Charter.

// track 02 · 10 lessons · ~50 min

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.

  1. 1
    02.01

    The project charter

    The one-pager that authorizes a project to exist.

    4 min
  2. 02.02

    Stakeholder mapping (deep dive)

    Plot the political graph before it plots you.

    5 min
  3. 02.03

    Requirements gathering — interviews, JTBD, user stories

    Talk to people. Listen for the actual job, not the surface request.

    6 min
  4. 02.04

    Scope definition + WBS

    Decompose the work until each leaf is something a person can finish.

    5 min
  5. 02.05

    Estimation I — story points, t-shirt sizing, planning poker

    When you can't predict hours, predict relative size.

    5 min
  6. 02.06

    Estimation II — 3-point, COCOMO, function points

    When the org needs hours and dollars, here's how to give them honestly.

    6 min
  7. 02.07

    Scheduling — critical path, Gantt, dependencies

    The longest dependent chain decides your finish date.

    6 min
  8. 02.08

    Risk identification + the Risk Register

    Name what could go wrong before it does.

    5 min
  9. 02.09

    The kickoff

    The one meeting where the team aligns before reality starts pressing.

    4 min
  10. 02.10

    Picking the right PM for the project

    Different projects want different operating styles.

    4 min

// canonical reading for this track

Beyond what we wrote.

These are the primary sources our lessons draw from. If you want to go deep on this track, start here.

// put it into practice

Reading is half the work.

The simulator drops you into real PM scenarios so the concepts from these lessons stop being abstract.