What Do You Think Project Management Will Look Like in 2025?

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Continuing the topic from my last post, I want to know what YOU think the discipline of project management will change over the next 15 years or so.

Is it even a valid question?

It’s fun to speculate, but how good can anyone actually be at predicting the future? Let’s have some fun and take a shot at it anyway.

Pick any area of interest to you and throw an idea out so we can discuss.

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Josh Nankivel, BSc PM, PMP

I help new and aspiring project managers reach their career goals! About me - Connect with me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and FriendFeed or send me an email.

4 Responses to “What Do You Think Project Management Will Look Like in 2025?”

alohafromSF (alohafromSF)
Oct 13th, 2009 at 3:06 pm

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What Do You Think Project Management Will Look Like in 2025? [link to post]

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Bill Duncan
Oct 13th, 2009 at 5:11 pm

The problem with most predictions is that the prognosticators assume that current trends will continue … so tomorrow will look like today, only more so. Few try to identify — or even guess at — the disruptions that might occur. So here goes …

Despite PMI’s efforts to unify the religion, it’s inability to get the discipline’s thought leaders involved in its standards development efforts will cause project management to split into three sects: engineering and construction, IT/software, and new product development. All three will subsume PM into the technical discipline.

PM software tools will finally figure out how to schedule resources effectively. They will also develop plans automatically from the technical documentation, and capture actuals by monitoring the keystrokes of knowledge workers and by digitizing videos of manual laborers.

Paul Giammalvo will have more time for tennis now that everyone accepts his position that project management is not a profession. LinkedIn will be able to shut down three server farms.

A survey of the CEOs of major corporations worldwide will show that none have any idea what a project manager is or does. 17 of the 1000 surveyed will be unable to spell either WBS or CPM.

Framed PM certification certificates will begin to show up at Sunday morning flea markets throughout the USA.

Vladimir Vorapaev will still be the president of SOVNET.

I will be retired, and I won’t give a hoot what PM looks like …

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Josh Nankivel
Oct 14th, 2009 at 10:56 am
I’m not even going to try to predict; this is what I hope will happen.
- Project management organizations like PMI, IPMA, etc. will have taken an interest in educating project sponsors, and there will be some kind of credential with levels of experience/knowledge/competence involved. Organizations will start to value these credentials when hiring for middle managers, directors, and executives. Projects will be more successful due to more informed and supportive sponsors who know how to hire competent project managers and understand the reality of project conditions.
- There will be good ways to tell the difference (with a credential) between a project manager who just started doing small projects with little complexity and a project manager who has been delivering successful projects in a high-profile complex industry for many years. These credentials will be rigorous enough that organizations can (almost) hire on the basis of having or not having them.
- Project management will be a profession and no longer in dispute. Segmentation based on industry will occur in this, and degrees specific to industry (PM in Aerospace degree program, for example) combined with internship and competency criteria will be required before being able to work as a full-fledged PM. Even Dr. Paul Giammalvo will agree that PM is a profession!
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galleman
Oct 14th, 2009 at 12:07 pm

PM will be discovered to be a systems engineering discipline – oh I forgot it is at NASA and NAVAIR. Back to the Future.

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