but the simplest of questions can have a large impact. Don’t be afraid to ask what seem like dumb questions. Would you rather run the risk of making a misinformed decision, or risk asking a potentially silly question? I would even go so far as to encourage your teams to actively play devil’s advocate by intentionally arguing against what your team agrees on. It may very well save your project.
Reflect: Before you go, pause for a moment. Recall a past decision where—looking back—you wish you’d asked more questions. How might digging deeper have changed the outcome? What lesson does that hold for you moving forward?
The Power of Slow Thinking
Now that you understand the importance of asking questions, I have a scenario for you to consider:
Imagine you need a quick surge of caffeine and a donut before your early morning meeting. You make a quick stop at a donut shop near the office to pick up a black coffee and a classic glazed donut. They're running a special for project managers on a time crunch just like you. The total cost is $3.20, with the coffee costing $3 more than the donut. How much is the donut?
There's a strong chance you said 20 cents, and despite your experience and that PMP certificate, you are incorrect. Try again. The total cost is $3.20. If the donut costs 20 cents, and the coffee is $3 more than the donut, then the coffee would cost $3.20, making your total $3.40. But if the donut costs 10 cents, that means the coffee is $3.10, and you now have a total of $3.20.
If you got this wrong on the first go around, you're certainly not alone! You're not even in the minority. 20 cents is the quick, intuitive answer, but also the incorrect one. This psychological experiment has been replicated countless times in various ways.
In order to come up with the correct answer, you need slower and more deliberate reasoning. This is vital for success as a project manager. If you leap at quick intuitive answers, you may find your project in hot water.
Resist the Urgency Trap
Let's imagine your project is running behind schedule, but you're so close to delivering that you can see the finish line. Your development team just requires a little more help to get there and you intuitively think, "If we only had more developers, we could finish on time..." You promptly meet with the program manager and identify two individuals who can join your project and push your team across the finish line.
Unfortunately, these new developers need to be onboarded, including setting up highly complex development environments. This takes unexpected time and also pulls your original team members away from their work as they help the newcomers get acclimated. Your team falls into chaos as the deadline draws ever closer and there is mass confusion about who is performing which tasks. Predictably, you miss your deadline.
This scenario plays out all too often on projects around the globe. Adding resources was a quick, intuitive solution that seemed like the right idea—after all, more hands make light work, right? However, taking the time to slow down and use more deliberate reasoning might have saved your project. Perhaps analyzing the actual reasons your project was falling behind schedule would have revealed that the remaining requirements were simply unclear, and taking time to clarify the last few feature updates could have allowed your existing team to finish on time.
As project managers, we often want to succeed so badly that we feel an urge to take immediate action without proper analysis and planning. This urgency bias can lead us directly into what Fred Brooks famously called the "mythical man-month" fallacy—the flawed assumption that adding more people to a late software project will make it finish faster, when it often achieves the opposite effect.
What are some major takeaways from this scenario?
Slow down! Tight timelines often drive urgent decision-making, but this can cause projects to pivot in natural yet counterproductive ways
Question your assumptions about both the problem and your proposed solutions
Find the root of the problem rather than treating symptoms
Consider using the 5 Whys technique—asking "why" repeatedly to drill down through layers of causes until you reach the fundamental issue
For example: Why is the project behind? Because features are taking longer than estimated. Why? Because developers are encountering unexpected technical challenges. Why? Because requirements weren't clarified with technical architects early enough. Why? Because we rushed the planning phase. Why? Because we felt pressure to start coding immediately.
Create prototypes and test solutions as quickly as possible before committing to major changes
Reflect: Think of a time where a quick, intuitive response led you astray.
Ruthlessly Prioritize
Since you already have your PMP certification, you very likely have experience with dynamic projects where literally nothing ever goes according to plan. One of the most crucial responsibilities you have as a project manager is to ruthlessly prioritize. You cannot afford to worry about hurting feelings when it comes to prioritization. Effective prioritizing is fundamentally about understanding and delivering value. A good project manager or product owner constantly evaluates project priorities to maximize value delivery.
