An Opportunity to Reinvent Project Management?

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Change Management   Manufacturing   Talent Management  

PMI’s recent Job Growth and Talent Gap Report is available here. It’s the third report of this nature building on previous ones completed in 2008 and 2012. The report explores some of the changes that have occurred over the various editions, but in this article I want to look forward rather than backward and consider some of the opportunities created by the report. In particular, I want to consider the implications of some of the findings around the opportunities for project managers and what is driving those opportunities.

Consider this statement from the report:

“Attrition, particularly as seasoned practitioners reach retirement age, is creating many project-related job openings. In the United States, in manufacturing, attrition will cause nearly all open positions—97 percent—while in management and professional services just over half the openings—52 percent—will occur for the same reason.”

This is an unusual period in every profession and industry when it comes to generational change. More baby boomers have stayed in the workforce than expected. This is partly a result of the financial crisis of 10 years ago (which eroded retirement savings for many) and partly from a desire to stay in the workforce longer and contribute as life expectancy grows and general health improves. At the same time, the much-maligned …

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