Happy Spring!
This month’s post comes to us from the folks at Capterra, and discusses the five biggest trends that are shaping project management in 2018. Some are new, and some extend from processes and methodologies that gained some significant traction through 2016 and 2017.
With a keen eye on promise, delivery, and actionable advice, let’s jump right into the five biggest project management trends shaping 2018.
1. Meet ‘business Agile’
Last year, I pointed out that several industries, including marketing, finance, and construction, were beginning to adopt the Agile development framework. And that makes sense; various research has shown that the Agile methodology improves communication, makes teams more adaptive to change, and has an overall higher return on investment, especially for small to midsize teams.
What we’re witnessing—which started just in 2016—is the rise of business Agile.
Unlike most business trends, business Agile is bubbling from small businesses up to the enterprise level—not the other way around.
Research from Babson College shows that as businesses grow larger, their median workforce age grows older; conversely, the smaller the company, the younger the workers. And as these younger workers are more flexible in their mindset about work, they’ve discovered that Agile business processes benefit them far more than traditional work processes.
Plus, there’s been an influx of tools that makes Agile easier.
For example, artificial intelligence and project management are creating a symbiosis where metrics such as LOE (level of effort) are automated, and project management decisions, such as which task to assign which person, will be met with relentless machine-based objectivity (more on this trend to come later in the piece).
Like jumping from scratch paper to a computer to do calculus, these machines will—and are—freeing up head space for new business ideas.
Consider this graphic:
Project management trends 2018: business Agile
Between the rise of the bots and business Agile, think of 2018 like 1869; business Agile isn’t just a trend, it’s a new way of doing business (just like the Second Industrial Revolution was). It’s been ramping up for a while, and we’re going to start seeing far more reporting on the trend over the next twelve months.
