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The field of project management is constantly evolving. Project/programme managers, portfolio managers and PMO-ers have to continuously and ever faster adapt their way of working to stay relevant. Fortunately, the consultants of IMPROVEN every year an overview of key trends and developments in project, programme, project portfolio management & PMO. These trends provide crucial insights to manage projects more successfully and respond better to change and need.
1. Realisation of the strategy
Project Portfolio Management is increasingly recognised as an essential component for the realisation of business strategy, with projects and programmes having a direct relationship with the organisation's strategic goals. The integration of project portfolio management is crucial to ensure that projects and programmes are not only successful on their own, but also contribute to the organisation's vision and strategic goals and thus add value. Proper integration further helps to effectively manage and allocate (scarce) resources across projects, reducing conflicts over the deployment of people and resources and thus enabling organisations to still achieve their strategic goals with fewer resources.
2. From PMO to SRO
As a result of the former trend, or sometimes even as a catalyst, central PMOs are evolving towards a so-called Strategy Realisation Office (SRO). In the SRO, projects and programmes from the organisation are linked to the organisational objectives, thereby launching new necessary initiatives. The SRO plays a crucial role in information flows, decision-making and in the realisation of goals. An SRO will manage people, resources, processes and projects effectively and efficiently. This leads to less waste of time and resources and reduction of (failure) costs. It also increases transparency in the status and results of projects and programmes. The SRO helps management make decisions and anticipate potential problems.
3. AI, real-time decision-making & change management
Real-time data, insights and analytics are becoming increasingly important for decision-making within projects, programmes and portfolios, with advanced dashboards providing up-to-date insights into, for example, costs, resources and schedules. Access to real-time data enables timely, informed decisions, leading to higher accuracy and fewer errors. By using real-time decision-making, organisations can increase their competitive advantage, improve efficiency and achieve better results in their strategy realisation. Next step, predictive decision making, by using AI in projects and portfolios is just a small step away. The impact of AI on the profession is starting to become increasingly clear; having call reports and action lists generated by an AI assistant is just the beginning. Recently, for example, we saw AI applied in change management, using predictive analytics to identify potential resistance before it occurred. The appropriate intervention was then also designed using AI.
4. Hybrid project management - fit-for-purpose
For some time, there has been a growing interest in hybrid project management methodologies that combine different approaches (waterfall, agile, etc.), to meet the organisation's specific needs for change realisation. Improven strongly supports a pragmatic combination of proven elements from traditional project management and valuable additions from agile, to realise change. Hybrid project managers create a tailor-made approach that suits the specific needs of the project or organisation. This also means that the project managers of the future are all-rounders and will not be limited by an approach they are certified to use. In the coming years, awareness will continue to grow that choosing a single best practice approach, will be too limiting for many organisations. In the market, we already see the number of large-scale agile transformations declining and even being reversed here and there.
5. Sustainability in and through project management
Sustainability (sustainability) is more important than ever and will play an increasing role in our projects and programmes. It is the responsibility of every organisation that sustainability goals are realised through projects. It is equally important that projects are implemented in a sustainable manner. Due to the broad definition and interpretation of the term sustainability, it is important for organisations to first define what sustainability means, for example using the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The project manager can then identify how the project can contribute to those sustainability goals. On the one hand, a sustainable project can ensure sustainable outcomes (e.g. a realisation of a solar park), but it can also choose an economically viable, environmentally friendly and socially responsible approach already during project realisation. A project manager will have to find the balance between what stakeholders (people) want and are able to do, what the earth (planet) makes available and what is financially profitable (profit).
6. Additional focus on developing project management skills
Project management follows a certain approach and standard processes beforehand. For a long time, we have thought that if a project manager follows the processes and fills in the right templates, the project will be successful. Fortunately, we see a clear movement towards developing broader project management-related skills and behaviours, such as technical skills, interpersonal skills and management skills, for example. A project manager with a broader range of these skills will be able to operate more effectively in the stakeholder arena, better match end-user expectations and thus deliver the change more successfully.
7. Behavioral project management
Behavioural project management focuses on the human aspects of project management, such as motivation, communication, team dynamics, as well as better decision-making. It recognises that the way people behave and work together has a major impact on the success of a project. Expertise of a project manager on interpersonal processes will lead to improved communication, better team dynamics, higher motivation, more effective leadership, better decision-making and thus more successful projects.
8. Capacity management
Capacity management is all about effectively forecasting and allocating resources to meet (future) demand. This process involves identifying skills and resources needed, evaluating current capacity and taking action to fill any shortfalls. Capacity management is receiving more attention in project and portfolio management because of the increasing demand for products and services, leading to higher workloads and, in the process, a greater need for efficient use of resources. In addition, many organisations face staff shortages, making it crucial to make the best use of available capacity. Good capacity management helps organisations respond better to changes and identify bottlenecks in time, which is essential in a dynamic market. By planning proactively, organisations can reduce costs, improve performance and ensure that the right resources are available at the right time.
9. Flexible working & remote teams
In hybrid or flexible working, working in the office is combined with working from home, for example, or even in much more exotic locations. This way of working is still gaining ground, despite other media reports. This way of working seems to resonate better with younger colleagues from new generations. . By handling this well, organisations can attract and retain new employees regardless of geographical location. This increases the pool of potential talent. Giving colleagues freedom and personal responsibility leads to higher motivation and loyalty, which in turn leads to better performance and lower staff turnover; a big advantage in a tight labour market! However, effective cooperation is the big challenge! Such effectiveness is less, for example, when team members work in different time zones, there is a lack of team spirit or poor understanding of what the others are doing. In hybrid working, sufficient attention should be paid to supporting tools that support real-time collaboration and transparency.
10. Further development of project management tools
The ongoing development of project management tools is a dynamic process that responds to the changing needs of organisations and project teams. Modern tools focus on improving efficiency, collaboration and flexibility. This includes the integration of artificial intelligence for automated tasks, improved visualisation of project data, and seamless integration with other software such as CRM and ERP systems. There is also an increasing focus on usability and accessibility to enable teams to collaborate effectively worldwide. At the same time, we see an opposite trend, with small organisations without large IT budgets opting to build a simple PM tool themselves, making smart use of MS Teams, Sharepoint, PowerApps and PowerBI: a lot can already be done with the standard Microsoft Suite.
It is important to keep working on the change capacity of your organisation. If you would like more information on any of the mentioned trends or are curious how Improven can help your organisation in a different way, please contact Maarten van Weeghel (maarten.van.weeghel@improven.nl or 06-12 999 575).
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