Project management 101

Project management according to PMI is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. A skill is an ability to perform an activity in a competent manner.
To handle a project effectively, a number of skills are needed. Knowing project management theory and techniques without the skills to apply what we know is useless. Having the right tools without the skill to put them to good use is meaningless. In Project management, a combination of soft and hard skills is necessary.
TYPES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT SKILLS

• Hard Skills
• Soft Skills

Hard skills in project management include creating work breakdown structures, a project budget, earned value assessments and critical path diagrams. Hard skills are technical in nature and involve the use of knowledge and tools to complete high-level tasks.
Commonly referred to as “soft skills”, interpersonal skills include leadership, communication, negotiation, expectations management, influencing, problem-solving, and decision-making. Soft skills are largely intangible, not associated with a deliverable or a concrete output, and are generally employed without the use of tools or templates.
 You have heard the debate before: Which is more important: hard skills (also known as technical skills) or soft skills (also known as people skills)? The pendulum appears to be tipping toward recognizing a greater need for soft skills as a key driver to project success. Clearly, successful project management requires more than the mastery of technical skills related to process, frameworks, and discipline; it also requires a special set of skills to marshal all resources toward a common goal.
 Managing people requires a keen understanding and application of leadership, management, and interpersonal skills to ensure the team performs the needed tasks in a timely manner at the highest level of quality. With the ever-changing expectations of stakeholders, people skills are more important today than ever before. A study found that 80% of achievements in career are determined by soft skills and only 20% by hard skills.
IMPORTANCE OF SOFT SKILLS
Soft skills revolve around personal relationships, character, and attitude. By nurturing these skills, you can increase your work performance, build stronger relationships, and work toward achieving desired project goals. To develop your communication skills, strengthen your interpersonal relationships, and demonstrate your professional enthusiasm to show your colleagues and supervisors that your soft skills are well rounded. Without soft skills, hard skills are meaningless in project management. 
Without effective communication, project plans cannot be achieved.
 
HOW TO DEVELOP SOFT SKILLS

• Develop a learning mindset.
• Encourage self-reflection
• Read
• Take a course
• Join an organization, e.g  Association of Project Managers