Risk management will become standard practice for all projects
Project teams will conduct regular risk assessments at the beginning, mid-way and at the end of a project to proactively identify what might prevent success in the management of a project as well as to have contingencies in place to manage a risk, should it occur.
Proper risk management implies control of possible future events, and is proactive rather than reactive. It will reduce not only the likelihood of an event occurring, but also the magnitude of its impact. Organizations that consistently follow a risk management process on all of their projects will see a reduction in their management by crisis. There will always be some things that will occur but most of these, through sound risk management, can be managed, rather than reacted to.
Concluding Remarks
Many of you will read these trends and believe that you are not “senior” enough in your respective organizations to ensure these trends are effectively implemented in your organizations. This is not at all true. One of the great strengths of leaders is their ability to use influence and critical thinking skills to bring about positive change. Each of us can choose to be either a leader or a follower. We must decide. Our organization’s future may depend upon the right decisions being made today. Hopefully, knowledge of these trends will help you stay ahead of your competitors and help you contribute to your organization’s future success.
I look forward to hearing your comments,
Michael
Monday, October 11, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
The Future of Project Management - Trend 7
Organizations will increase the use of Project Health Checks and Project Audits
There will be more project health checks to quickly identify the interim issues, concerns and challenges being experienced by projects. This will reduce fire-fighting and management by crisis by quickly identifying the root causes of the problems. This forensic view will identify the actions required to realize the project’s opportunities and provide assurance to the organization that the project will meet the required schedule, budget and customer requirements.
There will be more project audits completed at the end of projects in order to identify the lessons learned that will help future projects gain knowledge from the project’s successes and challenges. This knowledge will be incorporated into project data repositories to ensure the lessons learned can easily be accessed by project managers.
There will be more project health checks to quickly identify the interim issues, concerns and challenges being experienced by projects. This will reduce fire-fighting and management by crisis by quickly identifying the root causes of the problems. This forensic view will identify the actions required to realize the project’s opportunities and provide assurance to the organization that the project will meet the required schedule, budget and customer requirements.
There will be more project audits completed at the end of projects in order to identify the lessons learned that will help future projects gain knowledge from the project’s successes and challenges. This knowledge will be incorporated into project data repositories to ensure the lessons learned can easily be accessed by project managers.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The Future of Project Management - Trend 6
Organizations will use Best Practices and Knowledge Transfer to successfully launch projects
Organizations that follow best practices will be at a competitive advantage to those who do not apply a structured process to each project. Project management best practices include a disciplined approach to planning, executing and learning from projects.
As part of the move towards greater use of best practices we will also see:
•Use of competency assessments to select the best project resources for any given project.
•Incorporation of project management best practices into all aspects of project management infrastructure including tools, templates and techniques.
•Incorporation of portfolio project management to make sure that projects are prioritized and resourced to align with corporate strategies.
•Increased training for project sponsors to improve their understanding of their roles in helping projects succeed.
Organizations will find value in recording and documenting “Lessons Learned” on projects as a means of passing along the things that worked or did not work on a project. This kknowledge retention and transfer will be a major benefit to organizations because it will contribute to continuous learning and avoidance of repeated mistakes.
Organizations that follow best practices will be at a competitive advantage to those who do not apply a structured process to each project. Project management best practices include a disciplined approach to planning, executing and learning from projects.
As part of the move towards greater use of best practices we will also see:
•Use of competency assessments to select the best project resources for any given project.
•Incorporation of project management best practices into all aspects of project management infrastructure including tools, templates and techniques.
•Incorporation of portfolio project management to make sure that projects are prioritized and resourced to align with corporate strategies.
•Increased training for project sponsors to improve their understanding of their roles in helping projects succeed.
Organizations will find value in recording and documenting “Lessons Learned” on projects as a means of passing along the things that worked or did not work on a project. This kknowledge retention and transfer will be a major benefit to organizations because it will contribute to continuous learning and avoidance of repeated mistakes.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Future of Project Management - Trend 5
Project management and quality management will unite as critical job skill requirements
Project and quality principles will be infused into everyone’s roles within an organization. As the principles of project management fuse with quality management requirements, organizations will expect a quality-based approach to the management of projects. This will help them to successfully execute projects time after time.
