Rebles Guide to PM

1. Google vs Meta Marketing Certificates: Which Should You Choose?

   

   Are you trying to decide between the Google Digital Marketing Certificate and the Meta Social Media Marketing Certificate on Coursera? You’re not alone. Both programs are highly rated, beginner-friendly, and taught by two of the biggest names in the tech and advertising world.

   I’ve completed the Google certificate myself (you can read my full review here) and found it a solid foundation in e-commerce, SEO, email marketing, and analytics.

   While I haven’t taken the Meta course yet, I’ve reviewed its syllabus, explored feedback from other learners, and compared the structure, tools, and job fit side by side.

   In this article, I’ll walk you through:

   • The key differences between the Google and Meta marketing certificates
   • Who each one is best for
   • Career outcomes and hiring prospects
   • Whether it’s worth doing both

   Let’s dive in and help you choose the certification that fits your goals—and lands you the job you want.

   

   Overview of both certificates

   Let’s do a quick recap of what these courses from marketing giants cover.

   Feature	Google Digital Marketing	Meta Social Media Marketing
   Duration	~6 months	~6 months
   Cost	£32/mo (Coursera)	£32/mo (Coursera)
   Number of Courses	8	6
   Capstone Project	No	Yes
   Focus	SEO, email, analytics, e-commerce	Facebook/IG ads, content creation, social strategy
   Tools Covered	Google Ads, Google Analytics, Shopify, Hubspot and others	Facebook Business Suite, Canva, Instagram

   They are both available on Coursera and are included with Coursera Plus (so if you have a subscription, you could take them both).

   Is the Google or Meta marketing certificate easier?

   I’d say the Google one is easier to complete because it does not include a Capstone. Course 8 (the AI job search course) is optional. There are several optional assignments.

   So, if you’re looking for an easy ride, the Google certificate is certainly do-able.

   However, if you want to get a job and do well in your new career, I don’t think you should be looking for easy! Do all the assignments. Practice using the tools.Don’t shy away from the Capstone because it takes a while – it will make you a better marketer!

   There is a learning curve with both certificates, which is about the same.

   Who is the Google Certificate best for?

   The content of the courses determines the fit for students. The Google course is e-commerce and business focused, suitable for people who are looking to work in traditional businesses.

   I’d say it was best for:

   • Aspiring digital marketers looking for broad knowledge
   • Business owners or freelancers who want e-commerce and analytics
   • People interested in SEO/PPC/Google Ads roles – this is a very specialized skill!

   I did this course (and passed, yey!) and I don’t do digital marketing for a traditional business, but it taught me about e-commerce, CPC and other things that are helpful in my work on website development projects in my day job.

   This course also has a job search module, Accelerate your job search with AI, which is helpful, especially if you don’t know where to start! It will help you polish your CV or resume, LinkedIn profile and prep for interviews.

   Want to know what roles you can get with this qualification? Read my full guide about Google Digital Marketing Certificate jobs.

   [lasso id="37249" link_id="301368" ref="google-digital-marketing-e-commerce"]

   Who is the Meta Certificate best for?

   Meta’s course won’t teach you anything about Google Ads (obvs) so it’s more relevant for people who are supporting social media within their business. For example:

   • Those aiming for social media-focused roles
   • Creators, influencers, or small business owners building on IG/Facebook
   • People who want to work in community management or paid social.

   The big benefit is that you get the Professional Certificate (which is ACE® recommended for prior learning) but you also get the Meta Digital Marketing Association Certification.

   Once you have taken this course, look for job titles like:

   • Social Media Manager
   • Social Media Specialist
   • Social Media Coordinator

   … it’s all very social media-y.

   Want to learn more about Meta’s course? Explore it on Coursera.

   
   [lasso id="39951" link_id="302076" ref="meta-social-media-marketing-professional-certificate"]
   

   Certificate	Target Job Titles	Best For
   Google	Digital Marketing Assistant, SEO Associate, Email Marketing Coordinator	Generalist, e-commerce, analytics
   Meta	Social Media Manager, Content Creator, Facebook Ads Specialist	Creators, social-first marketers

   

   Which has better career outcomes?

