Top 10 trends in project management 2024

TOP 10 trends in project management for 2024

While some #PMtrends maintain the top spots and still haven’t exhausted their potential, others are a surprise! Project management #trendspotting in the segments of capital construction, infrastructure renewal, production relocation, product development, production ramp-up, process digitalization and technological innovation

Commentary on the ranking compiled by Dean Res, Certified Executive Consultant in project management

1. Use of artificial intelligence and big data

“Hmm, how would ChatGPT respond?” Tempting, though prohibited in many companies, is the use of freely available artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. All the more so in project management are plug-ins and AI modules in paid-for software that allow users to be alerted to data trends, analyze changes, or manage in-house Q&A in an advanced way. If you work with big data, you’ll appreciate the time saved with routine statistical analysis.

2. Automating support activities

Report distribution. Releasing projects to the next stage. Portfolio status notifications. Notifications of undelivered documents and incomplete tasks. These, and other tasks with a high frequency of repeatability, can be automated to simplify processing, reduce errors and save staff time. Precise setting of processing rules, open communication at all levels and an appropriate feedback mechanism, especially in the event of a request being ignored by its addressee, are prerequisites.

3. Streamlining procedures and paperless office

As the political debate on the four-day working week grows, productivity and efficiency will become increasingly important. Basic wastage includes finding, sorting and transporting documents. Digitising them in a meaningful way simplifies multi-parameter searches, makes them accessible anytime, anywhere, with access rights and backups treated. Several legislative changes in recent years, such as amendments to the Accountancy Act and the Public Procurement Act, have paved the way for the next wave of digitisation, at the end of which is the paperless office. The only thing to watch out for is not to invest resources in digitising misaligned processes! The golden rule applies: eliminate waste first, optimize, then digitize.

4. Human communication and adequate information

If we have already automated operations, robotized production, entrusted data analysis to artificial intelligence, sent employees on a four-day home office, and not a single piece of paper is left in the office, what then? Sceptics may see in the previous sentence a dangerous trend towards dehumanisation. Optimists will point to the freed-up time that can be devoted to creative, high-value-added tasks. Realists will name the risk of losing trust or the ability to maintain collegiality in the project team and will focus on refining team rules, agreeing on formal and informal time spent together, and ensuring everyone in the virtual or hybrid team is informed.

5. Real-time collaboration and co-authorship

Until recently, the concept of co-authorship was mainly used for publications and scientific articles. Today, it is common for a real-time team of between a few and dozens of contributors to collaborate on the presentation, design and layout of a solution. Version management, change backlog, requirements traceability, and quality control are just some of the tools used to track the fulfillment of customer requirements, the incremental addition of value to the product, and the demonstrability of this process in the face of an audit.

6. Scaling complexity using portfolios, programs and projects

Whether you are IPMA or PMI certified, in either case you have experienced managing traditional and agile projects, programs and portfolios. If you also have strategic management in place in your organization, you will appreciate the ability to scale complexity to select appropriate management tools by project category, to include related projects and their components in a common program, and to clearly communicate strategic portfolios across levels of the company.

7. Emphasis on ESG principles in project management

In your work as a project manager, you will increasingly encounter client requests to incorporate ESG principles into the project, such as green procurement, measuring environmental, health, safety impacts, and compliance with reported non-financial information – equal opportunity, supplier selection policies, debarring, and promoting social responsibility. The new obligation to publish a sustainability report will also affect Slovak companies in 2024.

8. Information security with regard to hybrid threats

With the advent of ISO/IEC 27001:2022, the information security management system framework has been redefined and Annex A controls have been expanded to include configuration management, continuity preparedness, threat reporting and secure encryption. In your role as a project manager, you often consider these requirements in your planning.

9. Linking new roles and responsibilities to existing ones

Agility has found its way into all sectors, not least manufacturing. While the selection of a specific agile methodology is up for in-depth discussion and needs analysis, at the end of the day, traditional and agile roles in the organization need to be aligned so that they can collaborate in a matrix structure, understand competency frameworks and the interconnectedness of their performance metrics. The Project Management Office (PMO) plays a significant role in this.

10. The “less is more” principle

Finish right and deliver on time. A brief summary of the essence of project management brings us back to a basic consideration: if today’s market is volatile and less predictable than in the past, while the customer still expects the work to be delivered correctly and on time, we are left with the option of moving the price or rethinking the meaning of the word “correctly.” Some industries have the ability to manipulate pricing. Others rely on modularity and the customer’s belief that “right” can also mean piecemeal, with ongoing verification of market acceptance and with well-defined STOP states after which changes cannot be implemented unprompted by objective causes.