How to Get a Job For Project Managers

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Leadership for Project Managers

Learn how to lead and drive project success.

Project Management with AI

From a beginner to project management professional.

Agile Project Management and SCRUM with AI

Learn to run Scrum and Agile with AI.

PDCA/PDSA cycle

A four-step continuous improvement loop linked to Dr. W. Edwards Deming and Dr. Walter A. Shewhart. It began as Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA), and Deming later promoted Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) to stress learning and analysis rather than simple inspection. Like Scrum, it is iterative and aims at ongoing, incremental improvement.

Key Points

  • PDCA/PDSA follows Plan, Do, Check or Study, then Act to refine and repeat.
  • Deming favored "Study" over "Check" to emphasize analysis and learning, not just inspection.
  • Both Scrum and the Deming or Shewhart cycle use short, iterative loops for continuous improvement.
  • Use data and small experiments to test changes, standardize wins, and adjust when results fall short.

Example

An agile team wants fewer failed releases. Plan: set a goal to cut rollback rate from 10% to 3% and hypothesize that adding automated smoke tests will help. Do: pilot the tests on one service for two sprints. Study/Check: compare rollback rates and defect escape data before and after. Act: if results improve, roll out the tests to all services; if not, adjust the approach and start the next cycle.

PMP Example Question

Why did Deming change PDCA to PDSA in the continuous improvement cycle?

  1. To emphasize analysis and learning rather than simple inspection.
  2. To shorten the cycle by removing verification activities.
  3. To convert the cycle into a linear, once-through process.
  4. To prioritize documentation over experimentation.

Correct Answer: A — Emphasize analysis and learning

Explanation: Deming preferred "Study" because it focuses on understanding and learning from results, not just checking for conformance.

AI Systems with Claude, for Scrum Masters and Project Managers

Most AI pilots in project management do not fail on the model. They fail because somebody pointed the thing at a decision instead of at a task. This course is built around that distinction, and around the work that follows once you get it right.

Seven sections, taught against one running project from the first lecture to the last. You watch a system get built, then you build the same one against your own sprint. Nothing here is a demo that works only on the example.

You finish with five working systems and you keep them. The sprint report machine turns your board export and standup notes into the report you currently write by hand. The retro intelligence system tells you what the team keeps saying, not just what it said this time. The stakeholder comms engine drafts the update in the register the audience expects. The backlog health monitor flags the quiet decay nobody has time to check for. The risk and dependency tracker follows the chains that actually bite.

Seventy-six working files ship with it, across four sections, so every system is built against real sprint data rather than material invented for a slide. Four sprints of retrospectives, board exports, standup notes, backlog and risk data.

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Take Control of Project Performance!

HK School of Management helps you go beyond status reports and gut feelings. In this advanced course, you will learn Earned Value Management (EVM) to measure progress, forecast outcomes, and take corrective action. Learn how WBS quality drives performance, how control accounts work, and how to use EAC, TCPI, and variance analysis. Practical skills, tools, and guidance you can apply right away. Covered by Udemy's 30-day refund policy.

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