Our take on the emerging project management trends
Project management is a mature discipline with well-established procedures and processes, which remain relatively consistent over time. What’s happening globally and in the working world has an impact on project management methodologies.
A move towards Agile methodologies
With the world becoming more digital, a focus on Agile methodologies is allowing project managers to react quickly to changes in the outside world. As information flows quicker around the globe, the need to be flexible and adaptable is front and center of projects, especially in large industries that may operate over multiple sites such as construction and utilities.
Maximum benefit is achieved where whole organizations can operate in an Agile way. This allows project managers to swiftly adjust their calls upon staffing or resources, with the organization able to react in a similarly rapid fashion. This trend towards Agile is likely to continue in future with the continued digitization of business and the increased speed of information flow.
A cementing of the remote workforce
After two years of operating with stay at home orders and office closures due to the pandemic, it’s clear that remote working is becoming much more the norm. While many businesses have attempted to reinstate an on-site office presence, many are choosing the ‘hybrid’ model of workforce management where employees mix time in the office with time at home or other remote site.
This disparate workforce pattern brings with it a number of challenges for project management. Managers need to move away from face-to-face operation and start using outcomes-based management to judge whether their employees are performing and whether project goals are being met. Also, communications need to be comprehensive and clear enough across the whole project team to ensure that the schedule is adhered to and costs controlled.
Widespread adoption of the cloud
Projects run on data, and construction projects in particular require instant access to large amounts of information to be able to operate effectively. The cloud offers a safe, flexible, accessible way to share data between many different people and across multiple sites, which confers major advantages to projects of all sizes. Cloud storage is scalable in size and makes information available in real-time, 24/7, no matter where you are around the globe.
It’s no surprise, therefore, that more and more businesses are choosing to capitalize on these advantages. We’ve previously looked at the various reasons why the construction industry is moving to the cloud, and this is a trend that is likely to continue through 2022 and beyond.
Project management applications enabling better data management
As recently as a decade ago, many projects were run and managed using local systems and manual data management processes. While this was sometimes effective for smaller or more straightforward projects, for larger programs of work it was a limiting factor because insight was lost where data wasn’t being properly used and managed.
A trend that has emerged in the last few years, and is due to accelerate further through 2022, is the use of project management applications to enable data management. Well-managed, actionable data leads to better project management and enables good business decisions. It’s for this reason that more and more businesses will invest in software that allows data integrations and produces actionable insights for the project manager.
The world of work is changing fast. The last two years have underlined the need for companies to be flexible, adaptable, and responsive to changes in the global business environment. It’s never been more important to be able to access information remotely, communicate with employees reliably, and gain control and oversight of your data.
Project management will need to internalize these trends in order to operate effectively and efficiently in future. The current state brings huge opportunities for businesses that embrace this new way of working, and project management teams who structure themselves accordingly will have the competitive edge.
DRMcNatty can help in all aspects of project management, from data integration and software solutions to cloud hosting and staff augmentation. Get in touch with our friendly team if you would benefit from a conversation on how to capitalize on these new trends.
