PMFORUM Breaking News

"Project management will merge into general management, and become a required competency for top executives, similar to financial management competency" asserted project management pioneer and author, Dr. Russ Archibald, in predicting the state of the art of project management in 2010. Archibald was addressing the second annual international conference of the PMI Moscow Chapter in Moscow, Russia.

Archibald also predicted that certification will be based more on proven capability and awarded at three or four levels. He does not anticipate any government licensing of project management.

Archibald is well qualified to analyze trends in project management as a 50-year veteran and co-author of one the seminal works in the establishment of modern project management: "Network-Based Management Systems (PERT/CPM)" (Wiley 1967). He was recently awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Strategy, Programme and Project Management by ESC-Lille, recognizing his pioneering work in project management.

Archibald's complete set of predictions on the state of the art in 2010 were organized into six areas:

1. Strategic Project Management
   • Best organizations will integrate strategic management, project management, and operations management through project portfolio management.
2. Specialization by Project Category
   • There will be widespread use of a systematic approach to project categorization and classification.
   • As a result of this systematic categorization there will be improvements in
     1. strategic PM
     2. operational PM
     3. PM software
     4. PM consulting, education, and training
3. Total Project Life Cycle Management
   • The best PM practitioners (project buyers/owners) will include concept phase plus achievement of project benefits as part of the project management responsibilities.
   • Catalogs will exist of life-cycle models for each major product category.
   • Wider application of systems thinking and the theory of constraints to project life-cycle models will produce continual improvements.
4. PM Systems, Tools and Practices
   • Systems will be fully integrated with corporate IS.
   • PM software will be more specialized to fit project categories or types.
   • Web-enabled PM will be used by all; virtual teams will be commonplace.
   • Wireless will be everywhere.
   • PM software vendors will begin consolidation phase of a mature industry.
   • It will be best practice for project and operations management to be integrated through a corporate-wide project/operations planning and control system.
   • Critical chain will still not be widely applied.
5. PM Discipline and Individuals
   • Certification will be
     1. based more on proven capabilities
     2. sharply focused on specific areas of application and/or project types
     3. awarded at 3 or 4 levels.
   • Demonstrated PM capabilities (not necessarily certification) will be a prerequisite for senior management positions.
   • Government licensing in PM will not exist.
6. The Profession of Project Management
   • PM will merge into general management, and become required competency for top executives, similar to financial management competency.
   • Many will say PM is a profession but no government licensing will exist.
   • PM will be widely known and used by managers at all levels.