View from the Top: 2015 Perspective – Stakes Rising for Project Management

Project Assistants CEO Gus Cicala will write quarterly contributions for the blog that provide his view of what is going on in the world of project management and what it might mean for your organization.

As we reach the midpoint of the decade it’s helpful to take a big-picture look at the state of Project and Portfolio Management. From my chair, all of the economic, corporate and technological fronts have the arrow pointed up for Project and Portfolio Management. This, of course, is a reason for optimism, but it also places a heavier onus on doing Project and Portfolio Management right.

From the macroeconomic perspective, there are favorable expectations. The world economy will remain stable while the US economy will strengthen. This means more money to invest in all aspects of the business, which will make organizations growth-oriented once again.

On the corporate front, more organizations are embracing Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) at the C-level as these processes continue to show ROI. As a result, much of the increased revenue from economic improvements will be invested in PPM infrastructures, which will raise the stakes on project managers providing a return for the business.

In the technology sector, Microsoft is also upping the ante with their Project Management platform. They continue to invest in Microsoft Project and complement the solution with productivity technologies.

It is also clear that the cloud is here to stay, which lowers the barriers of entry to the technology market. For those portions of the organization that don’t have readably available IT infrastructure support, this solution provides an effective, rapidly available platform.

Also, when considered hand-in-hand with current economic improvements, we expect that the landscape and solution capabilities will continue to change at a rapid pace. Organizational rigor continues to be a challenge especially as it becomes more competitive. It is increasingly important to have a rigorous approach to implementation improvement and to develop more organization “advocates” to take advantage of the changing capabilities and opportunities. 

So as investments and expectations placed on Project Management get larger and larger, the opportunity to obtain personal and organizational success has never been greater. It’s up to us practitioners and evangelists to seize the day. Despite some foundational improvements that are happening, there’s still a long way to go to realize the real promise of effective Project and Portfolio Management

As we work our way through the midpoint of this decade, we have a real opportunity to leverage all the promise that Project and Portfolio Management offers.

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