Within the next five years, organisations will be relying much more on Project Management function that has been bought in ‘as a Service’. They will have to.....Read more

1. AAS I SEE IT - PROJECT MANAGEMENT BY 2020 WILL BE DELIVERED AS A SERVICE
CREATED BY: DAVID COTGREAVE
Within the next five years, organisations will be relying
much more on Project Management function that has
been bought in ‘as a Service’. They will have to.
The PM landscape will have changed significantly by
2020. In his webinar "Project Management in 2020",
Gartner Research VP Michael Hanford spells out his
vision for the mid-term future of your PMO. It's a
fascinating insight into a future that is increasingly
difficult to forecast and is worth checking out and then
measuring against the strategy you have in place for
your PMO's capability by the end of the decade.
Today around a fifth of projects are considered to be
very complex. These are the transformative projects with multiple interdependencies that take
considerable management energy. Anecdotally, it is often the pace of change of such projects that
can take the most management resource - so very important, so very quick, so little scope for error.
However, more than a third (37%) of IT expenditure now resides outside the 'IT department', it is the
responsibility of line of business managers. With that spending power often comes the responsibility
for change management and project execution. Gartner predict, by 2020, that percentage will have
risen to 50% and with half of IT spending falling outside the IT function those line of business
managers will have to develop some new project management skills and fast.
Of course, one knock on effect of line managers re-skilling with even basic PM disciplines is that
organisations will need fewer Project Managers on their books. In the same way, that buses no
longer have conductors since drivers started selling tickets, overhead sensitive firms will take a dim
view of keeping on project managers if projects are being managed by department heads. Many
Project Managers have seen this coming and made arrangements accordingly, such as, working
freelance and selling themselves back to their former employer and others. Many have simply
walked away and done something totally different.
Naturally, the more complex projects, the 20% mentioned above, will need more than a basic PM
skillset. Unfortunately, when organisations turn to look for managers with the experience and the
capability to deliver such projects they may find an empty desk. Indeed, it is not difficult to imagine a
time when there will be too many projects and not enough managers to keep them on course - and
those that are left will be stretched to the limits. This could spell disaster in terms of project
efficiency and yields with budget overruns and delayed deliveries becoming common by 2020.
These organisations will increasingly need to turn to a project management service provider to fill
the gaps. 2020 is not far away, it's a good idea to start thinking about that today and with a suitable
partner carry out gap analysis on your PMO both now and for in the future.
My vision for the future of project management teams is not dissimilar to that of Gartner's Michael
Hanford. I foresee individual projects becoming a magnet for PM talent who will assemble, deliver a

2. project with unprecedented efficiency and then go their separate ways. This will suit the pace of
change common in those complex transformative projects and it will also suit the mindset of many
PMs who are keen to get in, get the gold and move on to the next project.
This 'revolving door' approach to project management talent recruitment has many benefits but
should also be approached with suitable caution.
Make sure that your Project Management service partner gets your culture. I mean really gets it. A
bad cultural fit between your organisation and a PM could be as damaging to the health of a project
as the wrong competencies – given the slim timeframe for success. Or as a friend neatly put it, "it's
like hiring a dog groomer to do a bride's hair on the morning of her wedding."
The benefits though will be huge and by 2020 more and more firms will be enjoying;
 High-quality Project Delivery
 Predictable and lower cost models
 Robust and consistent processes underpinned by governance, metrics and transparent
reporting all managed by KPIs
 Flexible on-demand resources and improved PM capabilities.
 Better capacity management and resource planning
 Business/PM cultural alignment
The thing is, this future is available today and there is no better way to future proof yourself than by
adopting working practices and business strategies now that will become necessary tomorrow. It
just prepares you for the inevitable – at least better than your competitors.
PMO success in 2020 will be about versatility and business strategy, the days of firms retaining a
significant headcount of project management talent who are experts in their fields are over. Those
specialities will have to be bought in.
By 2020, the best project managers will have great leadership skills and, of course, the right contacts
– right now they are nurturing strong relationships and preparing for this.
Question is, will you be ready to tap this vital resource? 2020 is closer than you think.
Further details of how Stoneseed’s services can help, can be found on our website:
www.stoneseed.co.uk
SOURCE
Gartner webinar:
https://www.gartner.com/user/registration/webinar?resId=3100618&commId=167123&channelId=5502&srcId=1-
3788983953