   Google’s course aligns better with job listings for SEO, marketing assistants, etc.

   Meta’s course suits freelancers, people working in the creator economy, and content management roles – perhaps I should have taken this one after all!

   Read next: What employers think hiring candidates with Google Certificates - read the interviews!

   In terms of are you likely to get a job having taken one of these training programs, Google’s Employer Consortium is a win for me. That’s a group of Google partners who actively recruit from ‘graduates’ from their certificates. You’ll get access to their job seeking resources once you’ve completed the course.

   

   A strong supplemental credential

   We’ve interviewed and hired candidates who listed Google Professional Certificates, particularly in Digital Marketing and Project Management. While the certificate alone is not enough to guarantee a hire, it signals that the candidate has taken initiative and completed focused, relevant training. It often helps them stand out in a crowded applicant pool, especially when they lack formal experience.

   Jared Bauman, CEO, 201 Creative, LLC

   However, the Meta program ends with a Capstone, which means you’ll get a tangible project you can use to show employers what you can do. Meta’s training is excellent and you’ll be learning first hand from the people behind Facebook and Instagram – that’s worth a lot.

   There aren’t any published stats that I could find about which certificate has the best employability outcomes, but they are both well-respected.

   

   My recommendation

   While you have to make the final choice yourself, this is my take on it:

   • For generalist marketers or career switchers --> Google
   • For content creators or social media specialists --> Meta

   Having said that, you could do both, or start with one and supplement with the other. Whichever you choose, good luck with your learning!

   This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: Google vs Meta Marketing Certificates: Which Should You Choose?

2. The First 30 Days of Your PMO: A Week-by-Week Setup Guide for Small Teams

   

   Have you been asked to “set up a Project Management Office” but you aren’t really sure where to start? I know the feeling!

   I’m going to share with you a step-by-step plan for setting up a PMO. These simple steps are specifically aimed at smaller teams, so if you are a project manager who has been asked to stand up a PMO function, or an operational leader, a program manager, or anyone else who now has responsibility for tracking projects across the function or organization, this is for you.

   For the bigger picture view, check out our 12-step PMO set up checklist which goes through the core components of building a PMO.

   Your 30 day plan

   Let’s not kid ourselves: setting up a PMO takes time and commitment. I’ve laid out the steps to do in the first 30 days so you can get started, but it could take longer if you need to overcome some office politics.

   The overall process for a lightweight project management office is:

   • Understand the landscape and draft a plan
   • Define the PMO Charter and start engagement
   • Build core processes and tools
   • Pilot, refine and communicate.

   The actual time it takes is going to depend on your team set up, the commitment from your senior management and leadership team and how much time you’ve got to dedicate to your PMO creation.

   A note on methodologies

   I was contacted recently by a reader who wanted to know what was the best methodology for her team.

   There is no ‘right’ answer to this, especially if you are setting up a PMO in a small business.

   Project management methodologies are the ‘how’ you do your projects and in my experience they are mostly in-house. Even if you start out with a tailorable method like PRINCE2, the way it’s adapted and implemented in-house makes it into ‘your’ methodology.

   I don’t think it really matters, as long as project execution is happening, relevant stakeholders are engaged, project status is reported and there is a degree of control with adequate governance.

   Yes, you can adapt a published methodology. You can train your team in a particular approach, but you still have to allow individuals a degree of freedom for delivery, especially for complex projects where you don’t want your governance to become a box ticking exercise.

   Aim to set project management standards, provide some project checklists of expected good practice and you’ll be a long way towards helping project managers deliver effectively.

   Week 1: Understand the landscape and draft a plan

   Goal this week: Understand the business context, identify pain points, and sketch the PMO’s purpose.

   What to do this week

   • Meet key stakeholders: Talk to exec sponsors, department heads, project managers.
   • Audit existing projects: Get a list of current and recent projects
   • Identify pain points: What's going wrong? Missed deadlines, no visibility, no strategic alignment, resource clashes?
   • Sketch the initial PMO model: Supportive, controlling, directive? What model do you want to be? (This will be based on org maturity.)
   • Start a PMO Setup Plan: Define your goals for the first 90 days.
   • Set stakeholder expectations: Clarify what the PMO will and won’t do.

