eLearning

WPS Essentials for Projects

Offered by PMI

Gain the necessary tools to tackle complex project challenges and achieve success in any environment.

PDUs

5

Course Duration

2.5 hours

Languages

1

Overview

Wicked Problem Solving (WPS) Essentials for Projects provides project managers with a visual and tactile system to enhance project management skills.

It includes: 

  • 70 minutes of core video instruction 
  • 12 “project success” scenario videos 
  • 10 capabilities/skills videos 
  • Downloadable PDFs of a 160-page book of methods, tools, and examples
  • Templates for PowerPoint and other applications
  • Links to Miro Boards
  • A digital deck of 50-70 cards
  • Designed to work in a digital or physical environment and switch between them 
What you'll learn
Visual Thinking: Use visual tools to map out project challenges and solutions.​ Framing Gaps: Identify and analyze gaps in your project processes.​ Plotting Phases: Plan and track project phases for success.​ Practical Tools: Apply essential methods and tools to overcome project obstacles and drive results.
Module 1
Getting Started
Meet your instructor, gather your materials, and set up a workspace for the course.
Module 2
Overview
Learn the principles of WPS Essentials for Projects: Making ideas visible, navigating the Gap between your current state and your desired future state, and using Plays to work through your challenge. ​
Module 3
The Gap
Learn how the Gap is a diagram to visualize change; how to think about your project challenges as Gaps, how to reframe your Gaps to get to the real issues, and the threats of momentum and inertia.
Module 4
Phases
Learn how the Gap’s structure consists of five Phases, each of which establishes the types of thinking and the kinds of work you’ll perform to navigate your Gap, and how these phases map to universal stages of problem-solving.
Module 5
Plays
Learn the composition of Plays — a question, a visual, and a task — and how to run Plays to progress through each Phase of the Gap.
Module 6
Scenarios
Learn how Scenarios, pre-made sets of Plays, can help you address common challenges in your projects, your team, meetings, and strategy.
Module 7
Skills
Learn about the ten essential skills you can bring to your projects and you problem-solving, how to evaluate your current capabilities, and how to grow your skills.
Module 8
Project Magic
Learn about embracing flow, doing deep work, building good habits, and a framework for deciding how and when to use WPS Essentials for Projects.

PDU breakdown

If you’re not looking for a certification, this online course also helps you earn professional development units (PDUs) and includes new content on agile and hybrid approaches.

Total PDUs

5

PDU points

Business acumen

1

PDU points purple selected

Ways of working

1

PDU points blue selected

Power skills

3

PDU points red selected