This is a high-level overview of project management intended for younger audiences, primarily middle or high school, but it could be adapted for college level or those with no project management experience. The materials cover the basics of what project management is, how it is utilized in life, and it walks through a basic framework from beginning to end of a project. The deck is structured to where it can be used as-is, it can be cherry-picked based on the need, or it can be reformatted to fit the needs of the classroom or student(s). There is current PMBOK terminology and definitions within the deck, and the concepts are explained in simplistic ways.

This can be utilized as a follow-on deck to the project management principles deck, a standalone walk-through activity, or a framework for a different example. This deck walks through the basic framework of a project from start to finish, utilizing PMBOK terminology along the way. There are two examples to choose from in the deck which can be used as-is or as a framework for specific examples, depending on the audience. The examples in the template were intended for younger audiences, primarily middle or high school, but they can be adapted for various audiences to give real world connections to project management in real life.  

A project charter is one of the first documents, typically created at the initiation phase of a project. There are many free templates available online in Word format but are often too detailed with many pages and cumbersome to read. This PowerPoint template is simple yet includes key components that were used at a previous consulting company. Hope the template helps you to create documents that are easy to understand for your project team members. 

“Project Kickoff” is adapted from the PMI online course (pmi.org/kickoff).  The course helps you learn which questions to ask at any stage of your project, making you an even better team player or project leader. This project management principles deck provides the instructor with the slides that can be used in a presentation format for a larger audience.  Examples and audience interaction slides are incorporated and are the same exercises as in the online version.  This course should most likely be taught in sections since there is a large amount of material.

Project Management Skills for Life® is a guide that introduces the basics of project management as well as tools and techniques to help develop skills to become a great project manager leading successful projects.  A basic understanding of project management concepts will help your team effectively create a plan, organize activities, and train individuals to complete simple to very complex projects.  

Presented in a course format, the Project Management Skills for Life® program teaches you to identify the project, project manager, team members and stakeholders. The program shows the project manager and team how to create a plan to identify the tasks needed to accomplish the scope of work, manage time efficiently and communicate with other team members and stakeholders effectively.   

The Tower Game is a fun project management exercise that can be used by students of all ages, as well as adults. The game teaches participants to consider time, cost, quality and risk. The game can be used as an ‘ice breaker’, a stand-alone exercise or as part of a class. Watch the fun video below to learn how Pablo Lledo, PMIEF Board Chair, uses the Tower Game resource to teach his kids the importance of project management.