   What you’re trying to achieve this week is to work out where to start from. The pain points will help you assess where standard governance or templates would create some quick wins.

   In my experience, that’s often project onboarding and/or project closure. For example, in one organization I know, execs said yes to every project and then wondered why teams were drowning in work and not completing anything… Hmm, I wonder why?!

   Fixing the onboarding and project requests process meant decisions were made with more information and with better prioritization, so teams could manage the flow of incoming work more effectively.

   If that rings a bell with you, perhaps looking at project approvals and initiation, and project portfolio governance, is a good place to start for your teams too.

   

   Assets to create at this point

   • Stakeholder analysis, stakeholder map and stakeholder engagement plan
   • Issues/pain points log
   • PMO vision draft
   • PMO implementation plan (so you know where you're going!)

   These don’t have to be final versions. You can evolve these documents as you go, but at least now you have as starting point.

   The vision information is likely to come from the person who asked you to set up the PMO. They’ll have an idea about what they want to achieve.

   It could be transparency across all projects, better reporting, oversight, resource management, an approach to dealing with project issues, mentoring and support for project managers, applying standard methodologies or something else. Talk to your manager or key exec leader and find out what they think the PMO is going to do for them.

   Week 2: Define the PMO Charter and start engagement

   Goal this week: Get alignment and buy-in for the PMO's mission, scope, and authority.

   What to do this week

   • Write a lightweight PMO Charter

     • Purpose
     • Objectives
     • Services offered (e.g. reporting, templates, coaching)
     • Governance model

   • Present your draft to stakeholders: Collect feedback and iterate
   • Start brand building: Pick a name, define tone/ethos (e.g. “Project Support Office” vs “Portfolio Office”)
   • Agree reporting lines: Who owns the PMO and who supports it?

   This week, you’re working to review what you’ve learned so far with the senior managers who will have to support the work of the PMO.

   Talk to key stakeholders about how they feel about the mission and scope of the PMO. Get agreement on where the PMO sits, who owns it, how it’s going to fit within the structure of the organization and what project teams can expect from it.

   You may or may not want to include project managers at this point. If I think about the project managers I’ve mentored in this situation, often they are the only project professional in the organization, so you might not have anyone else to include!

   Assets to create at this point

   • Final PMO Charter
   • PMO name and positioning doc (read my guide on how to create a mission statement for the PMO)
   • Org chart with PMO placement

   These documents are going to help set you up for success by getting everyone on the same page. They are the communications assets you can use to share the goal and vision, and you’ll be using them time and time again so make sure they look good!

   Remember, you can add in more services to your PMO later. You might not be in a position to manage resource requirements or report on resource utilization right now but that might come later.

   Week 3: Build core processes and tools

   Goal this week: Equip the PMO to start operating.

   What to do this week

   • Create essential templates for project teams to use:

     • Project brief or charter
     • Project reporting dashboard
     • RAID log template
     • Any other project management templates you feel you need at this point

   • Define process flows:

     • Project lifecycle (initiation to closure)
     • Reporting cycle (weekly/biweekly)

   • Choose your project management software:

     • Start simple: Google Workspace, MS Planner, Asana, Notion, Trello, or Excel
     • Or use entry-level PM tools like ClickUp, Monday.com or Smartsheet

   • Decide how to store/share documents: Cloud folder structure, naming conventions

   This is a big week, because having gained approval to progress with the PMO as you’ve laid it out, now you’re making it real.

   For project management processes, think about the pain points again. What do you need to have in place to hit those strategic goals? You won’t need them all in place from the very beginning.

   The essential templates should be the ones that will help you address the pain points you are going after first. You don’t have to create the whole suite of templates. And you don’t have to create them at all, you can just get them from me and pass them off as your own (that’s what they are there for!).

   In terms of PMO software for smaller teams, I would recommend starting out with the tools you have available to you, so that might be spreadsheets and collaboration tools. You can add in enterprise-grade project management software later, once you’re confident the PMO is going to stay the distance.

