Right now I am reading “head first pmp” to get me started
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.
Update: this book looks like it came out in 2008. Still relevant?
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
Project Management Flow by Donald G. Reinertsen
Both books are great, the Brooks one is like, legendary.
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.
If you do find a community- lmk
:)
