Duration of the online course: 15 hours and 41 minutes
4.2
(12)
Build job-ready project management skills with a free online course—learn planning, stakeholders, risk and communication to lead projects confidently.
In this free course, learn about
Primary objective of project management: deliver value by meeting scope, time, cost, and quality goals
Core PM skills: leadership, communication, organization, problem-solving, and stakeholder management
Project lifecycle fundamentals, especially initiating: defining purpose, feasibility, and high-level needs
Organizational structures (classic vs matrix) and how they affect PM authority and ways of working
How company culture influences teamwork, communication norms, and project execution
Running effective meetings: clear agenda, right attendees, outcomes, and action items
Using key project documents (plans, trackers) to align teams, monitor progress, and manage changes
Stakeholder and resource planning: identifying roles, availability, skills needs, and constraints
RACI charts: why a single accountable owner per task prevents confusion and decision bottlenecks
SMART goals and defining project goals to guide scope, priorities, and success criteria
Initiation resources: typical focus on people, budget/money, and time/schedule (and what isn’t primary)
Risk management basics: distinguishing risks (potential) from issues (current) and planning responses
Project planning essentials: milestones, buffers, communication plans, and the five elements of a project plan
Budgeting, data-informed decisions, quality improvement, retrospectives, and closing criteria to finish projects
About the free online course
Strong project management turns ideas into results. In this free online course, you will learn how to guide a project from the first conversation to a confident close, using the same practical approaches used in modern business environments. Whether you are stepping into a project role for the first time or want a clearer framework for delivering work on time and with fewer surprises, this course helps you build habits that teams trust.
You will explore what project management is really for: creating value by organizing people, time, and resources around a specific goal. Along the way, you will develop the professional skills that make projects run smoothly—setting expectations, leading meetings that matter, writing and using project documents, and communicating in a way that keeps stakeholders aligned instead of confused. You will also learn how organizational structure and company culture affect authority, decision-making, and collaboration, so you can adapt your approach across different workplaces.
A major focus is planning with intention. You will practice translating goals into clear outcomes, shaping scope, identifying resources, and choosing tools that help you track progress without overcomplicating the work. You will learn to separate risks from issues, use milestones effectively, and build schedules with realistic buffers to protect delivery. You will also work with budgeting fundamentals so that costs support the plan instead of becoming a last-minute obstacle.
Beyond the mechanics, the course emphasizes leadership in action: facilitating productive discussions, clarifying roles and accountability, and supporting team performance with an improvement mindset. You will see how data can be used to make decisions and tell a clear story, and why quality management and retrospectives help projects get better each cycle. Finally, you will learn what it means to close a project responsibly, capturing outcomes and setting your team up for future success.
By the end, you will have a practical, end-to-end understanding of how projects are initiated, planned, supported, and completed in real organizations—skills you can apply immediately to your current role or use to move toward project management opportunities.
Course content
Video class: Intro to Project Management | Google Project Management Certificate07m
Exercise: What is the primary objective of project management as described in the introduction of Google's Project Management Certificate Program?
Video class: Professional Project Management Skills | Google Project Management Certificate21m
Exercise: What is a primary way a project manager adds value to a team?
Video class: Project Structures34m
Exercise: What is the primary purpose of initiating a project in the project lifecycle?
Video class: Finding Project Manager Jobs | Google Project Management Certificate06m
Exercise: What is the projected demand for project management aligned roles by 2027?
Video class: How Company Culture Affects Project Management | Google Project Management Certificate27m
Exercise: What is an organizational structure and why is it important to understand it as a project manager?
Exercise: What is the main difference between a classic and a matrix organizational structure regarding project management authority?
Video class: How to Run a Successful Meeting | Google Career Certificates07m
Exercise: What is one key characteristic of effective team meetings?
Video class: Communicate Effectively as a Project Manager | Google Career Certificates08m
Exercise: As a project manager, what is one of the key responsibilities when it comes to using project documents like plans and trackers?
Video class: Key Parts of Project Initiation | Google Project Management Certificate10m
Exercise: What is the main purpose of the project initiation phase in project management?
Video class: Communicating and Working with Stakeholders | Google Project Management Certificate23m
Exercise: What should a project manager consider when identifying people resources for a project team?
Exercise: Why is it important to have just one person designated as 'accountable' in a RACI chart?
Video class: How to Set SMART Goals and Get Results | Google Project Management Certificate42m
Exercise: What is a project goal?
Video class: The Best Resources and Tools to Manage Your Project | Google Project Management Certificate29m
Exercise: What are the three resources that project managers typically work with during the initiation phase?
Exercise: Which is NOT typically considered a primary resource that project managers need to organize during the initiation phase?
Video class: Risk Management Basics | Google Project Management Certificate29m
Exercise: What is the difference between a risk and an issue in project management?
Video class: The Benefits of Project Planning | Google Project Management Certificate35m
Exercise: What is the purpose of a milestone in project management?
