Chapter 20 - Softskills¶

Introduction¶

The last 19 chapters you have learned a lot about project management. You know how to plan projects properly, calculate time and analyse risks. Everything you know now is important for a project manager. Without these tools you can't start a project - but one thing has not been covered yet: the soft skills.

In order to work successfully with a project team, a project manager needs to know the soft factors as well!

Overview¶

Softskills are personal skills, which means that it is not about the project work, as in the previous chapters, but about people within the project - the project manager and the project team members. For this reason, the 20^th chapter "softskills" differs from the other chapters. It is further divided into eight sub-chapters, which are as follows:

Before you start…¶

…let us introduce you to this 20^th chapter

In the following we will deal with the eight sub-chapters of soft skills. Each individual sub-chapter is relevant for you to be able to act successfully as a project manager and in a project team.

The story about John Sampey and Dr. Carl Rogers is finished, since John has left the company and had to go back to his studies. But of course, we want to keep you entertained, so some chapters contain independent stories about Carl, our project manager. A transfer project, as known from the previous chapters, will not be continued in this chapter. "Test yourself" will of course remain.

Last but not least: even if the topic of soft skills seems to be easier or more understandable, do not underestimate it, keep taking notes and treat it just like the "hard" topics.