Chapter News

Stop chasing for the Holy Grail of Project Management.

In my project management career, several methodologies have been used to cure all problems within project management. With fundamentalists on the barricades proclaiming the traditional methods are old-fashioned and wrong. Immediately afterward, stipulate the exact approach with all the steps you need to follow for project success.

PMI Research confirms my experience that the choice of project management approach plays a minor role in driving project performance beyond the average. This research is part of the PMI’s Pulse of the Profession® report. 

Pulse of the Profession focused on the adoption of project management approaches and their evolution over the past years. An increase in hybrid approaches has been detected during the last three years, and the expectation is that this will continue in the coming years. However, according to the research, the winning blend of approaches is unique to the organization.  

What does make a difference in increasing project performance today?

Organizations can unlock above-average project performance by providing resources that build employees’ capabilities, enabling them to adapt to different project and business circumstances, challenges, and needs.

The first word that came into my mind was GRIT. We must be resilient and creative to achieve our goals despite the significant obstacles and distractions we may face. Developing a growth mindset is critical to thrive in a world of complexity and disruption.

"The Pulse of the Profession" highlights the top capabilities project managers should have: relationship building, collaborative leadership, strategic thinking, creative problem-solving, and commercial awareness (source: PMI Narrowing the Talent Gap Report).

Organizations that enable their employees to retrieve these skills via coaching, mentoring, training, and communities of practice will significantly improve project performance rates. After all, the first value of the Agile approach applies to "People over Processes."

In summary, we need to accept that one way does not fit all and take the minimalist approach to focus on the essence of project management.