   [lasso id="22755" link_id="302040" ref="crozdesk"]

   Assets to create at this point

   • PMO Starter Toolkit of templates you can offer to projects/project managers
   • Folder structure template for document filing
   • Basic project governance framework
   • Portfolio list of all in-flight, active projects

   The assets you create at this point will be specific to the type of PMO you are.

   Most ‘early stage’ PMOs exist to get a bit of standardization into the way projects are run, so project management templates might be the way to go. Remember, you don’t have to create them all from scratch. Look at successful projects and adapt the templates and processes they used. There is best practice in your organization already!

   If you’re starting your PMO to bring transparency to the portfolio and show what change is happening across the department or organization, the portfolio project list and a standard report template is going to be more important.

   You might want to focus in on project success rates and report on resource allocation across the portfolio, for example, so you’ll need documentation to support that.

   Pick and choose so you get closer to the goals you set in Week 1.

   Week 4: Pilot, refine, and communicate

   Goal this week: Test the setup on a live project, refine, and socialise the PMO.

   What to do this week

   • Pick a project to pilot your PMO framework

     • Apply your templates, governance, and status reporting

   • Collect feedback from project teams
   • Refine processes: Tweak based on what’s working/not
   • Promote the PMO internally:

     • Share a newsletter, Slack post, or short presentation
     • Offer a “drop-in clinic” or onboarding session

   Now you have an objective for the PMO and some tools for how you are going to do that. It’s time to apply your new governance, templates, methods and guidance to a project to see how they are going to work out.

   Your pilot project could be one in-flight, or (if your pain point is project intake) the next new project that comes along.

   Start small and work with one (preferably enthusiastic and open) project team. In a small team, this could be a project you yourself are running. See how it goes and what you would want to change.

   Keep a log of improvements and process changes as you probably won’t be able to implement everything at the same time. Then you can work down the list and prioritize the enhancements that would make the most difference.

   Assets to create at this point

   • Pilot project case study to show the benefits of a standard approach
   • Final PMO playbook/document library (although you will iterate and add stuff, that’s fine)
   • PMO launch announcement/email and any other internal communications for project teams that are useful
   • Senior leadership reporting or executive project dashboard.

   Use these assets to share what you are doing with colleagues. My suggestion at this point is to manage expectations down and then over-deliver! Don’t set yourself up for failure by promising too much too early.

   Next step: Evolve and expand

   The first month is important, but it’s literally only the first month. You’re going to have to do a lot more work over the weeks and months to come, both to review what you have achieved this month but also to bring in new functionality, update and continue to embed good project management best practice.

   Starting a PMO as a solo project manager is daunting, but you can do it!

   The PMO will evolve as project management maturity across the team, department and organization evolves. Individual projects will make use of the services offered by the PMO and provide feedback, and that will help you decide where to evolve what you do.

   This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: The First 30 Days of Your PMO: A Week-by-Week Setup Guide for Small Teams

3. Your First PMO Toolkit: The Essentials You Actually Need

   

   So you’ve been asked to set up a Project Management Office. Great! That means your company is moving on and taking project management seriously.

   But for you, that means having to pull together assets and processes, standards and approaches, checklists and guidelines… the list goes on.

   I can help! If you are setting up a lightweight PMO in a small business or team, and you need structure but not bureaucracy, this is for you.

   We’ll cover the templates you need to have in place first, simple processes to kickstart your PMO, the tools that work for small teams and the governance frameworks that will make your life easier without adding bureaucracy.

   You’ve got your PMO vision, charter, and buy-in: now it’s time to make it real. But don’t fall into the trap of over-engineering. A lean PMO can start strong with a focused toolkit and just a few essential processes.

   Let me show you how.

   The 5 templates you need on day one

   OK, before we get started on this, I need to say that the project management documents you decide to make available as part of your PMO do very much depend on what your PMO’s goals are.

   For the purposes of this article, I’m assuming your PMO is going to be set up to standardize the approach to project management and to bring a bit of rigour and governance to the way projects are delivered.

   If your PMO is focusing on other goals, then you’ll need different templates to the ones I’ve called out below. Having said that, these templates are still good to have as they mean projects have a little scaffolding!

   Free project management templates

   I have a library of free project management templates including documents that you'd commonly want project teams to be using. Sign up for free access to that here.

