There was a question in our Facebook group recently: where can I get project management templates? And another question: where can I get free or cheap project management training materials?
There are many premium project management templates available — including my template bundles and ebooks . And training to choose from.
But I understand that not everyone has the finances to buy templates or invest in training. Personally, I’d like to think that your PMO will purchase the templates that you need to use, or that your manager will let you buy templates on their corporate credit card. And that they will support your career development by funding your training.
However, if that isn’t the case, you’ll be looking for free project management templates and training you can use as part of a discussion with your leadership team about why they should really be investing in resources that help you deliver change more effectively!
So here are some places to find free project management templates and other resources. I’ve also included some low cost/high value resources that I find myself recommending frequently to people who are on tight budgets.
Free Project Management Templates
Projectmanagement.com has a huge free library of free project management templates. They also have premium templates which you can get free if you are a PMI member. I find their search engine quite difficult to navigate but if you spend the time hunting you can normally find the document you want.
And my free project management templates are here .
Free Project Management Training
Dr Mike Clayton offers well-respected project management training and his free 78-minute video course, PM Fundamentals , is good for beginners.
Did you know that Enterprise Environmental Factors is an input to 27 PMBOK® processes? Nope, neither did I. BrainBOK has an ITTO Explorer makes all of that transparent. You get limited access to it for free, plus a 200-question sample exam paper to help you prepare for the PMP® exam. There are paid plans also available if you want more.
Free Project Management Exam Simulators
It’s widely acknowledged that if you want to do well on exams, having the chance to practice in a realistic environment is important. Enter the exam simulator. You can get 7 days free access to a number of exam simulators, so you can test out your skills before taking the real exam.
Free CAPM® exam simulator – 7 day access
Free PMP® exam simulator – 7 day access
Free PMI-ACP® exam simulator – 7 day access
After the 7 day period, you will need to pay to upgrade your access if you want to use the tools for longer.
Free Resources to Earn PDUs
Cornelius Fichtner offers a free podcast that you can use to claim PDUs – good if you are trying to develop your skills or get your PDUs sorted for the year. He also offers a free taster of his PMP training .
If you hold the PMI-ACP certification, you could use the free Agile PrepCast lessons to earn a few PDUs towards maintaining your certificate.
Free eBooks
Many software vendors have free ebooks full of useful advice like this one , this one and these .
You do have to expect a sales pitch or a mention of their product, but the fundamental guidance on project management is good and often better than you’d get through random Google surfing.
Low Cost Resources
There are dozens of places to go online to learn more about project management. Most of the options above have paid-for products as well, if you want to dive deeper and like the teaching style or resources offered.
Coursera has a lot of options, but you’ll have to pay to access the materials beyond the trial and you’ll need to choose carefully to make sure the course you choose is going to meet your needs. I looked at one MOOC on time management for project managers (yes! I definitely need this) and found the syllabus was all schedule management techniques (no! I don’t want to learn about crashing, thanks anyway). The description wasn’t misleading, but I misinterpreted it.
One area I get asked about a lot is work breakdown structures. WBSCoach is a good tool to improve your skills in that area.
I have premium templates too, that are actually more than just templates as you get guidance on how to use them too like this meetings template kit and this stakeholder template kit .
Looking for something else? Check out my past archive of articles and reviews of different training courses .
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