There was an input about the October professional event, stating that several instances of research supported how there’s not only a need, but a demand for the usage of project management tools and methods for family and private life. However, the novelty and fear of usage associated with the PLM methodology seems to currently hamper people in using this well-structured and beneficial tool.
The biggest related problem is that those who know PLM tools and methods usually don’t know the entire scope of the process either. They mainly know how adapting a process here and there to groups works, meaning they don’t see the complex system in its entirety either.
According to our experiences, most people don’t obtain PM knowledge through formal education, they usually take part in some sort of project work, by which they obtain an introduction to PM’s steps, process. Most of the people learned what they know about project management through being a member of project staff.
PM is similar to a driver’s license; if the person doesn’t link practical experiences to their obtained theoretic knowledge (and their experience gained by sitting next to the trainer), their knowledge doesn’t morph into competence, and die in a while. However, as a member of a project staff, the experiences are truly practical, however, knowledge “stolen” by sight only covers a part of specific, narrow parts of the process. The staff usually doesn’t have a perspective of the project’s entire life cycle. The person in question learns how to use a tool or two, however, doesn’t get to know other tools, and can’t place them into the entirety of the process. Furthermore, staff members are usually in the dark about the project’s start and end parts, as programme creation and evaluation are done by the project manager, or a planner, evaluation-focused workgroup.
Yet for PLM, these are the most notable and most critically important parts of a project – especially programme creation.
As for most professions, project management is also about theory and practice complementing one another to create professional-level knowledge and experience.