   I also have premium templates available, which are more suitable for a professional PMO, and the relevant ones are linked in the article below.

   

   1. Project Brief Template (or Project Charter)

   • Captures the why, what, who, and how of each project, and success criteria
   • Helps standardize approvals
   • Create an editable file with sections for objectives, timeline, budget, risks
   • Use mine!

   Project managers will complete this. In theory, it should be the project sponsor or business owner, but in reality I’ve rarely seen that happen – it always falls to the project manager!

   This can include some project plan elements to save on needing separate project plans for each project. Remember, technically, a project plan talks about how the project will be run, and a project schedule is the timeline, although you’ll often hear people talking about the plan when they mean the schedule.

   2. Status Report Template

   • One-pager: Red-Amber-Green summary, key updates, blockers
   • Weekly or biweekly cadence
   • Ideal for leadership reporting
   • Use my status report template!

   You can use the status reports individually to create portfolio reporting. Ideally, you’d have this via a project management tool so you don’t have to manually copy/paste info from various slides or spreadsheets.

   3. RAID Log

   • Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies
   • Central tracking across all projects
   • Use my RAID log Excel template

   4. Action Log

   • Simple running list of who owes what by when
   • Great for PMs and team leads
   • Use my action log (it’s in the RAID spreadsheet template)

   You can have (and should have) an action log for the PMO as well, to track all the tasks you are doing to set up and embed standard ways of working. Setting up a PMO is a project, just like any other project!

   5. Lessons Learned Log

   • Start collecting insights from the first project
   • Encourage a culture of reflection and improvement
   • Use mine!

   Again, while you’re going to make this template available to other projects through your PMO library, you’d also want to have one of your own for your ‘PMO set up project’. Keep a list of all the things you want to do differently or enhancements you want to make.

   Creating your template library

   Over time, you’ll add more and more actionable templates to your repository. You can get granular and include things like project requirements, RACI, project scope, risk management extras.

   Stick to templates that you know people are asking for. Where you’ve got examples from previous projects (and they’re good enough) use those as a starting point, or check out my library of best practice project documentation.

   3 Simple processes to get things done

   Your PMO will end up leading on many processes to do with how projects are initiated, prioritized, delivered and closed. But when you’re starting out, you can’t do it all.

   Here are three simple processes you can launch when you kick off the PMO to help project teams manage their work.

   1.     Project Initiation

   • Use the Project Brief
   • Set up a folder, assign roles
   • Review this project initiation checklist template for more ideas

   The kick off, onboarding, initiation, intake, whatever you want to call it process, is one of the most important ones to set up at the beginning.

   It controls the flow of work coming into teams and helps them prioritize what they should be working on. You’ll want to align incoming work to strategic objectives to help teams with resource allocation and planning.

   This process will also help you flag project dependencies, for example if one project has to finish before another one can start.

   2.     Status Reporting

   • Agree frequency and content
   • Establish reporting line (to PMO or sponsor or both!)

   The status reporting process is another one to get in place as soon as you can. You might not need every project to turn in a status report, but the big ones that have strategic significance, or that are overspending, or that are for a ‘special’ client – those are the ones to focus on first.

   Look at previous projects and use good practice reports as examples.

   3.     Change Control

   • Don’t overdo it, a project change control log or decision log works fine for now
   • Use a single-page, simple change request doc in Word
   • Use my change management documents.

   Changes cost money, use more resource, eat away at benefits and add more time. So you want to make sure these are controlled and the impacts understood.

   Getting a change control process in place helps manage scope creep, keeps projects under control and helps make faster decisions. Create a change management process template that shows project teams what to do when.

   Keep it scalable

   Add time tracking, benefits tracking, or stage gates later only if needed.

   There are lots more processes you can add over time. Listen out for what people are asking for and prioritize those. That way you can meet a demand and add real value early on.

   PMO tools that increase productivity

   If you start looking for project management software, you’ll see there are literally hundreds of tools you can get.

   The best project management software for small teams is going to be the product that works with the way your team works. You can consider options like Trello, Asana, Monday.com and Smartsheet, Microsoft Planner, Notion and more. Look for lightweight PMO software designed for small businesses.

