Elizabeth Harrin's Blog, page 33

Infinity Review

I’m often asked what tool I use or recommend for keeping tasks in order and managing projects, so I recorded a behind-the-scenes look at how I use Infinity.

It’s the tool that runs my blog, membership community and personal tasks.

Quick Infinity demo

See behind the scenes of how we use Infinity for project management and other work organization. Watch the video below.

If you can’t see the video above, watch the guided tour here on YouTube.

I love it because I can see tasks on a calendar, assign them to other people, and automate activities too. For example, if a task is overdue, I can send an email alert. If a date is reached, the status of a task can automatically be updated.

Infinity is very flexible, more so than Airtable, Plutio or MS Planner/Teams lists, which we have tried in the past.

What we use Infinity

A great tool for organizing all our work, schedules and task allocations in the team. We wouldn't be without it!

Check it out! We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you #ad

Having said that, what works for me isn’t necessarily going to work for you. The other thing I find myself recommending is Crozdesk. It’s a human-led service where they listen to your requirements and recommend tools that meet your needs.

Crozdesk is free for you – the software companies pay for the referral if you go on to buy a product – and because they actually know the tools it massively speeds up creating a suitable shortlist for your team to test out.

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Get fast & free advice from the experts at Crozdesk.com. Crozdesk's small team of dedicated Project Management software enthusiasts will compare 360+ products for you. Tell them your requirements and they'll match you with the right expert who can help.

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This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

Backfilling a Position: Everything You Need to Know

When an employee steps out of their role for some reason, but their job still needs to be done, sometimes companies will backfill the position. This means that they will hire someone for a temporary period of time until the original employee is able to return to their role.

This happens regularly on project teams where a subject matter expert is seconded to a project role on a full or part-time basis. Their day job still needs to be done, so their manager may backfill the job with another person.

Backfilling can be tricky, but with our guide, you’ll know everything you need to in order to successfully fill the gaps in your team and budget for project resources.

What is backfilling a position?

The term “backfilling” is used to describe the process of filling a position that has been vacated, normally on a temporary basis and often because the person has been moved to do another role.

It’s very common on large projects because these need a dedicated resource. A subject matter expert might be moved into a project team if they are needed for more than a few hours a week. If they can’t fit their project commitments around their day job, they might need some ring-fenced time.

For example, on one of my projects, we seconded a couple of radiology managers out of their hospital, front-line jobs to help set up and implement a new radiology system. We needed their expertise every day, and they led large portions of the implementation to help their peers get to grips with the new system.

They were backfilled in their hospitals by their deputies, experienced colleagues, or temporary contract resources.

Why would you need to backfill a role?

There are lots of reasons why you might need to backfill a role, including:

A key resource is out of the business for a while due to planned absence such as maternity leave. You’d backfill the post with someone else while she was off.A key resource is asked to commit some or all of their week to another initiative like a project. You’d backfill their day job.Someone goes on secondment or sabbatical and leaves a gap in the team that would need to be backfilled.Someone is asked to leave the business, and while a permanent replacement is found, another person backfills the role so their responsibilities can be met.3 Different ways to backfill a position

When a team member leaves their position, whether it’s voluntarily or involuntarily, their employer must then decide how to fill the void that’s been left behind.

The options to do that are typically:

Promote from withinHire someone externally (a contractor)Replace the role with a mixture of both internal and contract resources.

There are a few different ways to go about this, but the most common is to simply promote someone from within the company to step up into the job on a temporary basis. This is a great way to backfill a position because it is less expensive, and the person is already familiar with the company.

Their manager gets to see them operate at a different level, and it can be a stepping stone to a permanent promotion.

Read next: How to take a sideways step in the job market

Another option is to hire someone from outside the company to come in and take over the role, again, often on a temp or fixed-term contract. This can be a great way to get fresh talent and perspective into the company. However, it can also be more expensive, and there is a risk that the person may not be a good fit for the company.

When the original employee is available again, the temp resources will be let go or moved into different positions.

Finally, there are times when a company will choose to do a combination of both. Whether that works or not depends on what the role was and how responsibilities can be split. It might be possible to redeploy some of the responsibilities to a colleague and then get a temporary, part-time contractor in to fill the rest of the role.

If you take the time to consider all of your options, you should be able to find the best way to backfill the position and keep each team, the project, and the wider company running smoothly.

No matter what route an employer decides to take, the goal is always the same:

To fill the position in a way that is best for the company and its employees.

Considerations for backfilling a post

There are a few different factors that employers must consider when backfilling a position.

The first is to decide what the job will entail. This includes looking at the duties of the position and the skills required to perform them.

Once this has been determined, the next step is to identify the best candidate for the job. This is where the decision of whether to promote from within or hire from outside the company comes into play.

If the company decides to promote someone from within, the next step is to identify who that person will be. This is usually done by looking at colleagues who are best suited for the job and who have the necessary skills.

