Project management skills challenge students’ command of language and math. Developing their ability to forecast and manage resources, time, and money, students frequently must translate words to numbers and numbers to words. All the separate project management skills are inter-related, and all of them build on students’ ability to see patterns and trends, solve for x, and develop timelines, work lists, and detailed instructions. Project management skills support a manager’s complex juggling act, helping him control costs, motivate people, satisfy clients, meet demanding schedules and stay sane. In South Africa’s system of adult education, experiential learning drives students’ success at every stage of the curriculum, but it takes on extra urgency as students practice project management skills. Theory and practice don’t always align, so students must use their entire repertoire of problem-solving skills, working with numbers and learning the subtle language of negotiation.