   My top tip is to work out what you want the tool to do for you before you invest in software. You absolutely need to have requirements before you shop around. You're looking for affordable project planning software, so have a budget in mind as well.

   And when you are ready to shop around, save yourself some time and go with a service like Crozdesk where you can speak to a human and have them recommend tools that are a fit for your needs based on your requirements.

   [lasso id="22755" link_id="302061" ref="crozdesk"]

   I use Infinity for project planning and task management, Google Workspace, the Microsoft Suite (especially Excel). If you want to take a chance on something new, AppSumo often has lifetime deals on productivity tools that would give you a starting point. Sometimes you need to use a few tools to find out what you really want from them.

   Governance without the guff

   You need to have a project governance framework for your organization. Whether you're looking for lean project management for startups or trying to establish governance in a larger, more mature organization, there needs to be some way of making decisions and holding people accountable.

   However, you don’t need a 20-page PM framework, especially as you are bringing your own project management expertise to the show. Instead:

   • Define when a project is a “project” (vs. BAU)
   • Set minimum standards for:

     • Project startup (use the brief)
     • Status reporting
     • Risk tracking
     • Project closure

   Create a 1-page governance cheat sheet as part of your toolkit for the PMO that lets projects teams know what reporting is expected. Do they need to have a steering group? Are there approval points? What business case is required? Who signs off what?

   When those basics are clear, projects will move more quickly through delivery.

   Build now, refine later

   This project management office toolkit gives you structure without stalling delivery. Start small, make it visible, and evolve based on feedback. You want sustainable business performance, not a big spike of activity at the beginning followed by the slow lingering death of being ignored by the rest of the business!

   This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: Your First PMO Toolkit: The Essentials You Actually Need

4. IBM Project Management vs Google Project Management: Certificate Showdown!

   

   Are you wondering whether you should take the IBM project management certificate or the Google project management course?

   They are both excellent, credible training providers, and both courses are aimed at beginner-level project managers. So which one to take?

   Having worked through the Coursera IBM Project Manager, IBM IT Project Manager and Google Project Management professional certificates, I feel confident being able to share with you my thoughts on how they shape up.

   Hopefully, the time I’ve taken to work through and review the courses will save you time making the right decision for your career. There is no ‘best solution’ so I’ll help you work out which training is the best for your situation.

   A note on the IBM project management training

   IBM offers two flavors of their project management training: the IT project manager certificate and the ‘standard’, non-tech version which is just called the IBM Project Manager certificate.
   Both flavors are very similar, and they share 6 courses between them.

   Therefore I’m going to bundle them both together and in this comparison, I’m going to refer to IBM vs Google. Whichever IBM project management course you want to do, the comparison still stands.

   Now, with that out the way, let’s get into the comparison.

   The Google Project Management training

   The Google course is fantastic. Thousands of students have gone through the course and it’s fast becoming one of the leading entry-level courses available.

   It’s a true contender and you won’t go wrong by studying the material in the course, regardless of where you are in your career.

   Number of courses in the certificate: 6

   Recommended time to complete: 6 months at 10 hours a week

   

   Pros

   • Globally-recognized training provider.
   • Immersive case studies and peer-reviewed assignments to put your learning into practice.
   • Lots of career support resources and tips from Googlers on building a project management career and what the job is like in real-life.
   • Many exemplars and completed templates to use as what a good document should look like.

   Cons

   • Some content is covered briefly and if you want more in-depth information you’ll have to follow up with independent learning
   • Not as well-recognized in the industry as PMI courses.

   Read next: Employers have their say. Can you really get a job with the Google Career Certificates?

   

   The IBM Project Manager training

   This course launched after the Google training had already gained a foothold in the market. The IBM course is from a hugely credible training provider.

   The material feels more in-depth in that there are a lot of references to specific ways of working, and specific processes drawn from PMI materials.

   The PMI focus is  helpful if the language of project management used in your organization stems from the PMBOK® Guide and PMI ways of working.

   Number of courses in the certificate: 7 (for the PM certificate) or 9 (for the IT certificate)

   Recommended time to complete: 10 hours of study per week for 2-3 months

   Pros

   • Focuses on PMI methods and is great for those who want to go on to the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® exam.
   • There are labs that allow you to do a lot of hands-on practice.
   • Extra honors content for students who want even more practical experience.
   • In-depth quality content from a well-recognized brand.

