One Future for Project Management

by Vicki Wrona, PMP

I listened to a webinar recently regarding the future of project management. This webinar, called Project HEADWAY: Is There Anything New Under the Sun? Opening up the View of PM, was hosted by projectmanagement.com (formerly www.gantthead.com) and conducted by Mark Mullaly.

One of the points I was happy to hear is that project managers must go beyond simply defining how to deliver a project. Instead, they need to better understand why the project needs to be done and how to align all stakeholders to the underlying reason and benefit of the project. To do this, the project manager must fully understand the industry, type of project being undertaken, organizational culture, and the processes and tools possible to develop an approach that will work for that particular situation.

Project management is not a set of tools or templates that can blindly be applied equally to all projects. Instead, the approach developed for each project must be tailored to that project, with equal care given to the tools TO use as well as those NOT to use.  In addition, the PM is now expected to deliver value. They are more often being held accountable to develop, understand and deliver the business results rather than simply being told the contents of the business case.

This feeds nicely to one possible future direction of project management. One recent trend is that getting certified will no longer signal the end, or epitome, of a project management journey. Instead, it now signals the beginning of the journey. The certification itself demonstrates a working knowledge of the profession, after which the PM must cultivate the specific skills necessary to deliver success and value applicable to their particular industry, organization and project type. They must use these advanced and niche skills to consistently deliver project success beyond simply being on time, on budget and within scope. They must also deliver business value.  In the end, project management becomes a necessary core competency within an organization, adapting to and becoming integrated with the internal culture.

There are two other future and distinct directions of project management that Mark covers in the webinar. I will let you discover those for yourself at http://www.projectmanagement.com/webinars/273410/Project-HEADWAY—Is-There-Anything-New-Under-the-Sun–Opening-Up-the-View-of-PM. If you listen to the free webinar, you will earn one PDU.

Let me know what you think about it.