Once the decision has been made, the company will then provide the employee with the necessary training to perform their new duties. If the company decides to hire someone from outside the company, the next step is to identify the best candidate for the job.

This is usually done by conducting a search of the job market and interviewing a number of potential candidates. Once the decision has been made, the company will then provide the employee with the necessary training to perform their new duties.

In either situation, the original employee is often around to help with the transition and handover, especially if they have been seconded full-time to a project. When they have handed over their work, they can focus on their role in the project.

Why you should budget for backfill resources in your project budgets

Does your project budget include funding for backfill? If not, I’d recommend adding it in if your project relies on subject matter experts giving up their time.

There are a few reasons why you might need to budget for a backfill resource in your project budgets, including:

1. If someone on your team leaves, you will need to replace them in order to keep the project on track. That might incur a cost.

2. If someone on your team is not able to perform their duties, you may need to hire a replacement in order to keep the project on schedule.

3. If you are expanding the scope of your project, you may need to add additional resources to your team in order to complete the work.

4. You might need to pay a team manager to backfill a position in their team while you used their skill resource in the project. This is the most common scenario that affects project managers, in my experience.

When you are budgeting for a backfill resource, you will need to consider the cost of the replacement, the cost of training the replacement, and the cost of lost productivity while the position is vacant.

The cost of the replacement will depend on the skills and experience of the replacement and the going rate for those skills in the marketplace: your HR department and the hiring manager will be able to advise on this.

The cost of training the replacement will depend on the amount of training necessary and the availability of training resources. The cost of lost productivity will depend on the duration of the vacancy and the impact of the vacancy on the project.

In conclusion, you should budget for backfill resources in your project budgets in order to ensure that your project is able to stay on track in the event that someone on your team leaves or is unable to perform their duties.

How to know if you need to backfill a position

You may not realize it, but there are certain tell-tale signs that indicate when you need to backfill a position. If you’re starting to notice any of these signs in your workplace, it might be time to start thinking about finding a replacement.

1. You’re not getting the same level of productivity from the team

This is probably the most obvious sign that you need to backfill a position. If you notice that team members are not meeting their usual standards of productivity, it could be because there’s a vacant position that’s not being filled.

They might be doing two jobs instead of one – filling in their day job while they can and juggling their project work around the edges.

When there’s a hole in the workforce, it can put a strain on the rest of the team.

2. Morale is low

Another sign that you might need to backfill a position is if morale is low among your employees. If you notice that people are skipping work, calling in sick more often, or just generally seem unhappy, it could be because they’re overworked.

When there’s a vacant position, the rest of the team has to pick up the slack, which can lead to burnout and low morale.

3. Stakeholder engagement is falling

If you notice that you’re losing the attention of stakeholders or that your customer satisfaction ratings are slipping, it could be because you’re not providing the same level of service that you used to. When the team is under pressure, things like risk management, communication, and engagement activities drop off. Perhaps the work is being delivered more slowly, or people are realizing the team no longer meets its commitments.

When you have a vacant position, it can be difficult to maintain the same level of quality control.

As a result, stakeholders might start to drift away from the project because you are not actively engaging them as you were before.

4. You’re making more mistakes

If you find that you’re making more mistakes or that things are just generally going more slowly, it could be because you’re missing a key player on your team, or that person is struggling to do their day job and their project role because their position has not been backfilled.

When you have a vacant position somewhere in the organization, it can be difficult to fill the gap and maintain the same level of quality.

5. You’re spending more money

If you find that you’re spending more money than usual, it could be because you’re trying to compensate for a vacant position. For example, you may be hiring temp workers or paying overtime to existing employees.

These are all signs that you need to backfill a position – so look for the hole! If you’re noticing any of these signs in your workplace, it’s time to start thinking about finding additional resources and plugging the gaps where necessary so everyone can get on with doing their best work.

Backfilling a position can be a difficult and time-consuming process, but it’s necessary in order to maintain a high level of productivity in your workplace.

Tips for successful backfilling

When you’re looking to fill a position that’s been vacated, you’re essentially looking to backfill that role. And while it may seem like a daunting task, there are a few things you can do to set yourself up for success.

First, take some time to assess what the previous person in that role was responsible for and whether or not there are any areas that can be streamlined or improved upon. This might be the responsibility of the hiring manager if you are a project manager who has ‘borrowed’ one of their team members.

This will give you a good starting point for what the job description should look like for the new person.

Next, reach out to your network of contacts and see if anyone might be a good fit for the role. Sometimes the best candidates are right under your nose.

Typically, we would look first at the department’s senior leaders, like the deputy manager, or experienced colleagues. Sometimes, someone in a different office location or different team is looking to make the jump to a new role, and they might be a good fit.

Finally, when you do find the right person for the job, be sure to onboard them properly. This means giving them a thorough overview of the company, their responsibilities, and what is expected of them. Again, if you are a project leader budgeting for backfill resources in other areas of the company, this will be the responsibility of the ‘home’ team manager as that is where the person will work.

