A popular saying reads “Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past and present are certain to miss the future”. This quote rightly fits many of us in our personal lives. But, it is more so apparent in the field of Project Management. If you are a Project Manager, you might have noticed one thing for sure. Project Management has emerged a lot and it continues to grow. With this trend, companies have emerged from sticky notes to SaaS Solutions. With the discovery of management paradigms and newer technologies, Project Management continues to evolve. For an organization to succeed in its projects, it becomes important to keep up with these emerging Project Management trends.

Above all, after 2020, which means post-pandemic, Project Management like many other niches has undergone drastic changes. These changes happened due to global-level lockdowns. To help your business keep up with the growing market needs, it is important to know the emerging trends in Project Management.

Greater Reliance on Remote and Digital Teams:

Like many other domains, Project Management is no longer bound to the confines of a typical office strictly. Digital and remote teams are more common today than ever before. This is because of the rise of the gig economy, changing corporate values and greater connectivity.

Post pandemic, many organizations these days have learned new work-from-home policies. This has led to the growth of digital communication as compared to face-to-face interaction.

Even after the pandemic has subsided to a great extent, many organizations in the US continue to rely on telecommunication. In turn, Project Managers these days should be ready to face unique and new challenges. For instance, some projects do not want the team members to be located in the same place. But, some projects need it. Only then, it will be possible to do some Project Management tasks. Examples include project alignment, team-building and spontaneous collaboration. However, this challenge does not mean that remote or digital teams are counterproductive. The reason is that remote operation of team members brings different benefits. Some of these benefits are increased flexibility and the possibility to attract talents from across the world.

This trend of remotely operating team members on projects is expected to continue even after the pandemic. So, it becomes the responsibility of Project Managers to learn ways to bring down inefficiencies and friction that might come up. For effective Project Management, open and clear communication will always be a healthy choice. It is expected to become even more prevalent when the remote working trend continues to evolve.

The Growth of Automation & Artificial Intelligence:

Presently, there is a lot of buzz around artificial intelligence and its implications. Not only in finance, healthcare, aerospace and software development but also in Project Management, automation has an efficient role to play.

Understanding the importance of automation, many organizations have already begun using artificial intelligence in the Project Management. They do this even for their day-to-day tasks that need human effort in the form of task automation. Not only for automation of simple tasks, but it helps obtain performance insights as well. Based on captured insights, Project Managers can get help from automation for complex tasks. These tasks can be anything right from simple scheduling to data visualization.

For Project Managers looking for new trends in Project Management, it is time to embrace Artificial Intelligence. Then, they should also understand how to use it for completing the project. Let us consider that a Project Manager has learned to use artificial intelligence for data automation. Thereafter, it will be much simpler to execute the project. In turn, it will help with developing a meaningful relationship with clients and team members.

In many projects, there are greater chances of deadlines being pushed ahead. This can happen either because of poor estimation or because of other external factors. When you have AI in place as a Project Manager, you will be in a position to acquire the correct estimate of the project cost, duration and even progress. So, it will be possible for you to forecast pragmatic schedule for your project.

Data Analytics for Decision-Making:

One of the latest trends in Project Management is the use of Data Analytics. With this approach, it will be possible for teams to leverage hard-to-understand project data. With Data Analytics, they can convert this data into actionable insights. Also, it will aid Project Managers to make better decisions by uncovering trends and patterns.

Data analytics will help high-level teams identify how well different processes work across different projects. Data insights can be helpful for Project Managers with staffing requirements. It becomes possible to identify weak links, skill sets required from new hires and examine workload across teams.

Organizational Project Management:

Presently, within organizations, there are growing efforts for getting rid of the gap between the development of strategy and strategic outcome. To bridge this gap, the trending strategy is to use organizational Project Management with project, portfolio and program management.

Irrespective of whether you use Agile models like Scaled Agile Framework or PMI’s Model, your strategies can succeed. It will happen only when they are linked with the people implementing them. So, right at the portfolio level, there are systems that can bring together business results and organizational investments. When it comes to project and program levels, teams drive particular results that deliver satisfying strategic business objectives and customers.​​​​​​​

Emotional Intelligence and Soft Skills as Differentiators for Leaders:

When it comes to current trends in Project Management, many Project Managers have identified one thing. Yes, they have understood that emotional intelligence is one of the key skills that are worth calling out. The reason is that it is this skill that helps them with operating in a given environment.

In any project environment, there can be different types of people. Some people know what they want. Some people cannot get well with others. With different types of people, a project environment can be compared to that of a complex socio-political atmosphere.

In similarity with what has been done in the past, even in the present situation, soft skills are given the utmost importance. In fact, these skills are given better value compared to credentials.​​​​​​​

Lifelong Learning:

To keep pace with change is something professionals in different fields will have to do these days. Only when they do this, they can stay ahead in this competitive world. One thing that can help Project Managers in this discipline is to keep learning. Training is the important part when it comes to life-long learning. But, it has a broader scope as well. As a Project Manager, it is your responsibility to ensure that your team keeps learning. You can do this by developing assignments that help your team builds skills and practice.

It is also better to make sure that your team gets access to coaches and mentors. These people should be competent enough to transfer their experience and knowledge. They should also provide the opportunity for your team members to learn both formally and informally. You can motivate continuous learning and improvement by doing one thing. You can provide your team members with the time to evaluate and improve their performance. When they do these things, it will be even better if they get real-time support. As you look for recent trends in Project Management, most product managers are following lifelong learning as a motto. They not only keep this motto with themselves. But also they are extending the required motivation to their teams to do it.​​​​​​​

Increase in Project Complexity:

Data analytics is one of the presently-followed and even future trends in Project Management. With data analytics, teams will be in a position to improve and refine their processes. But, on the other hand, access to so many new data insights will lead to complexity. So, to keep pace, it becomes important for Project Managers to stay more agile than ever before.

In the past, Project Managers used to select a project methodology. Then, they start applying it in their project to move forward. Even, many organizations follow methods like scrum and waterfall approaches. They use these approaches for defining their projects. But, when projects turn unwieldy, teams tend to get off-track. It means that Project Managers will have to get up to speed on different management methodologies. They should do this for ensuring their project success as against applying the same approaches. An estimate has been made by the Project Management Institute. Accordingly, nearly one-third of executive leaders believe one thing. Learning the appropriate skills is crucial for project success.​​​​​​​

Increases Attention To Soft Skills:

Traditionally, Project Managers were valued based on their skills and certifications. It was believed that the more skills and certifications they have, the better they can implement methodologies. But, the present trend is that more and more organizations these days are paying attention to soft skills. To handle the trickier technical part of projects, Project Managers should have soft skills. Only then, they can handle AI-powered solutions.  

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Conclusion:

In short, the recent trends in Project Management show the use of skills, technical tools, knowledge and experience in ensuring successful project execution, management and success. Project Managers should keep themselves aware of the skills required and tools they can use to make project planning and execution easier.