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September/October 2005

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STATE OF THE ART OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN 2010
by Dr. Russ Archibald

The following predictions are excerpted with permission from a presentation entitled “State of the Art of Project Management in 2010” by Dr. Russ Archibald at the second annual international conference of the PMI Moscow Chapter in Moscow, Russia.

  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.
    • There will be improvements in
      1. strategic PM
      2. operational PM
      3. PM software
      4. PM consulting, education, and training
    Total Project Life Cycle Management
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.

Russell D. Archibald, PhD (Hon), PMP, Fellow PMI and APM/IPMA, M.Sc. has held engineering and executive positions in the defense, aerospace, refinery construction and operations, automotive manufacturing and telecommunications industries. He has consulted in project management to companies and agencies in twelve countries on four continents, and has taught project management principles and practices to thousands of managers and specialists around the world.

Russell is one of five founding PMI Trustees, PMI member number 6; author of Managing High-Technology Programs and Projects, 3rd ed, Wiley 2003 (to be published in Russian, Italian and Chinese in 2004); co-author of Network-Based Management Systems (PERT/CPM), Wiley 1967. Contact: russell_archibald@yahoo.com or http://www.russarchibald.com

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