Modern projects face countless variables that extend far beyond the traditional balancing of scope, cost, and time. There are brutally complex technical stacks, organizational constraints, and environmental impacts that can quickly derail your project. Because of this complexity, it's paramount that you, as a project manager, work diligently to understand every aspect of your project.
The only way to become a successful prioritizer of work is to develop a solid understanding of every facet of your initiative. You may not possess the software development knowledge, chemistry expertise, or [insert your industry knowledge here] required to deliver the solutions yourself, but that's exactly why you have a project team. Leverage your team's specialized knowledge to help you understand all the moving parts. You don't need to know how to code the latest feature, but as a project manager, you absolutely must understand its impacts and complexity—because that knowledge is precisely what will help you prioritize effectively.
There are many strategies for prioritization that we won't dive into fully in this article, but consider the MoSCoW method as one powerful approach. Beyond its curious acronym, the MoSCoW method cuts through prioritization chaos by creating clear categories:
Must-haves that directly impact core objectives
Should-haves that significantly enhance value
Could-haves that are welcome only if time permits
Won't-haves—those seductive distractions masquerading as opportunities
Reflect: The most successful project managers understand that their greatest power isn't saying "yes," but rather carefully and effectively wielding their "no." Before you move on, take a few minutes to think about your past projects. Has there been a time where your team worked on a task that seemed urgent at the time but ended up being of low value?
The Perfect Plan is the Enemy of Progress
Every project manager knows the drill: You kick off a new initiative, gather requirements, and dive into planning. You lay out a project schedule, consider risks, map dependencies, and set milestones. The plan looks flawless—until the project execution gets underway and reality hits. That's when the planning paradox emerges: The more meticulously you plan, the more fragile your project becomes. Sure, some projects require incredible amounts of planning up front. These tend to be projects with rigid policies, procedures, oversight, and/or high risk factors. There is certainly more planning expected for launching humans into space than for building a shed.
But why do plans backfire so often on our projects? How can a plan seem so well...planned...but end up being altered so much during execution?
For starters, there's an illusion of control. Before projects even begin, it's human nature to think the project will be predictable, and plans further enhance this false sense of predictability. We assume static conditions—no team turnover, no unforeseen bottlenecks, and flawless execution from our teams. Oh, and surely none of our stakeholders will change their minds during our project, right? The reality is that projects usually exist in dynamic environments.
As Eisenhower famously said, "Plans are worthless, but planning is indispensable." Over-planning can lock teams into paths that may no longer make sense as the project moves forward. Each aspect of your project evolves as time progresses, and plans need adjustment. Treat your project plans as living things that will grow and change over time. When deviations arise—and they almost always do—teams often waste precious time and energy defending the plan instead of adapting to new information. As a project manager, it's critical that you remain agile as variables change.
Since plans will change, you need to be prepared for the unknown. This is where having reserves—both fiscal and temporal—can truly save your project.
Keep in mind that breakthroughs often come from unplanned detours. Instead of trying to create and follow a "perfect plan," be prepared to adapt. Break projects into phases, but focus on the heavy details of only the phase directly in front of you. This allows your team to remain focused while preserving the opportunity to pivot. Think of Agile's "just-in-time planning."
I've run several successful projects and certainly had many failures along the way. During each successful project, I never recall anyone criticizing how closely we followed our initial plan. At the end of the day, projects are about successful outcomes. Remember that your success as a project manager won't be measured by how closely you followed the initial plan, but by how effectively you delivered value. While the ends can't always justify the means—making intelligent planning absolutely necessary—focusing on delivering value will lead to successful projects and a successful career as a project manager.
You may not be a golfer like me, but there's a saying in golf that "there are no pictures on the scorecard."
Reflect: Think of a project that you were on or lead that derailed. Was it under-planned—or over-planned?
People Make or Break Projects
As a certified PMP, you already possess a huge amount of knowledge, but it's critical that you continue to learn, especially about people. At the end of the day, across countless industries, and various sized teams, it’s the people that make or break projects. Sure, processes are important–sometimes critical–and can be of immense benefit for things like creating transparency, analyzing trends, and organizing work, but without effective management of people, your projects are almost certainly doomed to fail.
