You'll want to have a basic understanding of project management principles to be a good project manager, but workplace skills are just as important.
Project management skills enable you to effectively interact with people, solve problems, and put your organizational talents to use. Project management requires a combination of technical and workplace skills to coordinate both projects and teams. Here are 12 technical and workplace skills you’ll want to have as a project manager.
Afterward, if you'd like to work on your project management skills, consider enrolling in the Google Project Management Professional Certificate. You'll learn how to create effective project documentation and artifacts throughout the various phases of a project, among other skills.
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Get on the fast track to a career in project management. In this certificate program, you’ll learn in-demand skills, and get AI training from Google experts. Learn at your own pace, no degree or experience required.
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Quality Assessment, Project Management, Interviewing Skills, Applicant Tracking Systems, Project Planning, Project Controls, Continuous Improvement Process, Stakeholder Communications, Backlogs, Quality Management, Project Documentation, Milestones (Project Management), Agile Methodology, Team Management, Agile Project Management, Project Management Life Cycle, Change Management, Requirements Analysis, Project Closure, Project Scoping, User Story, Product Roadmaps, Sprint Retrospectives, Sprint Planning, Problem Solving, Agile Product Development, Organizational Change, Coaching, Influencing, Personal Attributes, Generative AI, Communication, Prompt Engineering, Professional Development, Communication Strategies, Stakeholder Management, Negotiation, Management Reporting, Goal Setting, Strategic Thinking, Business Writing, Cost Benefit Analysis, Project Management Software, Resource Management, Accountability, Data-Driven Decision-Making, Risk Management, Meeting Facilitation, Technical Communication, Procurement, Budgeting, Communication Planning, Cost Management, Timelines, Project Schedules, Estimation, Waterfall Methodology, Organizational Structure, Program Management
Below are the technical skills and software that you'll need to know to be a successful project management professional.
Project management methodologies are the specific rules and procedures determining how you manage a project. Different project management methodologies are suitable for different situations. Being familiar with the basic differences can help you pick the best one for a project. Although some companies might want you to stick with one approach, knowing about others can give you better context for what you’re doing and why.
Some common approaches to project management include Waterfall, a traditional, sequential approach, and Agile, which prioritizes adaptability. Within these approaches, there are several methodologies. For example, Scrum is the most commonly used Agile methodology. Others include Lean, Kanban, and XP (Extreme Programming).
The start of a project—when much of it is planned—is often critical to its success. Though it might sound simple, there are many moving pieces to think about in the initial phase of a project. Initiating a project includes setting achievable and specific goals, picking a team, determining resources, and holding a kickoff meeting.
Most projects will have budget constraints. Knowing where costs might pile up and how to prioritize tasks and delegate resources is an important part of ensuring a project doesn’t go over budget.
If you’re working on a large project or for a large company, you might not be the primary person responsible for managing the budget. But it’ll still be good to know what elements can add to a budget, how to decrease costs, and when you need to increase it.
No project comes without potential risks. As a project manager, you’ll want to be able to identify when and how unexpected events that could derail your project might happen, how to decrease the chances of them happening, and how to respond if they do. How much of a time buffer should you add to unpredictable projects or tasks? If something goes awry, how would you adjust your scope or resources? Having an eye for potential risks and how to mitigate them can ensure smoother project delivery.
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Technology has made sharing findings, schedules, and communications across teams and stakeholders convenient. As a project manager, you’ll often be expected to know how to use collaboration and communication software and to take the lead in managing them.
Some tools you might be expected to use include:
Collaboration tools like Google Sheets, Google Drive, and Dropbox
Work management tools like Asana, Trello, Jira, and Smartsheet
Scheduling tools like digital calendars and Gantt charts
Communication tools like email, chat, and video conferencing software
Project management professionals can work in many different fields, including IT, health care, and construction. Sometimes, hiring managers will prefer candidates with academic or professional experience in the field. If you’re looking to switch careers to become a project manager, it can be worth looking for opportunities within an industry you know.
The demand for project managers will grow by 7 percent between 2023 and 20233 [1]. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an average of 77,000 job openings for project managers every year over the next ten years.
Identifying opportunities to apply AI tools to your daily workflow has become invaluable in the modern workplace. As a project manager, you can use AI to create documents to keep your project on track, brainstorm potential risk assessment outcomes, and enhance team productivity.
