Project Management

The Internet of Things and the Future of Project Management

From the Voices on Project Management Blog
by , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Voices on Project Management offers insights, tips, advice and personal stories from project managers in different regions and industries. The goal is to get you thinking, and spark a discussion. So, if you read something that you agree with--or even disagree with--leave a comment.

About this Blog

RSS

View Posts By:

Cameron McGaughy
Lynda Bourne
Kevin Korterud
Conrado Morlan
Peter Tarhanidis
Mario Trentim
Jen Skrabak
David Wakeman
Wanda Curlee
Christian Bisson
Ramiro Rodrigues
Soma Bhattacharya
Emily Luijbregts
Sree Rao
Yasmina Khelifi
Marat Oyvetsky
Lenka Pincot
Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres
cyndee miller

Past Contributors:

Rex Holmlin
Vivek Prakash
Dan Goldfischer
Linda Agyapong
Jim De Piante
Siti Hajar Abdul Hamid
Bernadine Douglas
Michael Hatfield
Deanna Landers
Kelley Hunsberger
Taralyn Frasqueri-Molina
Alfonso Bucero Torres
Marian Haus
Shobhna Raghupathy
Peter Taylor
Joanna Newman
Saira Karim
Jess Tayel
Lung-Hung Chou
Rebecca Braglio
Roberto Toledo
Geoff Mattie

Recent Posts

Project 2030: Skills We Need to Cultivate Now

The Technical Program Manager: How to Stay Relevant in 2025

5 Things Your Operational Plan Should Do

5 New Project Guardrails for Adaptive Leaders

The Leader's Voice: Respect It, Protect It, and Use It Properly!

Categories

2020, Adult Development, Agile, Agile, Agile, agile, Agile management, Agile management, Agile;Community;Talent management, Artificial Intelligence, Backlog, Basics, Benefits Realization, Best Practices, BIM, business acumen, Business Analysis, Business Analysis, Business Case, Business Intelligence, Business Transformation, Calculating Project Value, Canvas, Career Development, Career Development, Career Help, Career Help, Career Help, Career Help, Careers, Careers, Careers, Careers, Categories: Career Help, Change Management, Cloud Computing, Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration, Communication, Communication, Communication, Communication, Communications Management, Complexity, Conflict, Conflict Management, Consulting, Continuous Learning, Continuous Learning, Continuous Learning, Continuous Learning, Continuous Learning, Cost Management, COVID-19, Crises, Crisis Management, critical success factors, Cultural Awareness, Culture, Decision Making, Design Thinking, Digital Project Management, Digital Transformation, digital transformation, Digitalisation, Disruption, Diversity, Diversity, Documentation, Earned Value Management, Education, EEWH, Enterprise Risk Management, Escalation management, Estimating, Ethics, execution, Expectations Management, Facilitation, feasibility studies, Future, Future of Project Management, Generational PM, Governance, Government, green building, Growth, Horizontal Development, Human Aspects of PM, Human Aspects of PM, Human Aspects of PM, Human Aspects of PM, Human Aspects of PM, Human Resources, Inclusion, Information Technology, Innovation, Intelligent Building, International, International Development, Internet of Things (IOT), Internet of Things (IoT), IOT, Knowledge, Leadership, Leadership, Leadership, Leadership, Leadership, lean construction, LEED, Lessons Learned, Lessons learned;Retrospective, Managing for Stakeholders, managing stakeholders as clients, Mentoring, Mentoring, Mentoring, Mentoring, Mentoring, Methodology, Metrics, Micromanagement, Microsoft Project PPM, Motivation, Negotiation, Neuroscience, neuroscience, New Practitioners, Nontraditional Project Management, OKR, Online Learning, opportunity, Organizational Culture, Organizational Project Management, Pandemic, People management, Planing, planning, PM & the Economy, PM History, PM Think About It, PMBOK Guide, PMI, PMI EMEA 2018, PMI EMEA Congress 2017, PMI EMEA Congress 2019, PMI Global Conference 2017, PMI Global Conference 2018, PMI Global Conference 2019, PMI Global Congress 2010 - North America, PMI Global Congress 2011 - EMEA, PMI Global Congress 2011 - North America, PMI Global Congress 2012 - EMEA, PMI Global Congress 2012 - North America, PMI Global Congress 2013 - EMEA, PMI Global Congress 2013 - North America, PMI Global Congress 2014 - EMEA, PMI Global Congress 2014 - North America, PMI GLobal Congress EMEA 2018, PMI PMO Symposium 2012, PMI PMO Symposium 2013, PMI PMO Symposium 2015, PMI PMO Symposium 2016, PMI PMO Symposium 2017, PMI PMO Symposium 2018, PMI Pulse of the Profession, PMO, PMO, pmo, PMO Project Management Office, portfolio, Portfolio Management, Portfolio Management, portfolio management, presentations, Priorities, Probability, Problem Structuring Methods, Process, Procurement Management, profess, Program Management, project, Project Delivery, Project Dependencies, Project Failure, project failure, Project Leadership, Project Management, project management, project management office, Project Planning, project planning, Project Requirements, Project Success, Ransomware, Reflections on the PM Life, Remote, Remote Work, Requirements Management, Research Conference 2010, Researching the Value of Project Management, Resiliency, Risk Management, Risk Management, Risk management, risk management, ROI, Roundtable, Salary Survey, Schedule Management, Scheduling, Scope Management, Scrum, search, SelfLeadership, SelfLeadership, SelfLeadership, SelfLeadership, SelfLeadership, Servant Leadership, Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Knowledge, Social Responsibility, Sponsorship, Stakeholder Management, Stakeholder Management, stakeholder management, Strategy, Strategy, swot, Talent Management, Talent Management, Talent Management, Talent Management, Talent Management, Talent Management Leadership SelfLeadership Collaboration Communication, Taskforce, Teams, Teams in Agile, Teams in Agile, teamwork, Tech, Technical Debt, Technology, TED Talks, The Project Economy, Timeline, Tools, tools, Transformation, transformation, Transition, Trust, Value, Vertical Development, Volunteering, Volunteering #Leadership #SelfLeadership, Volunteering Sharing Knowledge Leadership SelfLeadership Collaboration Trust, VUCA, Women in PM, Women in Project Management

