Time to Reinvent Project Management

Widely used management disciplines are often linked to a few simple frameworks that can be easily understood, and applied, not only by managers but also by the majority of individuals. Porter’s Five Forces and value chain analysis help to make strategy a key area for every organization to apply.

In contrast, project management methods have tended to be too complex to be easily understood and applied by non-experts. Modern project management methods were developed primarily in the 1970s and 1980s by expert practitioners (at the beginning mostly engineers) for practitioners (also predominantly engineers). The pivotal assumption of the project management methods has been that documenting every aspect of a project in detail will provide a high level of control of the planned activities during the implementation of the project. Many project managers ended up producing massive numbers of documents and swathes of paperwork, leading to an overall feeling that the role was primarily administrative.

Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that we saw the rise of agile, triggered by the Agile Manifesto, written in February 2001 by 17 independent-minded software practitioners. That movement brought project management close to its end.

Recently Gartner claimed that 80 % of today’s Project Management tasks will be eliminated by 2030 as Artificial Intelligence Takes Over. Which we should see as a call for action to redefine the future of our profession.

If we act now, there is a good chance that project management becomes one of the most sought after skills by organizations in the new world.

This webinar will explore the challenges that the project management profession is facing both from a methodological point of view, as well as the disruptions that are already impacting us, such as AI, robots and block chain.

The presentation will be interactive and will ask participants for input. The key learning objectives are:

Understand our current challenges
Learn new developments around project management
Understand the unique opportunities that the future can bring to you as a project management professional