Nearly every project, professional or personal, perhaps outside of mowing your lawn, likely involves other people. As project managers we strive to bring together teams of individuals that possess the knowledge and skills required to deliver successful project outcomes. Forming teams with the appropriate set of tools is just the beginning. You must orchestrate your team into a highly efficient unit that delivers results. This requires understanding what makes each individual person tick, and what drives them crazy, potentially wreaking havoc on morale and productivity. Just imagine a conductor who recruits the most talented orchestra the world has ever known, but fails to interpret the score, leaves their baton at home, and can't keep the ensemble together? As a project manager, you are the conductor.
In order to be an effective conductor, you must learn to understand all of your stakeholders as best as you can. This means learning about different personalities, motivational factors, and conflict resolution. We don't have time to dive into all of these topics today, but I want to give you an information nugget that has resonated with me, and changed my perspective perhaps more than any other–conflict can be a positive thing!
Conflict indicates that people care about the project, and are willing to fight for it (hopefully not literally). If two developers on your team enter into conflict about the best solution, it's likely because they both care about the outcome. Use this to your team's advantage. Some of the best ideas can be born from conflict, so I encourage you as a manager to work to resolve conflict amicably, and in the most productive way possible. Work with those developers to allow each to present their solution, uninterrupted–along with offering both the risks and opportunities–and help make the best decision for the project.
By taking these actions, you are not only managing your team, but you are acting as a servant leader. Since you're a PMP, you know a servant leader focuses on the growth and well-being of the team. By resolving conflict peacefully, the entire team benefits, and you nurture a professional, productive, and collaborative culture. Here are a few other takeaways for you:
Be inclusive
Empower your team
Lead by example
Knock down barriers and bottlenecks
Celebrate small wins
Reflect: Think of a time where people caused your project to derail. In retrospect, how could you have better managed the team to avoid the issues?
Dunning-Kruger Effect
Beware of erroneous thinking! Psychology can teach us project managers many valuable insights. The Dunning-Kruger effect is one cognitive bias that every project leader should be intimately familiar with. Why? Because it can help you understand the mindset of various levels of performers on your team.
Simply put, studies have shown that people of low skill or competence in a particular area overestimate their abilities. I know I have experienced this many times myself, and it's very difficult to avoid. We can thank psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger for confirming and highlighting this fascinating cognitive bias.
Have you ever embarked on a new hobby and gone through various waves of confidence? A few years back, I decided to take up woodworking as a way to engage my mind in something challenging and very different from the project management work I was doing as a career. I read countless articles and watched many more instructional videos. I purchased a lot of expensive equipment and began working through the basics. At first, woodworking seemed impossible. From misaligned joints, poor cuts, and terrible measuring, I struggled mightily. Then, just a few weeks into this woodworking endeavor, I started to get the hang of it. My cuts were better. My fear of the equipment waned, and my measurements were much more precise. My confidence was growing immensely and I felt very proud of myself.
At that point, I decided to build a couple of tables. I thought, Why take on one project, when you can unnecessarily take on two simultaneously? You can probably see where this is going. I chose beginner to intermediate designs and printed instructions that were surely easy to follow since I was now a self-proclaimed woodworking expert with loads of confidence. The Dunning-Kruger effect was in full flight inside my head.
Needless to say, despite my confidence, my woodworking skills were brutally amateurish at best. Reality set in, and not only did it take me significantly longer than planned to make these two tables, but the craftsmanship was borderline horrendous and my tables were unbalanced. The finished products were not something to be proud of and I finally realized just how much time, effort, learning, and attention to detail would be required in order to actually become even a decent level woodworker.
I am frustrated that I let the Dunning-Kruger effect distort my reality, but sometimes we can't help but be controlled by bias from the three-pound fragile dictators inside our heads. Luckily, numerous studies have replicated the disparity between self-assessment and actual objective performance, giving us critical knowledge of this cognitive bias that we can recognize going forward.
