We are always looking for new trends and practices in project management as project delivery professionals. It’s helpful to be aware of what’s next and how to best respond. The latest industry news can help you gain knowledge, confidence, as well as find new solutions to problems. Each year, a variety of reports and surveys are released that can help shed light on the past and look forward to what’s to come.
Teamhood has just released a report on this topic, the Project Management Radar 2021. This report asked respondents to rank the most important skills, practices, tools, or trends in project management. The project management radar reports the results. Each category occupies a quarter of PM radar grid, giving a 360-degree view on the current situation in the profession.
The Teamhood Project Management Radar 2021You will see that there is a lot of common ground in the most valuable skill, which is project communication management. There are also changes that were driven forward by the global pandemic, and the need to better organize processes. These changes are mostly reflected within the current and future trend section.
Current trends
According to PM Radar 2021 the top trend spot at the moment is shared by two entries: Agile project management and remote working. This is not surprising. Agile has been around for a while now, so it’s not a trend. It isn’t going anywhere. Companies are turning to agile as a solution because teams are constantly looking for ways to improve their processes and adapt to changing markets.
We also have the Seventh Edition of A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOKr) Guide), which focuses heavily upon tailoring and the three performance domains, as well as the business environment. We all know how disturbing that was during the pandemic of 2020.
Some of us have been using remote work and virtual teams for a while, but others are just starting to embrace it. Many teams found success that way and continued to do so even after restrictions were lifted. We didn’t know we enjoyed spending more time at home than driving long distances.
It was difficult for people who get their energy from being around other people to find a solution. Hopefully hybrid methods of working will help bridge this gap. Most project professionals will soon have to face the challenge of finding sustainable project management methods that can support all types of work.
Future trends
The PM Radar 2021 survey respondents voted for Agile project management and advanced project management software as the top trends in the future.
We see once again the conviction that Agile project management has much more to offer. It is no longer enough to simply say that agile is a trend. The feedback from project managers should be taken as a sign that more companies are adopting agile, more teams are choosing hybrid working methods, more people are taking agile certifications, and a wider adoption of the principles that the agile community has been using for years. You can expect an executive to be interested in learning more about Agile and finding out how to implement it.
The future trend is advanced project management software. Project management tools will be more important as Agile and hybrid project management approaches are adopted by more teams. Many software tools allow you to manage hybrid, predictive, and iterative projects from one platform. We’ll continue to see more of this feature in the future. We need sophisticated and capable solutions that enable teams to perform in all circumstances.