   In addition, the IT variant of the course is perfect for an entry-level IT project manager.

   Cons

   • Not a lot of agile project management content.
   • Some duplicative content across the courses – OK if you consider it a refresher on what you have already learned.
   • Not a lot of exemplars or completed templates to learn from.

   

   Key features in the courses

   So how do the courses compare against particular features? Having done both, this is how I think they shape up.

   Training quality

   The Google course is brilliantly put together. The material feels very high quality. The videos are excellent. The templates are easy to use and practical resources you’ll want to keep for your future projects.

   The IBM courses have excellent quality content but the production values don’t feel as good. You’ll spot a couple of typos and formatting errors. The individual videos feel like they’ve been picked from other courses and the experience is not as cohesive.

   However, I would say the IBM training is more in-depth and very quickly gets into a broader range of tools and techniques.

   Winner: Google

   Training cost

   Both courses are available on Coursera. Google’s training is part of the Coursera Plus model. As of April 2024, all IBM courses are included Coursera Plus as well.

   Both offer a free trial and the option to audit the learning (i.e. complete as much as you can for free which excludes the ability to take graded quizzes and submit peer-reviewed assignments).

   Winner: This one is a tie.

   Agile vs Waterfall

   The Google course feels a lot more aligned to iterative and agile ways of working. Linear, predictive models are definitely covered, but agile feels like it is baked in.

   The IBM training has agile content (one for the PM certificate, two for the IT PM certificate) but the agile principles are not reflected in the other courses substantively.

   Winner: Google

   Credly badges

   Project management certification for these courses is in the form of a Credly badge (they used to be Acclaim). This is a digital credentialling system that is free to use as a student/successful course taker and gives you a link to your profile page so people can see your verified achievements.

   The Google course will give you one Credly badge. The IBM training will give you two, or three if you take the IT version.

   If having more badges is important to you, the IBM IT Project Manager training will give you the most on your Credly profile.

   Personally, I think Credly digital badges are worth more than the PDF downloadable certificates that are pretty much only good for sharing on LinkedIn.

   Winner: IBM

   

   What’s the same in both courses

   Both courses cover the concept of a project management methodology and various ways to deliver that. They talk about the project lifecycle, project teams, agile concepts and the crucial skills that will help you in managing projects successfully.

   Both courses offer hands-on experience in applying project management through practical exercises where you work from a case study to complete a task.

   Both are online courses that are self-paced and self-directed, and both provide career-based help so you can get ahead in the job market. They both include videos of staff members and experts talking about real-world projects.

   Both have a Capstone project to work through as the conclusion to all your hard work.

   Neither will give you college credits or credits towards a degree.

   How to decide

   Ultimately, it’s your career, and you need to make the decision. To be honest, I’ve done both and you could too. There’s certainly no harm in having both on your CV or resume.

   The Google project management training is best for…

   I’ve taken the certificate and I believe the Google course is best for you if:

   • You’re a complete beginner or you want a structured refresh of the basics.
   • You don’t know if project management is the career for you yet.
   • You’re an entry-level project manager who wants to work in a hybrid or agile environment.
   • You work in an environment where PMI is not the prescribed approach to doing everything.

   [lasso id="35054" link_id="293252" ref="coursera-pm" secondary_text="Read my review" secondary_url="https://rebelsguidetopm.com/google-project-management/"]

   The IBM project management training is best for…

   Choose the IBM project management training if:

   • You want to (or do) work in a technical environment on IT projects (take the IBM IT course).
   • You want to (or do) work in a predictive/waterfall environment.
   • You have a tiny bit of project management experience – it’s not necessary but this is an in-depth course and it will make it easier for you.
   • You want to go on to do the PMI CAPM or PMP exams.

   [lasso badge="hide" category="ibm" link_id="293253" type="grid"]

   This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: IBM Project Management vs Google Project Management: Certificate Showdown!

5. Ladder and Hot Air Balloon Scheduling

   

   Project managers tend to live or die by their schedules. They shape decisions, priorities and stakeholder engagements. We feel good when the schedules give us confidence.