Specifically, what should you do as a project manager to deal with cognitive bias such as the Dunning-Kruger effect? For yourself, be sure to regularly audit gaps in your knowledge. Don't make assumptions about your own abilities and try to recognize the objective differences between what you and experts in your field know.
For your team, encourage peer reviews and mentorship to help uncover blind spots. Peer reviews also encourage continued learning and may help your poor performers realize their own knowledge gaps. On other aspects of your project, focus on data to help drive decisions and calibrate expectations. Your outspoken stakeholder exuding high confidence and a clear path forward may simply be suffering from vast overconfidence from the Dunning-Kruger effect. As the project progresses, many of your teammates may soon realize they were overconfident in their abilities.
The key takeaway is the more you know, the more you realize what you don't know. In order to truly master a skill, whether it's woodworking or project management, one must balance confidence with humility as you embark on the continued learning process that all skills require. No one can be an expert overnight.
I think many PMPs suffer from Dunning-Kruger about their project management abilities, including myself. We possess a fair bit of experience, earn our PMP certification, and presume we are experts in the field. You may very well be an expert, but stay humble and remember there is always more to learn.
Reflect: Before moving on, think of a time when you may have experienced the Dunning-Kruger effect. In hindsight, do you see how there was still so much to learn before becoming an expert? Were your abilities as advanced as you believed?
Listen or Fail
Imagine you're on a hike with your team in the southwestern United States. You've become lost, cell phone service is nonexistent, and you've run out of water in 110-degree heat. You've been frantically, but slowly, searching for the trail that you lost hours ago. Everywhere you turn looks exactly the same. The rest of your team is in similar levels of distress, but aren't experiencing the same sun blindness as you.
Suddenly, you proclaim you've found the trail. You see footprints that you identify as your own from earlier. With what little energy remaining, you urge the group to follow, but several team members express concern that these footprints are from their recent circling among the arid terrain. You ignore them and push on, toward a cliff that you cannot see. You discount all warnings and snap at the same individual who told you that you were veering off course hours ago–the same person who also suggested turning back when the team ran low on drinking water, before your team became lost.
Lucky for you, while walking in the wrong direction, another group of hikers spot you from a ridge above and call out, recognizing your obvious distress even from a distance. Besides inadequate water, and a GPS, one of the main things you lacked in this situation, which could have cost lives, was listening skills. I'm not just talking about listening to those around you in terms of hearing their words, but truly listening–actively listening.
Project teams require great communication in order to succeed, and a huge component to that is active listening. This is especially true for project managers who are planning to guide their projects to success. Unless you have a staffing problem from the very beginning, every single person on your project team is there for a reason, which means every single person on your project team is providing value. It doesn't matter if someone has one year or thirty years of experience, each person has something to contribute and deserves to be heard and understood.
Do not discount anyone's opinions or contributions based on seniority. I have had many deliverables and projects saved by listening to junior members of the team. Why? Because they had valuable insight, unique experience, or as we mentioned earlier, thought-provoking questions that kept our project from overheating.
What exactly is active listening? Active listening is the practice of fully focusing on, understanding, and responding appropriately to the speaker. Active listening can help you:
Build rapport with your stakeholders
Reduce conflict and misunderstanding
Better understand requirements, bugs, risks, and opportunities
How can you make sure you are a better active listener? Enroll in our Listen Like a Pro course, where you’ll learn all the insights in just 30 minutes as part of the PDU Hero membership.
Reflect: Think of a time when you failed to actively listen. How did this affect future outcomes?
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Claiming PDUs
How long did you spend on this article? Remember that PDUs emphasize time spent learning. You need to self-report PDUs honestly to track the time you spent reading, reflecting, and applying the knowledge gained. If you took the time to read this article in its entirety, reflect on what knowledge you have gained, and figure out how you will best apply this knowledge going forward, you may very well have earned one PDU. If you read through this as fast as humanly possible, with no additional thought or analysis, you probably put in half the time for a half PDU. The honesty of your report is up to you as an ethical PMP!
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