2013 has come to a close, and 2014 is just getting started.

As we celebrate the new year, we look to the future, examining the discussions in the roject management field about what changes might be coming this year and how they will im act roject management. !he main factors dri"ing change will likely be economic conditions and increasing a"ailability of technology to change the way businesses conduct their rojects. #ith these changes, roject managers will ha"e to ada t, but also stay true to their ro"en methods, to guide roject success. $ollowing are fi"e redictions for roject management in 2014% 1. Increasing importance of Agile due to chaotic economic climate. &ore com anies will look at ado ting Agile methodologies to su ort a climate that is constantly changing. 'n Agile, change is not only ex ected, but welcomed, and the em hasis is on fixing time and cost but ex anding sco e. !he basic tenets of Agile make it a good fit for a business en"ironment where things are constantly changing. According to !echday(s '! brief, )*rojects ha"e to deli"er ongoing "alue to stakeholders to justify the cost and be considered successful. +usinesses will increasingly demand roof of "alue in 2014.,1 #hile it has always been im ortant for rojects to show their "alue to be considered a success, the shift to ex ectations of ongoing "alue is also a good fit for Agile, where one of the basic ad"antages is that "alue is constantly deli"ered as the roject rogresses. 2. More online collaboration. !ools that le"erage online connections and the cloud are sha ing and maturing and could im ro"e the way roject managers communicate with their teams. &icrosoft *roject, in the shift to 2013, now has an online "ersion. -r. Andrew &akar, '! consultant, describes tools such as .i/uid*lanner, At!ask, and 0antter, as well as collaboration tools like tibbr, Asana, and trello, which let roject teams ut more of their functions into one
1

!ech-ay '! +rief 120132.!o business and technology trends for 2014. http://techday.com/itbrief/news/top-business-and-technology-trends-for-201 /1!2"02/ www.refineM.com contact@refineM.com 405 N. Jefferson Ave, Springfield, MO 65 06 4!".4!4.# 6

lace2. !his centrali3ation reduces the need for lots of different tools to accom lish the same functions, and also hel s to integrate different units on a roject team. #ith more centrali3ation# for e$ample# the business team does not need to use different tools than the %A team# and so on. &. More use of 'irtual teams. +ecause technology enables more online collaboration, it follows that the use of "irtual teams o"er co4located roject teams will increase. As a result, businesses might consider whether to ado t some of these tools in their communications infrastructure, and roject managers might see what is a"ailable and how it can be used. (earning more about these tools will help pro)ect managers build them into a communication plan. . Increasing ability to ma*e data-dri'en decisions. 'n addition to increasing use of cloud4 based ser"ices and online collaboration tools for roject management, -r. &akar redicts that technology will ha"e an im act on how resource management is done.3 'n their '! brief, !echday redicts that )businesses will kee im ro"ing how they interact with data including where and how they can "iew the data, making sure it is rele"ant and using it roacti"ely to make informed business decisions.,4 *rofessor 5rishna &oorthy, -ean of the .6! 'nstitute of *roject &anagement, adds a rediction that organi3ations, as art of ado ting roject management maturity, will mo"e from )gut4feel4dri"en, management to )methods that are scientifically dri"en,, reinforcing the need for data to back decisions7. #ith more data a"ailable and more of it centrali3ed, it should be easier for roject managers to see what resources are a"ailable and when. &akar describes )integrating roject schedules with collaborati"e task tracking and time kee ing,, enabling de"elo ment of )real4time resource cur"es.,8 !he ad"antage will be that roject managers ha"e more information to make sound resource management decisions rather than ha"ing to guess. !here are many benefits to ha"ing better data for resource management. 'n a climate where roject teams are ex ected to do more with less, it is an ad"antage to be able to make smart decisions about where and how to use resources.

&akar, Andrew 12013, -ecember 192. *roject management trends to watch in 2014. +ech ,epublic. http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/it-consultant/fi'e-pro)ect-management-trends-to-watch-in-201 /
3 4 7

&akar, Andrew 12013, -ecember 192. !echday '! +rief 120132.

:, ;rini"as 12013, -ecember 302. 2014 trends% shifting role of roject managers. -M -lanet. http://www.pmplanet.com/201 -trends-shifting-role-of-pro)ect-managers/
8

&akar, Andrew 12013, -ecember 192. www.refineM.com contact@refineM.com 405 N. Jefferson Ave, Springfield, MO 65 06 4!".4!4.# 6

.. Increasing importance of integration management. &ore collaboration and cloud4 based tools hel with roject communication. &ore data hel s with resource and risk management. Another effect of these tools, though, is that they should hel bring together all of the se arate arts of the roject. As a result, roject managers will need to be able to see the big icture of the roject and how each art, as well as each unit re resented on the roject team, works together. #hether it is 2014, 1<<4, or 2034, roject managers will need to master and de loy the basics of roject management to deli"er successful rojects. ;trong communication, leadershi skills, resource management, risk management, stakeholder management=these are many of the foundations of a successful roject management career, and they will always be im ortant. +y following the trends, though, roject managers can recogni3e what changes are coming and le"erage these changes to their ad"antage.

www.refineM.com contact@refineM.com 405 N. Jefferson Ave, Springfield, MO 65 06 4!".4!4.#