   We feel nervous when they change a lot.

   We feel out of control when the schedule is clearly fictional with no chance of ever being delivered.

   It’s no surprise that scheduling can be such an emotional activity. According to Teresa Amabile and Stephen Kramer in their book, The Progress Principle (2011), there are three things that shape the positive feelings you have about work time:

   1. making meaningful progress
   2. events that directly help project work
   3. moments of positive interpersonal activity.

   Scheduling is all about making progress towards a meaningful goal so it’s no wonder dates and deadlines play such an important part in whether work feels in or out of control.

   

   Managing multiple project schedules adds another layer to hitting deadlines. Instead of moving towards one meaningful goal, you are moving towards several at the same time. You’ve got several independent project schedules, whether they are detailed Gantt charts, task lists with dates or timelines in some other format.

   Individually, they may all look manageable. But you aren’t working on them individually. You have a multi-project portfolio to review and that means you need a big picture view of task deliverable dates so you can better organize your calendar.

   That’s where ladder and hot air balloon scheduling come into play. Let me explain what I mean.

   The ladder view: making a detailed, combined schedule for all projects

   Think of standing at the top of a ladder. You can see the ground quite clearly. You’ve got a full view of what’s going on, and your view is made all the better from being up a little bit higher than you were at ground level.

   When you combine your project schedules in a detailed way, the ladder view is useful for identifying:

   • What needs to be done when across multiple projects from one plan
   • Potential resource conflicts where people are allocated to multiple projects at the same time
   • Busy points in the coming months so you can plan accordingly
   • Where activities can be merged to benefit the team, for example combining governance meetings.

   The ladder view is also a useful tool for communicating about your projects and provides a visual overview of what’s going on for you, your project sponsor and your team.

   The ladder view approach is suitable for portfolios where the vast majority of your work is related, there are a lot of dependencies between tasks and you use common resources. A detailed, consolidated schedule is also a useful communication tool with your team or project sponsor if all the work is relevant to them.

   

   The hot air balloon view: making a high-level schedule for all projects

   Now think of being up in a hot air balloon. You are higher than standing on a ladder so you can’t see the ground quite so clearly. You can pick out the big features in the landscape: rivers, hills, roads, towns, and clusters of industrial buildings. This is the view we’re aiming for with a high-level schedule.

   The hot air balloon schedule is useful for quickly identifying periods where multiple projects have deliverables or milestones due at the same time so you can plan accordingly. It is a roadmap for what’s coming and it gives you a big picture view with relatively little effort.

   The benefit to this approach is that it is far less time-consuming than creating a detailed combined schedule. It highlights the busy times and gives you that hot air balloon view of your upcoming deadlines.

   This way of looking at your work is an overview; you still need to maintain an individual schedule for each project so that you have somewhere to track progress at a detailed level. It is also only a snapshot of a single moment in time, as project schedules change.

   However, as a way to identify what’s coming up so you can be prepared, the hot air balloon view is very helpful. It is also a great communications tool if you are trying to explain why you can’t take on any more work or why perhaps you need to recruit extra people in your team in a way that a detailed task by task activity listing might be overwhelming for the person looking at that information.

   This approach is best for projects that don’t feel they would suit a fully-combined, detailed master schedule. When your projects are unrelated, or your workload doesn’t group into a single bucket, then the hot air balloon view shows you the big picture in a relatively low-effort way.

   There is no hard and fast rule for whether the ladder view or the hot air balloon view is going to be best for you, but you probably have an instant feeling for which one would give you the best visibility and control.

   You can use one approach for certain projects and the other for the rest of your portfolio: mix and match as you see fit to give you the best visibility for the work that is to come.

   You can learn how to create both a ladder view schedule and a hot air balloon schedule in my book, Managing Multiple Projects.­ Consolidating your schedules means you can predict when you will be busy, and that’s very value information for you and your team.

   This is an edited extract from Managing Multiple Projects: How Project Managers Can Balance Priorities, Manage Expectations and Increase Productivity (Kogan Page, 2025.)

   

   This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: Ladder and Hot Air Balloon Scheduling