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The Future of Project Management

Michael Young

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1976 sport

So where are we now?

• 7.39 Bn people worldwide • 7.37 Bn mobile phones • 63.5m refugees • 86% live in developing countries • 15 wars worldwide

Where are we now?

THESE PROBLEMS WILL BE FELT THE GREATEST

Resource Usage

• According to the Global

Footprint Network’s calculations,

our (global) demand for

renewable ecological resources

and the services they provide is

now equivalent to that of more

than 1.6 Earths.

… and we don’t have 1.6

Planets !

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/earth_overshoot_day/

The data further shows us on

track to require the resources

of TWO planets well BEFORE

MID-CENTURY.

PROGRESSIVE: Benefits

o Successful PM practitioners focus on time, cost, quality, scope, benefits and risk

CURRENT: Output

o Many PMs are locked onto focusing on the traditional Time / Cost / Scope paradigm iron triangle (if lucky they take into account quality)

Time(Taylorism)

Cost(Fordism)

Scope(Deming)

RISKS VALUE

BENEFITS

Quality

Where are we now?

PROFESSIONAL: Sustainability

o Exceptional project managers also take into account the other triple constraints

Where are we now?

The Growing Demand for Project Managers It has been well documented that there is an ongoing and growing need for project managers to respond to the growing transition of organizations from an operational focus to a change focus

• APM Charter Status

• Professionalisation agenda

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Projects and GDP

Dr. Mladen Vukomanovic, Dr. Mladen Radujkovic, Ivaca Savrski et al., “Developing a project management methodology for major public infrastructure projects”, The 2nd IPMA Research Conference 2014 Tianjin

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15

Society

Population

Source: UN DESA 2015

Between now and 2050 the global population is expected to increase from 7.3 to 9.7 billion, which is a 32,4% increase within 35 years.

Technology

Environment

Transport

Employment

Top 10 jobs in 2050

• Nano medic

• Memory augmentation surgeon

• Body part maker

• Transhumanist engineer

• Gene programmer

• Brain augmenter

• Spaceport Traffic Control

• Weather controller

• Ethics lawyer

• Domestic robot programmer

Source: Morris Mikelowski – www.businessfuturust.com

http://www.businessfuturust.com/

Professions A transformation and decline of demand for many of today’s professions based on:

• changing needs, relationships and expectations, and

• new systems driven by the internet society

Society will neither need nor want access to professionals in the same way.

The following professions are already being impacted:

• Doctors

• Teachers

• Accountants

• Architects

• Clergy

• Consultants

• Lawyers

Applying expertise and stakeholder interactions are areas that predominate project

management activities that are considered least susceptible to the technical feasibility

of automation

Unique PM Competencies

• Creativity

• Social perceptiveness

• Negotiation and persuasion

• Political and entrepreneurial ability

• Empathy or providing personal assistance

My Predictions

The PM and Practice Each project will have its own unique set of rules and guidelines, making singular approaches un-scalable for all initiatives

Industry-specific tools and methods will lead to industry PM specialisation

Shift from “one way of managing projects fits all,” to an adaptive mash-up of conventional and agile practices

Model of distributed accountability and governance

PMs will be known for their unique systems, like chefs with signature dishes

The Workplace

No more reporting! Everything will be automated, real-time and adaptive

AI tools will predict risks and the optimum schedule

Project management will be less task-based and more about people, collaboration and relationships

Project teams will be global, virtual and distributed

PMs will be freelancers

What skills do we need to manage projects of the future?

One thing that I am absolutely certain

of is this: project management will

continue to be easy to understand and

hard to do.

Bill Duncan