To achieve this, organizations will need to apply quality management processes to all aspects of the project management infrastructure including: project management tools, project management templates, project management methods or techniques as well as project management competencies. These project quality management systems will improve project management by providing quality standards for project processes, tools and templates. As well, it will cause a shift in the competency requirements for project management roles.
All this will have enormous implications for project management training as organizations begin to search for curriculums that combine both quality management and project management knowledge bases.
Project and quality principles will be infused into everyone’s roles within an organization. As the principles of project management fuse with quality management requirements, organizations will expect a quality-based approach to the management of projects. This will help them to successfully execute projects time after time.
To achieve this, organizations will need to apply quality management processes to all aspects of the project management infrastructure including: project management tools, project management templates, project management methods or techniques as well as project management competencies. These project quality management systems will improve project management by providing quality standards for project processes, tools and templates. As well, it will cause a shift in the competency requirements for project management roles.
All this will have enormous implications for project management training as organizations begin to search for curriculums that combine both quality management and project management knowledge bases.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The Future of Project Management - Trend 4
Traditional performance management systems will be overhauled to better reflect work performance on projects
Generally speaking, most performance management systems are out of touch with how work is performed today. They undermine project delivery success because they fail to measure employee performance on special projects that are outside the realm of day-to-day job responsibilities.
This problem with performance management systems can greatly hinder an organization’s ability to successfully deliver projects because employees are less likely to consider their work on projects of equal importance to their measured job performance. Furthermore, functional managers may add fuel to the fire if they disapprove of an employee’s project work or are inflexible about work deadlines.
Because of this, we will see organizations starting to overhaul their performance management systems to make sure it measures employees’ total work performance. These new breed performance systems or “Total Performance Management” systems will be designed to capture feedback from functional managers as well as project managers and will measure total work performance.
Generally speaking, most performance management systems are out of touch with how work is performed today. They undermine project delivery success because they fail to measure employee performance on special projects that are outside the realm of day-to-day job responsibilities.
This problem with performance management systems can greatly hinder an organization’s ability to successfully deliver projects because employees are less likely to consider their work on projects of equal importance to their measured job performance. Furthermore, functional managers may add fuel to the fire if they disapprove of an employee’s project work or are inflexible about work deadlines.
Because of this, we will see organizations starting to overhaul their performance management systems to make sure it measures employees’ total work performance. These new breed performance systems or “Total Performance Management” systems will be designed to capture feedback from functional managers as well as project managers and will measure total work performance.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Future of Project Management - Trend 3
The role of “Project Manager” as a unique role will go the way of the dinosaur
The role of the Quality Manager is no longer today what is was 20 years ago. In fact, this title is not commonly found in most organizations. We can expect to also see this happen in project management where the role of the Project Manager will evolve to such a degree that it will become a work skill that is part of every employee’s job responsibility. This will require a cultural shift so that it becomes a part of every employee’s responsibility to know and understand how to manage that part of their work which is a project.
The role of the Quality Manager is no longer today what is was 20 years ago. In fact, this title is not commonly found in most organizations. We can expect to also see this happen in project management where the role of the Project Manager will evolve to such a degree that it will become a work skill that is part of every employee’s job responsibility. This will require a cultural shift so that it becomes a part of every employee’s responsibility to know and understand how to manage that part of their work which is a project.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Future of Project Management - Trend 2
There will be an increase in the number of centralized project management structures or Enterprise Project Management Offices
Organization’s project management functions will be centralized through the creation of an “Enterprise Project Management Office” or EPMO. This will help them to ensure that the projects that get initiated and implemented are supportive of their organizational strategies.
While many organizations have introduced the “Project Management Office” (“PMO”) to be an agent of change and created a project management infrastructure for the organization or department, the trend will be a more strategically focused project management function focused on ensuring that the portfolio of projects are prioritized, resourced and strategically aligned.
Global organizations will continue to have local PMOs but all will report into a single EPMO – using similar project management processes, tools and templates.
Organization’s project management functions will be centralized through the creation of an “Enterprise Project Management Office” or EPMO. This will help them to ensure that the projects that get initiated and implemented are supportive of their organizational strategies.
While many organizations have introduced the “Project Management Office” (“PMO”) to be an agent of change and created a project management infrastructure for the organization or department, the trend will be a more strategically focused project management function focused on ensuring that the portfolio of projects are prioritized, resourced and strategically aligned.
Global organizations will continue to have local PMOs but all will report into a single EPMO – using similar project management processes, tools and templates.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
