Up until recently, Sarah was a clinical social worker.

She'd gotten her master's degree in the subject and then did it for over a decade.

After a while, really during the pandemic, I realized I wanted to make a career pivot,

so I thought about what positions would I be qualified for, what would I enjoy.

I consider myself a pretty organized individual, and I like completing tasks and working with

others to achieve a goal, and I decided that project management would be something that

that I had the skills for and would enjoy.

She took a job at a university where the assignment was to lead a team in setting and achieving

specific goals. And the team that I worked with hired me, so they knew my background,

they knew that I, you know, didn't have lots and lots of experience as a project manager,

but, you know, they hired me anyway.

A year in, Sarah still feels out of her depth.

I feel like I just don't know what I'm doing very often because of that lack of training.

The project management waters are surprisingly deep, so it's small wonder that even this highly

educated, highly skilled woman is feeling under-prepared and insecure.

You're listening to Women at Work from Harvard Business Review.

I'm Amy Bernstein. So many of us manage projects, even if project manager is in part of our

job title. That's because so much of the work we do has become project based.

People are putting in more and more time on teams tasked with developing a new product or service

that has impact. Success, the experts say, typically comes from strategically navigating

four phases. The first is planning when you determine the real problem to solve, identify stakeholders,

and define the project's objectives. Next comes build up when you assemble your team,

...