This course is for early career professionals and accidental project managers.

Enrollment is strictly limited to 12 participants. Each has coaching available, on each of the eight assignments, and through the entire course.

Technical requirements are minimal: participants must be able to meet via Zoom® and have a Mural® account (free or paid).

There are no prerequisite courses or certifications.  However, experience in some team project(s) is essential since participants will need to model aspects of one such project in order to achieve course objectives.

 This course aims to enable participants each to grow their own project know-how, suited to their own real worlds. To this end, those who complete it successfully should be able to:

1 Collaborate in dispersed project teams via Zoom® and Mural®

2 Model project know-how via specific constructs that help achieve basic team purposes:

• Engaging Stakeholders
• Teaming Up
• Appreciating Values
• Modeling Development
• Planning Responsibilities
• Empowering Co-workers
• Delivering Value
• Adapting in Turbulence

3 Inform know-how by principles and values of 6 communities of practice (CoP): Agile, Plan-driven (“waterfall”); General Business Management; Systems Analysis and Engineering; Kaizen (incl. Quality, Lean, etc.); Soft Systems Collaborative Design

4 Given a project history, critique decision-making in a principled, constructive way

5 Model one’s own project know-how, current and planned, by a panoramic map of constructs

6 Help project teams achieve basic purposes by

• Analyzing team work individually (e.g. gap, root cause, SWOT analysis)
• Analyzing, coaching, collaborating, and mentoring with humans and AI
• Identifying know-how needed for team purposes and planning to grow it
• Growing individual and team project know-how

Personal Log-in to Products Library at Cogent Language Website

• Case Study (PDF)
• Access to “Growing Project Know-how” (online community)

• Access to Project Know-how Panorama template enabling participants each to to create a personal panorama in their Mural® account 
• Live Session Resources
  • Schedule (Zoom®)
  • Session Agendas 
  • Assignments (listed below)
  • Breakout room collaboration
  • Access to and advice on AI mentoring
  • “Project Know-how” video library blog

• Personalized project know-how panorama, with custom plans for continued learning, co-designed via AI and PMP coaching 

• Formal certificates for those who successfully complete the course by:

  a) attending at least 7 of the 10 sessions

  AND, by the last day of class,

  b) scoring 0.5 or better on 6 of the 8 assignments as explained below

Learning here does not rely on textbooks, talking-head videos, slide decks, or practice tests. It does rely on situated experience, reflection on it, and individual coaching. Classmate collaboration and AI ``mentoring” are available as well. Key learning activities are assignments, task-based, personal, constructive, and cumulative. Each assignment addresses one basic purpose of project teams. Underlined in the schedule above, there are eight (8) such assignments.  All are set in the context of extended case studies. Participants conduct two of these. One is a published case, used by all to gain a shared understanding of project know-how. The second is unique to each participant. Each selects a “project in focus” (PiF), done or nearly done, in which they had substantial experience. This should be a team project, 2 or more months long, one of the best that they have taken part in. Participants start an assignment by reviewing PiF team work toward a single basic purpose. from all the (80+) project constructs set out on their panoramas, they identify those that were key to achieving the PiF purpose and that seem to have the most potential for doing so in the future. To learn these constructs, participants then craft a time-phased learning plan on their panoramas This completes a given assignment. Thus, in each, participants create a job aid and a plan : a job aid helping them to contribute to a team purpose in current and future projects, and a plan for individual continued learning.  

Each assignment underlined above is due in the following session. Participants can get coaching on the assignment and indicate that they are done, using the Mural® chat function.  Assignments can be done late, but no more than 1 week later than due (with the exception of “Adapting in Turbulence” which must be done by the last day of class). Each assignment receives feedback and coaching, including an initial score from 0-1.  A score of 1 demonstrates mastery - in effect, it is a PASS grade, so no further work is needed. If a score is < 1, then the participant can revise and resubmit. The coach will explain what needs to be done to improve.  In special circumstances, the coach may also suggest that coaching would be better provided in a 1:1 zoom session. The score does not depend on this, and participants need not do so.

“Be kind” is the ground rule. No matter how “hard” and effective we may be on managing or problem-solving, it is essential to be “soft on people” here, considerate, and respectful.  Any violation of this rule will result in a warning by the coach.  More than one violation may result in limits to violator’s ability to participate. In cases of repeated or extreme violations, Cogent Language reserves the right to cancel violator’s class registration, with no refund.

To maximize your learning, our guidelines are:  Be here, be ready, be willing, and be brave.

• Re “be here”, please attend live sessions, craft your panorama, and discuss your PiF freely 
• Re “be ready”, please prepare to bring some new work “to the party” every week if you can 
• To have new work ready every week, “be willing” to spend about 2 hours prepping. (Show your time management skills: schedule these early in the course!) 
• Re “be brave”, don’t be afraid of sharing your work or of being “hard on problems”