Guest Blog: “Organisations need to look forward and think forward” – Jackie Glynn, Ireland Chapter of PMI

Jackie Glynn, Vice President of the Ireland Chapter of Project Management Institute and Head of Portfolio Management Office at Three Ireland

Jackie Glynn of the Ireland Chapter of Project Management Institute (PMI) and Three Ireland, discusses the changing dynamic of project management within organisations.

Jackie Glynn and Pat Lucey, PMI

Last year, the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) report, Job Growth and Talent Gap in Project Management 2017, identified that by 2027, employers will need 87.7 million individuals working in project management-oriented roles. This will increase the need for skilled and experienced project and programme managers. Organisations will continue to place a greater focus on improving project management performance to stay competitive and relevant. There are several catalysts for this projected growth:

• A dramatic increase in the number of jobs requiring project-oriented skills
• Attrition rates, including professionals retiring from the workforce
• A significant uptake in demand for project talent, especially in rapidly-developing economies such as China and India

One question consistently posed is, ‘What are the top five skills that a project manager needs to successfully deliver a project?’

Due to the speed of change and the fierce market competition, every organisation, irrespective of industry, is required to adjust much faster today than in the past.

In the past, it was viewed that the following skills were needed by a project manager;

Capability to:

• Deliver on time
• Deliver within budget
• Deliver on schedule
• Communicate project status to all stakeholders
• Manage risk

However, based on the PMI’s Pulse of the Profession 10^th Global Project Management Survey 2018, Success in Disruptive Times, traditional measures of scope, time and cost are essential but no longer sufficient in today’s competitive environment. The ability of projects to deliver what they set out to do — the expected business benefits — is what organisations need today.

Due to the speed of change and the fierce market competition, every organisation, irrespective of industry, is required to adjust much faster today than in the past. To do so, organisations launch projects and expect them to deliver results.

Organisations need to look forward and think forward. They need to consider the challenges that are emerging as project teams blend skills such as design thinking, Lean and Agile.

Project managers need to demonstrate a combination of technical, leadership, strategic and business management expertise as defined within the PMI Talent Triangle (PMI 2015).

The latest research by the PMI, published earlier this year, revisited the five skill sets needed by a project manager and has summarised them in the following roles:

• Strategic Advisor – to plan, execute, and deliver
• Innovator – to act as product owner and developer
• Communicator – to always be clear and concise, no matter the audience
• Big Thinker – to be adaptable, flexible and emotionally intelligent
• Versatile Manager – to be experienced with all approaches including Waterfall, Scrum, Agile, Lean, design thinking, and the use of them, where appropriate, to suit the project requirement