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Beyond the technical know-how you'll need to work in project management, the list below outlines the important workplace skills you'll need.
Communication is a key skill for project management professionals to have. In fact, insufficient communication is often cited as a reason why projects miss deadlines, go over budget, or otherwise get derailed.
Good communication doesn’t just mean speaking well in front of people—though that’s important too. Project managers should know whom to communicate with, when, and how often. This might mean setting up expectations at the beginning of a project about how often communications will happen.
Communication is critical in project management. Advance your skills today:
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Organization is crucial for project managers. Coordinating timelines, meetings, and efforts with different teams, contractors, or even other companies means having the discipline to stay on top of communications and tasks.
Even with a perfectly planned project, problems arise. Deadlines might be missed; bad weather can derail construction, and people get sick or change jobs. If you’re a person who can deal with unexpected changes, your job as a project manager will go more smoothly.
Leadership can help make all the disparate parts of a project team come together and work as a unit to get things done. Leadership includes influencing decisions without being overtly authoritative, knowing how to motivate team members, and balancing your team's needs with the project's needs.
Leadership and project management go hand in hand. Advance your skills today:
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Leading Effectively. Learn proven management techniques in just four courses.
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Your role as a project manager is to complete projects successfully. While sometimes that means staying organized and communicating with the right people, it can also mean motivating your team, fostering a culture of collaboration and openness, and resolving potential conflicts. Understanding that different people have different work styles, motivations, strengths, and growth areas will allow for more effective teams and more successful projects.
Rachel, a project manager at Google, switched careers from bartending to project management, and her people skills helped her make the switch. Listen to her story below.
Sometimes, there’s no better teacher than hands-on experience. You can build project management skills by taking on more managerial tasks in your workplace. You can also look for volunteer opportunities in your community that will allow you to help plan and execute projects.
You might already have project management skills: If you’ve helped organize any new initiatives professionally or personally, you probably already have some project management skills, even if you didn’t call it that then. Be sure to highlight these experiences when you apply for project management jobs.
As you put together your resume, highlight your project management skills by describing the scale of your project, the size of your team, and the positive results of your efforts. For example, you might say: “Led a team of four developers to redesign a payment platform with a budget of $2M to complete the project on time.”
You can also emphasize project management skills by including them in your resume's “skills” section. If you haven’t led a project before, list your experiences where you had a hand in planning or implementing a new effort.
Taking online courses and completing certificates can be a great way to build project management skills that are in demand. Consider enrolling in the Google Project Management: Professional Certificate. Over five courses, you'll have the opportunity to learn the job-ready essentials of project management, like change management, communicating with stakeholders, documenting project developments, and more.
professional certificate
Get on the fast track to a career in project management. In this certificate program, you’ll learn in-demand skills, and get AI training from Google experts. Learn at your own pace, no degree or experience required.
4.9
(120,005 ratings)
2,115,968 already enrolled
Beginner level
Average time: 6 month(s)
Learn at your own pace
Skills you'll build:
Quality Assessment, Project Management, Interviewing Skills, Applicant Tracking Systems, Project Planning, Project Controls, Continuous Improvement Process, Stakeholder Communications, Backlogs, Quality Management, Project Documentation, Milestones (Project Management), Agile Methodology, Team Management, Agile Project Management, Project Management Life Cycle, Change Management, Requirements Analysis, Project Closure, Project Scoping, User Story, Product Roadmaps, Sprint Retrospectives, Sprint Planning, Problem Solving, Agile Product Development, Organizational Change, Coaching, Influencing, Personal Attributes, Generative AI, Communication, Prompt Engineering, Professional Development, Communication Strategies, Stakeholder Management, Negotiation, Management Reporting, Goal Setting, Strategic Thinking, Business Writing, Cost Benefit Analysis, Project Management Software, Resource Management, Accountability, Data-Driven Decision-Making, Risk Management, Meeting Facilitation, Technical Communication, Procurement, Budgeting, Communication Planning, Cost Management, Timelines, Project Schedules, Estimation, Waterfall Methodology, Organizational Structure, Program Management
US Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Project Management Specialists: Occupational Outlook Handbook, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/project-management-specialists.htm.” Accessed April 9, 2025.
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