Project Manager Personal Improvement Plan

Abstract

The development of soft skills associated with the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) area of communication management is essential to effective project management and is difficult to completely develop and assess in an academic environment, such as The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Master of Science in Project Management (MSPM) program. This is especially important as project management trends towards Agile, which identifies project managers as “servant leaders,” requiring an emphasis on such interpersonal leadership. Research and analysis of program and non-program stakeholders supported the project and hypothesis. This project resulted in a Project Manager Personal Improvement Plan, which provides a systematic approach for developing a measurable plan catered to individual project manger’s maturing communication soft skill areas. Phase one of this project included three project status briefs, a complete project management plan, and final out-brief before execution of phase two, which included three project status briefs, delivery of the Project Manager Personal Improvement Plan to the client, final project report, and final out-brief following project closure. In conclusion, it is recommended that UAA MSPM students use this plan to develop these often immature but highly important skills which do not receive a targeted focus in the program.