Video class: Create a Project Communication Plan | Google Project Management Certificate35m
Exercise: What happened during the surprise party planning breakdown?
Video class: Project Planning for Beginners | Google Project Management Certificate36m
Exercise: What are the five basic elements that go into a project plan?
Exercise: What is the primary purpose of adding a buffer in project scheduling?
Video class: How to Create a Project Budget | Google Project Management Certificate49m
Exercise: What is a project budget?
Video class: Leadership vs Management In a Successful Team | Google Project Management Certificate39m
Exercise: What are the top five factors identified by Google's researchers that have an impact on team effectiveness?
Video class: Storytelling with Data to Make Decisions | Google Project Management Certificate34m
Exercise: What is the definition of data, and how can it be used in decision-making?
Video class: Quality Management and Continuous Improvement | Google Project Management Certificate45m
Exercise: What is the primary purpose of conducting project retrospectives?
Video class: How and When to Close a Project | Google Project Management Certificate19m
Exercise: What are the three criteria that make up a project closing?
Video class: Effective Project Management | Google Project Management Certificate23m
Exercise: Which aspect of effective meetings ensures that every participant's contributions are valued and that people of different views, backgrounds, and experiences can work together successfully?
Video class: Project Tracking Methods and Examples | Google Project Management Certificate36m
Exercise: What will be covered in the Project Management Tutorial by Google during the execution stage?
Video class: What is Scrum? | Google Project Management Certificate25m
Exercise: What are the three pillars of Scrum?
Exercise: What are the three foundational pillars of Scrum?
Exercise: What are the three pillars of Scrum that form the foundation for Scrum teams?
Video class: Agile and Scrum in the Real World | Google Project Management Certificate47m
Exercise: What does the term "value" mean in project management?
Exercise: What is the key reason behind the development of agile methodologies?
Video class: Scrum Master Tutorial | Google Project Management Certificate45m
Exercise: What are the three key features of a product backlog?
Exercise: What is the primary responsibility of the product owner during the backlog refinement process in Scrum methodology?
Exercise: What is the main purpose of a product backlog in the Scrum framework?
Video class: Agile Management | Google Project Management Certificate52m
Exercise: What is Agile project management?
Exercise: Which Agile methodology uses a visual system to manage work as it flows through a process and is known for emphasizing Work-In-Progress (WIP) limits?
Video class: How to Write the Close Out Report | Google Project Management Certificate20m
Exercise: What is the responsibility of a project manager when communicating project problems to senior stakeholders?
Exercise: When synthesizing a project problem into a one-sentence summary for a senior stakeholder, what is the key purpose of this summary?
Video class: Plan Your Project and Negotiate with Stakeholders | Google Project Management Certificate37m
Video class: Building Out a Project Plan With Google Sheets | Google Project Management Certificate46m
Exercise: What is the central artifact a project manager builds during the planning phase?
Exercise: What is the primary purpose of a project plan in project management?
Video class: Determining Your Project's Success | Google Project Management Certificate49m
Exercise: What are the benefits of creating and maintaining quality management in a project?
Video class: What Is Project Management? | Google Career Certificates07m
Exercise: Which of the following is NOT a typical responsibility of a project manager?
Video class: How To Find the Perfect Project Management Role | Google Career Certificates04m
This free course includes:
15 hours and 41 minutes of online video course
Digital certificate of course completion (Free)
Exercises to train your knowledge
100% free, from content to certificate
What is the difference between a project risk and an issue in project management?
A risk is a potential future problem, while an issue is a problem that has already occurred and needs action.
Why is only one person accountable in a RACI chart?
One accountable owner prevents confusion, ensures clear decision-making, and makes responsibility for final results explicit.
What are the five basic elements of a project plan?
A project plan typically defines the project scope, schedule, budget, resources, risks, and communication approach.
Ready to get started?Download the app and get started today.
Programming, English, Digital Marketing and much more! Learn whatever you want, for free.
Study plan with AI
Our app's Artificial Intelligence can create a study schedule for the course you choose.
From zero to professional success
Improve your resume with our free Certificate and then use our Artificial Intelligence to find your dream job.
You can also use the QR Code or the links below.
Course comments: Project Management
Students overwhelmingly enjoyed the free online course, describing it as excellent, educative, informative, and valuable for gaining knowledge. They also praised the lectures and overall quality.
IJ
IGBOKWE JAMES NDUBUISI
awesome
YI
Yousif Ibrahim Abubaker Abdalla
It was a fantastic enough to gain this knowledge greater.
Course comments: Project Management
Students overwhelmingly enjoyed the free online course, describing it as excellent, educative, informative, and valuable for gaining knowledge. They also praised the lectures and overall quality.
IGBOKWE JAMES NDUBUISI
awesome
Yousif Ibrahim Abubaker Abdalla
It was a fantastic enough to gain this knowledge greater.
Desire Nwachukwu
It's very educative
Sisamkele Mhlana
love it !
Lassina Davou
very good course
adebola idris adebumiti
Great lectures
Daniel Sarpong
informative