Over the past 19 years of my life I have carefully scrutinized my skills and qualities and finally answered the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I always found myself leading groups and being able to communicate directions to people in ways specific to their learning style. Because of these qualities and a handful of others, I decided to pursue a career of a project manager.

I scavenged the platform Medium and found four writers talking about their unique experiences and of project managers. I started by searching the word “project manager” and I right away found an article that caught my eye. The article name is “To Be a Better Project Manager, Think Like an Astronaut: Practical lessons from Scott Kelly’s record-breaking year aboard the International Space Station” by Jake Daghe. Jake is a project manager who felt books who gave advice on how to overcome obstacles as a project manager were always old or too complicated. One day he came across a memoir of the astronaut Scott Kelly and found oddly useful project manager advice which could be summed up into 3 words tether, task, and timeline. Medium highlighted a quote that a high amount of other readers highlighted. The quote read, ” Know your mission. Don’t stray from it. Is this project moving you closer to your goal? If so, you’re tethered. If it’s not, you’re at risk of floating away from what really matters.” I really enjoyed that Medium recommended that quote because it caught my eye and made me re-read that section.

The second article I read is called “How to manage projects like an actual project manager” written by Sarah Goff-Dupont. This article went through a few basic skills that she has gathered from other experienced project managers. She is focusing the advice for non project managers who have to act in place as a project manager temporarily. My favorite part of the article was the section Fake-it-till-you-make-it project management which was mainly about confidence and how no one really knows too much more of what is going on than you.

The next article I found is called, “Project Managers Are Underrated” written by Dion Almaer. This was my favorite article, it was short and sweet. The author recognized and effectively communicated the specific qualities of what makes a good project manager and rebutted against common complaints towards them.

The final article is called “How a Project Manager With a Travel Dream Does Money” written by Nicole Dieker. This was a unique style of writing where is was in interview transcript form. I enjoyed this article because it was an experienced project manager being open and honest about her expenses and her dreams.

Overall, I enjoyed my first encounter of Medium because it was easy to navigate, it gave helpful recommendations, and most of all NO ADS. I think the site did take a risk by asking for 5 dollars a month but with the amount of content they have and quality writers they made the right choice!

LINKS TO THE ARTICLES
Article 1
https://forge.medium.com/to-be-a-better-project-manager-think-like-an-astronaut-7773836b31f8
Article 2
https://medium.com/smells-like-team-spirit/how-to-manage-projects-like-a-bonafide-project-manager-d7e2bb0f84fa
Article 3
https://medium.com/ben-and-dion/project-managers-are-underrated-423bf07001f1
Article 4
https://medium.com/the-billfold/how-a-project-manager-with-a-travel-dream-does-money-552d64480390