// the curriculum · free · sourced & validated
PM, A through Z.
Read it cover to cover, or dive sideways into the topic you need. Every lesson cites primary sources (PMBOK, Scrum Guide, McConnell, BLS, peer-reviewed papers). Every lesson ends with a mandatory knowledge check. Practice each concept in the simulator →
tracks
8 live
lessons
67 live
// tracks · ordered, but jump in anywhere
01 · 8 lessons
Foundations.
First day on the job.
The vocabulary, frameworks, and mental models every project / product / scrum manager needs before doing anything else. Eight short lessons covering what a PM is, the three levels (project / program / portfolio), the four roles you'll meet, PMBOK 7e in five minutes, lifecycle models from waterfall to hybrid, the triple constraint, stakeholder mapping, and how a project actually ends.
02 · 10 lessons
Discovery & Planning.
First brief → kickoff.
Everything between "we should do this" and "the team is starting work" — the project charter, stakeholder mapping with RACI, requirements via interviews and JTBD, scope definition with WBS, two estimation traditions (relative agile + absolute software), critical-path scheduling, risk identification, the kickoff meeting, and how to pick the right PM for the right project.
03 · 11 lessons
Execution & Methodologies.
Sprints, ceremonies, change control.
Running the work day-to-day. Scrum's roles + ceremonies + artifacts, Kanban's WIP-limited flow, the SAFe vs LeSS scaling debate, sprint planning with forecasting (not commitment), the daily standup (and what it isn't), backlog refinement, retrospectives that surface system change, status reporting up + sideways, formal change control, ongoing risk monitoring, and the QA + testing vocabulary every PM needs.
04 · 8 lessons
Tools & Artifacts.
Risk registers, Gantts, RACIs, PRDs.
The artifacts you'll actually fill out as a PM, taught one tool at a time. Risk register beyond P×I (residual risk, contingency reserves), Kanban classes of service + CFDs, Gantt baseline tracking + buffer placement, RACI without the matrix theater, modern PRDs (no longer 50-page specs), three prioritization frameworks side-by-side (RICE, WSJF, MoSCoW), sprint metrics that lie when read alone, and OKRs vs KPIs — Grove's original rules.
05 · 7 lessons
Stakeholders & Comms.
Influence without authority.
The defining PM skill — getting things done when you can't fire anyone. Stakeholder mapping beyond the 2D grid (attitude, salience, influence networks), Cialdini's six principles applied honestly, designing steering committees that actually decide, three executive-comms formats (one-pager, narrative, six-pager), the Patterson framework for difficult conversations, BATNA / ZOPA / anchoring in negotiation, and managing vendors when accountability stays with you.
06 · 7 lessons
Metrics & Iteration.
What's working, what's not.
Reading the project. Leading vs lagging indicators, OKR depth (writing key results that aren't tasks), A/B testing without peeking, funnel + cohort analysis (why aggregates lie), Earned Value Management for capital projects, DORA's four software-delivery metrics, and how to write a project health check that doesn't become a watermelon.
07 · 8 lessons
Leadership & Career.
From senior PM to director.
The transitions, skills, and certifications of moving up. The Senior PM → Product Leader "canyon" (Reforge), Tuckman's team-dynamics stages, the limits of MBTI/DISC, hiring + delegation as scale levers, cross-functional leadership without authority, Rumelt's diagnosis-policy-action strategy framework, performance reviews that don't suck, and the four certifications PMs actually pursue (PMP, CSM, PSM, PMI-ACP).
08 · 8 lessons
What Goes Wrong.
Classic mistakes & antipatterns.
How software / project work fails — McConnell-school. McConnell's 36 classic mistakes (people / process / product / technology), the hero / rescue / death-march antipatterns, scope creep recognition + recovery, schedule chicken across teams, communication breakdowns + the meeting-after-the-meeting tell, CMMI maturity levels for context, blameless project autopsies, and the discipline of killing a project when sunk-cost reasoning would have you continue.
// how we author
Cite the source.
Every factual claim links to a primary or canonical source — PMBOK, the Scrum Guide, the Agile Manifesto, Royce 1970, Boehm 1988, McConnell, Brooks, Tuckman, BLS. When sources disagree, the lesson surfaces the disagreement. When something is craft ("how to run a good standup"), it's attributed to the practitioner who wrote about it. Numbers that can't be sourced get reframed qualitatively rather than fabricated.
Start with Foundations →