Do any of these scenarios sound familiar?

It’s hard to gain alignment with the project team and stakeholders at the start of a new project

You want to stand out from other Project Managers in interviews or within your team

You don’t have a clear approach to plan a project from scratch

You feel overwhelmed and busy all the time, but you’re not getting much done

You're struggling with difficult stakeholders or unsure how to handle new scope requests

The same issues are repeating themselves on your projects

You’ve taken a Project Management course, but you don’t know how to implement what you’ve learned

You often spend too much time searching for that key piece of information you know you have somewhere

Project Management certifications look good on your CV, but they don’t tell you how to do it in the real-world

Theory only you gets you so far. You need to understand how to plan and set up your projects with an Agile, adaptable and collaborative approach.

Whether you're starting out in Project Management or are an experienced Project Manager, this online course will provide implementable advice and help you avoid common mistakes. With expert insights provided by experienced Project Managers, it will support you to succeed and accelerate your career.

What you will learn, overview

How to create core principles that align with your professional values to help guide your decision-making and your career

Learn an Agile 5-step framework for planning any project that focuses on collaboration, speed and value for you, your project team and its stakeholders.

Get access to and implement a personal Project Management knowledge hub to improve how you store learnings, insights and processes

How to handle common challenges with your team and clients so you manage conflict and difficult scenarios with confidence

How to maximise your productivity so you can take control of your workload, get more done and work on the tasks that bring you and your project team the most value

Module 1

Learn how to create guiding principles for fast decision making

Explain the decisions you make with confidence

Apply a set of personal guiding principles so decision-making becomes easier and faster

Identify where and when you should spend your time for higher productivity and greater job satisfaction

Apply your principles to aid prioritisation for you and your projects

Stand out from other Project Managers in your company or in interviews using your principles to explain your individual approach

Module 2

Simplify project planning with a collaborative, adaptable and Agile approach

Apply a 5-step planning framework you can use for any project

Start fast when a new project request arrives in your inbox

Take control of your projects from day one with a collaborative and Agile approach

Explain a proven planning approach you use to clients or when interviewing for new roles

Identify the information that really matters to give your project the best chance of success

Module 3

Create your own Project Management knowledge hub with the PPM Tracker

Apply a continuous learning approach through a personal knowledge and learning hub

Utilise a ready-to-use Notion template that provides access to key information when you need it

Recognise the tasks that have value for you and your project

Recall and access information to become the go-to Project Manager for knowledge and coaching

Identify where you need to improve to give you greater effectiveness and impact

Module 4

Understand how to manage the most common project scenarios

Understand how to deal with team conflicts and difficult client conversations

Manage scope requests with confidence

Identify when to escalate issues or manage within the team

Understand how to push back and say 'no' without conflict

Apply techniques to manage risks as team responsibilities, rather than hidden in a risk log

Module 5

Take your productivity to the next level

Apply productivity techniques to take back control of your day

Delivery more in the same amount of time

Recognise your negative distractions and mitigate them

Apply a personal continuous improvement approach to everything you do

Manage your Inbox and make it work for you

Course extras

A free Notion template so you don't have to create your knowledge hub from scratch

The most common questions a Project Manager is asked and how to respond to them

10 reasons that most projects fail and how to avoid the pitfalls

A downloadable guide for the 5-stage PPM project planning framework

A productivity habit tracker to keep you focused and manage distractions

Access to the private PPM Academy Slack community for help and advice

Online Q&A meet-ups for all course participants

A free 60 point workshop preparation checklist

A 30-minute video call with the instructor for personalised guidance

Why the the Productive Project Manager course was created

There is one simple aim. To help Project Managers to excel and stand out from the crowd. The course is online and can be undertaken at a pace and time that works for you.

Register your interest to be the first to hear when the course is launched.

Meet your instructor

Hi, I’m Ben Willmott

I’m so excited to be sharing this course with you.

I’ve been working in Project Management for over 16 years, and most of that time in digital agencies, so I have real-world experience of the toughest projects to plan and run at pace.

I can’t wait to share all my learnings taken from working on projects with big global companies too small start- ups delivered using all different types of methodologies and frameworks from Waterfall to Scrum.

Plus, I’ll be sharing expert insights from Project Managers across multiple industries.

This course is cumulation of learning the hard way of what can derail a project and how to perform at your peak as a Project Manager.

If you don't know me, I’m Head of Agile Practices at a digital creative agency called Karmarama.

Having worked in agencies and client side,I have dual-perspective insights that I will share to help you succeed.

I've also created this course to help you avoid so many of the frustrations and challenges I experienced earlier in my career; I was trained in Project Management theory but most of the courses fell short when it came to real-world application.

So register your interest if you’re a Project Manager, Scrum Master or any other delivery type role, to learn how to perform at a higher level, have a greater impact with you what you do and progress faster in your career.

Feedback on the instructor

“I can’t fault the team for their dedication and I would happily recommend them to anyone looking for a high quality design partner. We couldn’t have done it with out them.”

Annie Owen

Senior Project Manager

“Ben has a passion for Agile and through his teaching I have learned practical tools and approaches that I’ve utilised to develop new approaches and ways of working. As a result I feel like I’ve been able to apply more rigor to my thinking, whilst also keeping an eye on how to simplify how I share information and activities with various stakeholders to ensure clarity and alignment.”

Liam Elliott

Senior Delivery Manager

“I was looking for a solution that was both easy-to-use and beautiful to the eye, needless to say Optic delivered on both accounts in spades. Thanks to the team.”

Seb Fahey

Project Manager

Real-world Project Management training designed for you