Top 10 Trends in Project Management for 2014

Trends list reveals project managers are in increasingly high demand and are being asked to lead rather than just manage their teams

ESI International, a project management training company, released its top 10 trends in project management for 2014. The 2014 trends reveal that project managers are in increasingly high demand and are being asked to lead rather than simply manage their teams. Further, the trends highlight the changing nature of project management, as organizations strive for competitive advantage.

Document: Top 10 Trends in Project Management for 2014

“This year’s trends highlight the growing unease with the status quo of current project management practices,” said J. LeRoy Ward, PMP, PgMP, CSM, Executive Vice President, ESI International. “Past failures to improve project efficiencies force the need to ‘pull out all of the stops’ to deal with project complexity, implement new project management approaches, and adopt alternative leadership styles to improve project success for greater competitive advantage. In-demand project managers and leaders seem ready to face the challenge.”

Video: ESI International's Top 10 Project Management Trends of 2014

ESI’s top 10 trends for project management include:

  1. Agile expands in Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong.
  2. Portfolio management continues to take center stage with PMI’s new credential.
  3. Whether they like it or not, project managers are learning to learn through virtual learning.
  4. EPC companies admit they didn’t invent project management and seek professional help.
  5. Think implementing one PPM tool was hard? Companies now need two!
  6. Servant leadership makes a comeback, and not just in Agile.
  7. Benchmarking takes on greater urgency as competition heats up.
  8. Organizations, dissatisfied with their project management performance, will radically change their approaches to get back on track.
  9. Even with high unemployment globally, key project management jobs will remain hard to fill.
  10. Project and program managers will be asked to spend more time “leading” rather than “managing” their teams.

“We see the difficulty in filling key, strategic project-focused roles, and what is expected of them once they’re hired,” said Ward. “Organizations are weary of projects that are over budget and late. So, they’re looking to their project leaders to make the changes needed to repeatedly meet project milestones and achieve expected outcomes.”

ESI’s top 10 trends in project management is put together annually by ESI senior executives and subject matter experts.

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