Talk to employers and professors about what separates the students who succeed from those who don’t, and you’ll find that organizational skills are just as important as reading, writing, and math skills. That’s why tackling big assignments is a big opportunity to learn the key skill of project management.

Project management is a process used from construction to marketing to software design that helps people make better use of their time and deliver higher quality work. It can be used for making any product that has a clear deadline and outcome. In fact, at EduGuide we use it to guide every publication, event, and service we create.

The following questions teach students the basics of  project management and give some important project management tips.

Scope

  1. What are the requirements for the project? List deadline, page length, and other criteria. 
  2. Teachers should discuss evaluation criteria for big projects before students start working, and innovative teachers often allow students to create the evaluation rubric themselves. If this doesn't happen, be sure to ask  what will make the biggest difference between an A-quality project and a B- or C-quality project. You can’t guarantee yourself an A, but you can at least make sure that you’re focusing your attention on learning and demonstrating the skills that the teacher thinks are most important for the project. 
  3. What resources will you need? List books for research, art supplies for a presentation, or other materials. 

Process

Follow the steps below to create your own project management plan, which you can list on a chart. 

  1. List the major phases of your project. Then put them in the order you would like to complete them. 
  2. List the tasks necessary for each phase. After you’ve written a task, ask yourself if you can break it down into smaller steps. 
  3. Working backwards from your final deadline, create target dates for each task you must complete. Spread out your deadlines so they don’t arrive just before your project is due. 



Bryan Taylor, president of EduGuide, is a national speaker for parents, students, and educators who addresses more than a million people annually through his writing, speaking, and media work.