Ask HN: Any learning resources or hype materials for project management?
My role is software engineer but lately I’ve been taking on more PM responsibilities. Are there any good online communities, learning resources, or PM hype materials to get me excited about this stuff?
Right now I am reading “head first pmp” to get me started I enjoyed “Making Things Happen” by Scott Berkun. You can start with the blog [1] to see if you like the style and probably get a good overview without needing the book. Other than that, there is the standard set of PMP prep resources, but I didn’t find any of those to be anything other than dry and boring. Thank you! I will check this out :) Update: this book looks like it came out in 2008. Still relevant? Yes, I think it's still relevant. It doesn't adapt all of the project management jargon from the certifications, though. I read this 5 or 6 years ago and I learned a lot. I didn't realize how large the blog has become. https://scottberkun.com/2012/how-to-make-things-happen/ is where to start to see if you want to read the book. Basically it boils down to: make a list, prioritize the list, execute the list. There is a lot more to project management than that. For example, how do you present the list? How do you negotiate the list? What happens if you're working on a project with a lot of tech debt and other half finished work that needs to be brought back on track. I don't know if this book talks about that, and I don't really know of any books that goes beyond the very basics or deal with projects that aren't trivial. Project management is vast. What are you interested in learning more about? Are you interested in agile or waterfall? I'd recommend reading the original "waterfall" paper from Royce from the 70s [1]. I think it's still relevant and helps to dispel "waterfall." For scrum, I'd recommend the HBR article from the 80s [2]. Are you looking for articles on Gantt charts, PERT charts, WBS, critical path. You can look at the PMP book. Are you looking for stories on projects? I haven't read them, but The Phoenix Project is recommended on HN a bit. For podcasts, I listen to the Digital Project Manager and PM Happy Hour. [1] https://www.praxisframework.org/files/royce1970.pdf [2] https://hbr.org/1986/01/the-new-new-product-development-game Wow thank you so much for all these great resources! I think I’ll start with the article you shared. Also, I guess this is me being ignorant, but it’s amazing how vast the PM field is. Excited to dive in. I will most likely be reading all of the materials you’ve share with me. Also, I checked your profile! I wish I knew your Twitter handle or some other ways to keep in touch somehow. But oh well! I won’t push for it. Camille Fourier - The manager's path is not exactly exciting but a down to earth no bullshit description of what awaits you. I recommend it. From what I recall that book is more about people management, not so much project management which the OP is asking about. The Mythical Man Month by Fred Brooks Project Management Flow by Donald G. Reinertsen Both books are great, the Brooks one is like, legendary. Not exciting at all, but the PMBOK is pretty good for laying out the responsibilities and competencies. Have a LLM spit out the outline and walk through each section. Honestly I kind of rail against the suitability of traditional Project management thinking in tech. Beyond knowing: who does what, and by when, and for how much $$ the project management frameworks are largely fluff. A decent task list, with deadlines, a gantt chart if you want to be fancy, and a stakeholder RACI matrix are really all you need. Everything else is soft skills, managing stakeholders, getting alignment, getting out of the way of the individual contributors. And in the workplace any specific framework adherence is largely just a stylistic choice of documentation, if you have a handle of who does what and by when, and for how much $$ and some dependency understanding, you are >90% of the way to keeping any project under control. Also knowing what your role actually is, and not confusing project management with product management which is much different. The question is rather how to create RACI that is equal for all stakeholders. The Personal MBA is a good book for entrepreneurial and business people alike. If you do find a community- lmk :)