"Project Managers" are on the verge of extinction?

Dear Anton
Thank you for participating in this reflection and for your questions

For what I read in this article, the title and the role

Straight-line project managers have been red flagged for some time, and PMI has been nudging its certificate holders to and enhanced skillset (e.g., Extended Domain Knowledge) since December 2015 via the Talent Triangle.

Let me ask; when a company encounters barriers with straight-line PM’ing, do they continue that pattern until their PM’s and customers “pass out” from banging their head against the wall, or do they naturally follow the bottom-line (i.e., profit and viability) and realize they need to adapt or cease to exist as a concern? The answer; companies adapt, or they face an “or else.”

It doesn’t matter what we call ourselves, in fact, I’ve never been formally called a project manager. Project Management is a profession, we have types (e.g., construction, IT, engineering, etc.) and subtypes, and we fit no exact mold, nor should we.

So, to the article of concern: We already have “Solutions Managers” in our profession, in fact, we have just about every variation of a PM role one can imagine. The issue is “Association,” if you had a few bad run ins with an individual who was called a “project manager,” then you may assign a negative frame of mind toward that title. Guess what, that’s true of any title!

Bottom Line: Project Management is for the past and for the future. It doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s still the profession of Project Management – what’s wrong with that?

The author appears to have just evolved the role of PMs to include BA and CM competencies. Guess what - a lot of PMs already have experience in both of those domains given talent constraints within their organizations!

The article does focus on a very specific sector and region so I would suggest that generalizing it to the profession as a whole isn't warranted.

Does the profession need to evolve and remain current - absolutely, but I wouldn't sound its death knell just yet...

Kiron

What I am finding increasingly over the past year for recruitment for Technology projects is that there is an insistence on a PM to have the specific technical skills by the employer - e.g. must have (not desirable !!) Certifications in Salesforce, SAP successfactors, AWS ....It looks like it's slightly moving back to the gold plating phase where the line of thought is that a person with specific technical capability can make a good PM , but a generic Technology PM cannot pick up new technical skills while running technology projects

This makes no sense at all!

Hi Luis,

I read the article.
What I understand is that project managers are not going to be unnecessary, but they should have solution skills in addition to traditional project management.

I think that it is true that a technically skilled project manager can smoothly execute project management.
In addition, I think that knowledge is also needed to respond appropriately to customer consultations.

The title or the role? Huge difference.

Dear Kiron
Thank you for sharing your opinion with us

You wrote: "Guess what - a lot of PMs already have experience in both of those domains given talent constraints within their organizations!"

The important thing is the organizations and the answers that the project managers have to give in terms of their knowledge

Is it a trend?