We've been getting a major dose of the future with the release of PMI's Project Management Circa
2025. And even though it does seem a
little odd to be envisioning what a profession will look like when some of its
future practitioners are only about 10 years old right now, some of the shifts
are already happening.
Just in the past few years, we've watched sustainability become ingrained in projects. Or as Anne Larilahti, head of the environmentally sustainable business program at Nokia Siemens Networks, so eloquently put it in a sustainability panel at congress last week, companies are going to start considering the planet as "a stakeholder in its own right."
Dave Prior, PMP, of Valtech, bemoaned the lack of any new project management tool since the emergence of critical chain--before Google, the iPod or the Agile Manifesto.
"Our entire profession has been spun on its head--that demands new tools," he said.
For him, that means mashups--"blending things that don't necessarily go together to make something better." He cited Danger Mouse's The Gray Album that blended The Beatles and Jay-Z, but argued that it's not just for hipsters. Mr. Prior, for example, relies on his own mix of the Art of War, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai and A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), with a dash of agile.
He also talked about teams collaborating and using tweets, yamms and IMs for status reports because they all offer built-in meeting minutes.
Some of the Circa 2025 authors also offered up some predictions:
Dorothy Tiffany, PMP, predicted even more virtual offices and a lessons learned database "that comes to you instead of you going to it." Like iTunes offers up songs you might like, the project database would track data that details what your project is going through, and offer solutions and recommendations based on past initiatives.
David Pells, PMP, PMI Fellow, spotted new opportunities in emerging fields. Nanotechnology, for example, will "require many programs and projects with new dimensions of complexity." The transition to alternative energy also will "require a lot of investment--and a lot of programs and projects." And climate change is another big field, "affecting everything from agriculture to tourism." Project management hasn't traditionally been embraced in scientific developments, he said, but there needs to be more multidisciplinary collaboration.
Tim Jaques, PMP and Jonathan Weinstein, PMP, made several predictions about the future of project management at the state level. For example, megaprojects would span state lines, and project management offices would start operating more and more at the state level.
Just in the past few years, we've watched sustainability become ingrained in projects. Or as Anne Larilahti, head of the environmentally sustainable business program at Nokia Siemens Networks, so eloquently put it in a sustainability panel at congress last week, companies are going to start considering the planet as "a stakeholder in its own right."
Dave Prior, PMP, of Valtech, bemoaned the lack of any new project management tool since the emergence of critical chain--before Google, the iPod or the Agile Manifesto.
"Our entire profession has been spun on its head--that demands new tools," he said.
For him, that means mashups--"blending things that don't necessarily go together to make something better." He cited Danger Mouse's The Gray Album that blended The Beatles and Jay-Z, but argued that it's not just for hipsters. Mr. Prior, for example, relies on his own mix of the Art of War, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai and A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), with a dash of agile.
He also talked about teams collaborating and using tweets, yamms and IMs for status reports because they all offer built-in meeting minutes.
Some of the Circa 2025 authors also offered up some predictions:
Dorothy Tiffany, PMP, predicted even more virtual offices and a lessons learned database "that comes to you instead of you going to it." Like iTunes offers up songs you might like, the project database would track data that details what your project is going through, and offer solutions and recommendations based on past initiatives.
David Pells, PMP, PMI Fellow, spotted new opportunities in emerging fields. Nanotechnology, for example, will "require many programs and projects with new dimensions of complexity." The transition to alternative energy also will "require a lot of investment--and a lot of programs and projects." And climate change is another big field, "affecting everything from agriculture to tourism." Project management hasn't traditionally been embraced in scientific developments, he said, but there needs to be more multidisciplinary collaboration.
Tim Jaques, PMP and Jonathan Weinstein, PMP, made several predictions about the future of project management at the state level. For example, megaprojects would span state lines, and project management offices would start operating more and more at the state level.
Cyndee,
You are absolutely correct that sustainability has come to stay in our planning and operational initiatives. Anne puts it in its proper perspective by identifying the planet as another major stakeholder. The most fluid dynamic in the future of project management, in my opinion, is the changing demographics and diversity of the global workplace, and the inherent paradoxes of optimally managing professionals from different cultures, languages, expectations, educational and social backgrounds.
How are we going to maximize output without virtual teams acting as "real" teams? Our future collaborative PM teams have to "achieve more with less" by empowering alliance team members to make quick decisions for the benefit of the team without constant recourse to their functional or organizational managers. In doing this, more authority, discretion and professional development support must be accorded team members. Finally, as important as technological communication gadgets and software are, human interface and the inspiration and the sense of worth that comes from genuinely exchanging and utilizing ideas and information across 'cultural divides' still take center stage.
A workable blend of proper PM training, foreign exposure, technological support, listening and problem-solving skills is the foundation for meeting the unique project management demands and deliverables of 2025.
I find it interesting that we are looking into the future. I agree that it does bring something forward that is of value to all of us: we are thinking ahead about solutions that we envision would remove current obstacles and red tape, and allow individuals to work in such a way that the results will be faster to achieve and the results will have a positive overall impact globally, not just locally.
One interesting note is on the lessons learned database or knowledge management system that "comes to you". I like that idea of actually building the logic into it so that it analyses the data and produces possible solutions by way of recommendation.
I actually would like to take on a project to work on a knowledge management system or approach of that kind. I've been looking into these kinds of solutions for ages now. If anyone is interested in participating with me, let me know.
As my goal is to look at the practical side of project management or any work in general, I'm interested in seeing how the gap between the current environment and what is envisioned will be breached.
I also think that we also need to be cognizant of impacts that some of the major decisions have on our own economy in the long term. As an example, I'm seeing more companies insourcing what they outsourced. The concept of outsourcing has brought a lot to the economies of other countries as well, as more business went east and south, outsourcing to those partners. But, as one of the articles I've seen on "brain drain" points out, some of the knowledge that probably should stay in-house, is going elsewhere. And that's catch 22 situation. We want the planet to be the stakeholder "of its own right", but we, businesses, are looking more for what benefits our immediate needs.
Therefore it would be interesting to see more project management organizations that are unifying project management principles globally into frameworks that work well locally in global environments, thus taking into account not only impacts of a particular project on the local environment, but also on the global one.
And it would be interesting to see organizations, businesses, taking an active role in implementing such project management solutions within their organizations, thus integrating something that already works into their culture, rather than trying to figure it out again and again. Businesses will definitely benefit when vendors that work together use the same PM principles, with similar frameworks, thus cutting out unnecessary rework and miscommunication costs.
I think that the end result would almost be as a bridge between companies. That bridge being the project management framework that works for both companies, as an example.