New project leads, team members, founders, and operators who need a practical system for coordinating a finite piece of work across people and deadlines.
Course 29 · Work course 09
Learn Project Management by Running a Real Project
Define outcomes, organize scope, assign ownership, build a schedule, manage risk and change, and close with evidence.
Before you start
Choose a real or fictional project to plan over four to twelve weeks. Define its finished result and at least two stakeholders: people who contribute to or are affected by it.
See everything you’ll needWhat you’ll leave with
A project plan with a written agreement on its purpose and scope, tasks, schedule, risk log, regular updates, and a review of lessons learned.
Start course Start without an account. Sign in to save lesson progress across devices.
Your project
Start with the practice files. Build your project one lesson at a time.
Practice files are free without an account. Sign in to save your project record in My Proof: a description, checklist, and optional work link. Keep the original files in your own app or notebook; saving a project record does not upload them.
- Get your materialsDownload the practice worksheetUse the downloadable worksheet or toolkit alongside the lesson instructions.
- Make your projectView the project checklist Work in your own notebook, document, or software. Use the supplied practice examples when you prefer.
- Keep a private recordSave a project record Sign in to save a description and checklist, then return to update them.
Optional course overview
Watch an introduction.
This overview from Project Management Institute introduces ideas you’ll practice in the lessons.
Watch directly on YouTubeProject Management InstituteFundamentals of Project ManagementYouTube
Course handbook
Know the route before you begin.
Here’s what you’ll need and what you’ll make. You can return to this guide during any lesson.
- Choose a real or fictional project to plan over four to twelve weeks. Define its finished result and at least two stakeholders: people who contribute to or are affected by it.
- Collect existing commitments, constraints, deadlines, approvals, resources, and known dependencies.
- Choose one shared place for the latest project information that everyone on the team can access and update.
Finish with proof you can use.
Run a real project using a signed charter, stakeholder and responsibility map, scoped work breakdown, dependency schedule, risk and decision log, weekly status, change control, acceptance record, and retrospective.
Save a project record in My ProofSee project checklist and review criteria
- An approved one-page charter with outcome, measures, scope boundaries, constraints, roles, and open questions.
- A stakeholder map, responsibility matrix, decision-rights table, and communication plan.
- A work-breakdown structure with deliverables, work packages, owners, estimates, and acceptance criteria.
- A dated project schedule with dependencies, owners, milestones, review buffers, and baseline assumptions.
- A live risk register, decision log, change log, and one-page weekly status report.
- An acceptance record, handoff package, closure checklist, outcome report, and retrospective with named improvements.
Three ideas to help you along the way
Three useful ideas
The rules behind the steps.
Outcome before activity
A project succeeds by delivering an accepted result, not by generating a large quantity of tasks and meetings.
Ownership must be singular
Many people can contribute, but each deliverable and decision needs one clearly accountable owner.
Plans are living evidence
Schedules and forecasts should change when reality changes, with the reason and effect made visible.
What do these words mean?
Key words
Key terms worth knowing.
- Charter
- A short authorization document defining the project’s outcome, boundaries, sponsor, lead, constraints, and success.
- Dependency
- A relationship in which one task, decision, resource, or deliverable affects when another can proceed.
- Risk
- An uncertain event or condition that could affect project objectives.
- Acceptance criteria
- Observable conditions that must be met for a deliverable to be approved.
Your route6 lessons.
6 lessons.
One useful project.
Work in order the first time. Each lesson makes something the next lesson can use.
- 1Up next
Write a useful project charter
Create shared agreement on the outcome, authority, boundaries, constraints, and measures before work expands.
- 227 min
Map stakeholders and ownership
Identify affected people, decision rights, communication needs, and one owner for every important result.
- 335 min
Break outcomes into controlled scope
Break the finished project into smaller pieces of work and tasks. Keep clear acceptance criteria: the conditions each piece must meet to be approved.
- 436 min
Build a dependency-based schedule
Sequence work using dependencies, capacity, milestones, and uncertainty rather than arbitrary due dates.
- 538 min
Manage risk, status, and change
Surface uncertainty early, report decision-ready status, and control changes to scope, time, cost, and quality.
- 630 min
Accept, close, and learn
Verify the outcome, transfer ownership, close obligations, preserve records, and improve the next project.
Use the tools
See all tools Tools to help you practice.
Source transparency
Sources and further study.
Explore the references behind the lessons and take your learning further. Source notes explain access and reuse.
BCcampus Project Management, 2nd edition — Scope Planning
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-10
Read scope, deliverables, requirements, and traceability passages.
Access: Free public chapter; no purchase required.
Reuse: Linked for further study. Book-level CC BY 4.0 has component exceptions; this course uses original practice.
Ready when you are
Start lesson one Start with the first useful move.
You’ll always know what to do, what to make, and where to go next.
Open collaboration ideaHelp keep this complete course free.
Potential collaboration: Project software, collaboration platforms, professional training
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