Project Management: The Very Long Term

Paul has run a plethora of projects in multiple industries throughout his 20-year career, ranging from process improvement to agile to most recently cyber-security. Paul is also a reputable speaker, drawing practical and humorous conclusions from the "trenches" of his employers. Paul's dedication as a PM practitioner started decades ago, when he became one of the first 10,000 people to earn the PMP.

  Strategy  

I work for a hospital network, and I had a chat with a co-worker about the “very long term” of healthcare. The spotlight right now is on what the long term of healthcare will look like: How do we deliver affordable health services to an aging baby boomer population that is living longer? Investments in facilities, equipment and advertising can be seen everywhere to accommodate the deluge that is right around the corner. Will there be a bust after the boom? Who will use all the new facilities after the baby boomers are gone? What does the “very long term” look like for healthcare?

The same question can be posed for project management. I have seen it go from obscurity to curiosity to popularity. Is necessity next? If there is a “very long term” for project management, what does it look like? Here are my predictions:

1. Project management will become a required course in any business curriculum. Gone are the days when projects of any size could run on auto pilot. Today the stakes are too high to let any project go unmanaged; yet budgets will not allow for dedicated project managers to run every project in an organization. Just as those with “manager” or “lead” in their title have to demonstrate team coordination, personnel assignment, employee growth and budgeting prowess, they will also have to demonstrate an …

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