Date

linkedin twitter facebook Request to reuse this  


By Wanda Curlee

Some would say the Internet of Things (IoT) is still so embryonic and amorphous that there aren’t many job opportunities. But there are already project managers working on the IoT—which refers to a growing network of physical objects embedded with sensors, such as Wi-Fi-connected thermostats you can control from anywhere with your smartphone.

And there will be many more IoT projects in the future. McKinsey Global Institute researchers estimate the potential economic impact of IoT technologies to be USD$2.7 trillion to USD$6.2 trillion annually by 2025. Think of Amazon’s plan to deliver packages via drones. Those drones will need to communicate with customers, employees, the corporate office, and maybe at some point, air traffic controllers. All of this requires a project manager, starting in the research and development stage and going through development and upgrades. This is a never-ending cycle.

All of these projects create the need for programs. Many companies will have a large overlap of IoT projects. A program manager is needed to drive the strategy of the IoT program to benefit the company’s bottom line. In fact, I would venture to say there will be sub-programs and maybe even more than one IoT program. The Internet of Things is so broad, it will be the program managers who define the benefit realization plans and roadmaps and may even decide their program is too broad and needs to be subdivided or spun off into new programs. It will take years for companies and internal business units to determine what IoT will do and how they will drive it.

The company’s CEO will set the IoT strategy, which will then become the portfolio manager’s responsibility to execute. Let’s say the CEO wants to modernize delivery. The portfolio manager should meet with the CEO to have a better understanding of what this means. The portfolio manager will scour the enterprise to determine what needs to be in the portfolio (such as drones) and what should be stopped. The governance committee will assist the portfolio manager. There will be many IoT portfolios throughout many different industries and organizations, including not-for-profits and militaries.

IoT will drive the next opportunities for many in the decades to come. Fasten your seat belts, and hold on for the new adventure and wave of jobs. These projects will be different, but as in many other fields, the project management discipline will drive job creation.


Posted by Wanda Curlee on: June 23, 2015 10:40 AM | Permalink

Comments (12)

Please login or join to subscribe to this item
avatar
anil kukreti Senior engineer | Mobiquity softech pvt ltd Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Nice article . Thanks for sharing. This article is giving one more reason to choose bright field for Project Management, Program Management and Portfolio management.

avatar
Wanda Curlee Dr. Wanda Curlee| PMI Ferguson, NC, United States
Anil - Thank you. Indeed the future is bright for the project management discipline.

avatar
Christine Oddy Project Manager| Primavera Software Novi, Mi, United States
Yeah! #Wanda your are right about the internet of the things and the future of project management. it will be done through online software. like my company have the solution about the project management through the Primavera Software Expert which is really good. Thanks for sharing this article.

avatar
Wanda Curlee Dr. Wanda Curlee| PMI Ferguson, NC, United States
Hello Mahreen - Thank you for the comments. Yes the internet of things will definitely enhance software, but there will be other items as well. How wireless is used will be another factor that will change within the next few years and how we view and deliver data in a smartphone/wireless medium.

Wanda

avatar
Christine Oddy Project Manager| Primavera Software Novi, Mi, United States
Learn, acquire, achieve and build your skill with our training program training and workshops Where we provide one-on-one environment for participants.

avatar
Christine Oddy Project Manager| Primavera Software Novi, Mi, United States
we're living in an age that is constantly evolving with its technological processes for this matter any piece of writing that backs the need for constant up gradation to meet the technological demands of this world in efforts of improving the business process best Project management or our daily lives in general are highly helpful and appreciated.

avatar
Wanda Curlee Dr. Wanda Curlee| PMI Ferguson, NC, United States
Christine - I agree with your comment. Our lives are changing in a manner that has not been seen before. Thanks for the comment.

avatar
Shridhar Shukla PM I| Technology Ind, India
Excellent..

avatar
Priya Patra Delivery Director| Capgemini India Technology Services Ltd Mumbai, India
A program manager is needed to drive the strategy of the IoT program to benefit the company’s bottom line. Well said Wanda !
A program manager should be the one to ensure that all these IoT projects / sub- programs are aligned to the common vision through effective communication and collaboration among teams

avatar
Wanda Curlee Dr. Wanda Curlee| PMI Ferguson, NC, United States
Priya - Thanks for your kind comments.

avatar
Luis Branco CEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, Ldª Carcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Dear Wanda
Interesting your perspective on the topic: "The Internet of Things and the Future of Project Management?"
Thanks for sharing

Important point to remember:
"The Internet of Things will lead to the next opportunities for many in the coming decades. Fasten your seat belts and hold on to the new adventure and job vacancy"

avatar
Shumaila Sadaf Legal Advisor| Billions works SMC Pvt LTD Karachi, Pakistan
Important things.

Please Login/Register to leave a comment.

ADVERTISEMENTS

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I... took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

- Robert Frost

ADVERTISEMENT

Sponsors