Work with HR and the department with the vacancy if it is not you who will be working directly with the new hire.

Read next: How to pick up a project from someone else

Key takeawaysThe goal of backfilling a position is to find the best candidate for the job, whether they are promoted from within the company or hired from outside.There are a few different ways to backfill a position, but the best way is to use a combination of promotion from within and hiring from the outside.When budgeting for a backfill resource, you should consider the cost of the replacement, the cost of training the replacement, and the cost of lost productivity.When you have a vacant position, it can lead to decreased productivity, morale, and quality control.Final thoughts

When an employee takes a break from their role, perhaps to step into a secondment or project team job, it can be difficult to know how to backfill their position. In this guide, you’ve learned about how to successfully backfill a position.

By following our tips and budgeting for backfill resources in your project budgets, you’ll be able to ensure that your company is able to keep running smoothly even when team members move around for different opportunities.

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This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

How to Nail Your Preliminary Interviews and Get the Job

Years ago I had a brief stint as someone who recruited for our call center, while I was on a graduate training scheme. If I remember rightly, we did phone interviews before bringing people in, because it was a quick way of screening out job candidates that would not be a good fit for the next step in the process and ultimately the role itself.

The preliminary interview step is basically that: a quick screening. It’s nothing to be worried about, and it saves both you and the recruiter time.

Have you been invited to a prelim interview? Let me fill you in on what you need to know to make the most of this opportunity.

What is a preliminary interview?

When you’re job hunting, the preliminary interview is an important step in the process. It’s usually the first time you’ll meet with a potential employer, so it’s a good chance to make a good impression.

A preliminary interview is usually a short meeting, 30 minutes or less. It is often not an in-person interview, instead you speak to the interviewer on the phone. Often the interviewer is an HR person instead of your hiring manager. You’ll likely meet the hiring manager at the next step in the interview process.

The interviewer will ask you a few basic questions about your qualifications and experience. They are trying to screen to see if what you said on the application holds true.

They may also ask you about your career goals and what you’re looking for in a job.

Preliminary interviews are a great opportunity to learn more about the company and the job you’re interested in. It’s also a chance to show the interviewer that you’re a good fit for the position.

How to Prepare for a Project Management Interview $27.00

Are you preparing for a project management interview? Then this is for you.

This 85-page ebook on how to ace your project management interview gives you everything you need to approach your interview with confidence.

You'll learn my 3-step approach to Prepare, Research, and Practice before you meet the interviewer.

Buy Now We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you #ad Common preliminary interview questions

What should you expect to be asked in the video chat that could be your first step to a new job? Here are some common questions to prepare for.

Why does your experience make you a fit for this role?What sort of job are you looking for?What attracted you to this role in particular?Can you confirm your certifications/educational background/qualifications?What are your longer term professional goals?What type of teams have you worked in before (agile, hybrid, predictive, operational etc)

They might also ask about potential conflicts of interest, especially if the role involves procurement, working with public bodies or anything else that might be a bit of an ethical minefield.

Remember, this is an initial interview. The questions get harder and more thought-provoking as you go through the hiring process, so it’s fine to answer these briefly to keep within the time limit allowed. You can always say, “Would you like me to expand on that?” and if they want to hear more, they’ll let you go on.

Why do employers conduct preliminary interviews?

You spend hours crafting the perfect resume and cover letter, tailoring them to each position you apply for.

Then, you wait anxiously to hear back from the company. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a call or email asking you to attend an interview.

The purpose of a preliminary interview is to help the employer weed out candidates who are not a good fit for the position. They can be conducted over the phone, through video conferencing, or in person.

They usually last less than 30 minutes, and the questions tend to be high level and related to your application and background. Don’t expect any ‘tell me about a time’ competency-based questions at this point.

Sometimes, they’re just a way for employers to save time by only inviting the most qualified candidates for a more formal, longer, in-person (sometimes) interview.

They are also a good way for the company to check out your communication skills. Many roles require you to be able to present yourself professional, speak on the phone, communicate clearly and hold a conversation with someone else in a work environment. The interview is a way to check out that you can do all that.

Tips for preparing for preliminary interviews

Congratulations on landing a preliminary interview! This is an exciting step in the job search process, and it means that your potential employer is interested in learning more about you.

So how should you prepare? Here are a few tips to help you prepare for a successful preliminary interview.

1. Do your research

Before the interview, take some time to research the company and the position you’re interested in. This will help you answer questions about why you’re interested in the job and what you can bring to the role.

2. Dress to impress

First impressions are important, so dress professionally for the interview. This shows that you’re taking the process seriously and that you’re ready to work.

Obviously, if it’s a phone interview, that doesn’t apply! Wear whatever you want. I find that I speak more professionally if I’m “dressed up” but I wouldn’t put on my interview clothes for a phone screening.

If it’s an online video call, you’ll definitely want to make sure you look presentable (at least from the waist up!).

3. Be prepared to answer questions about your suitability for the role

The interviewer will likely ask you about your qualifications and experience. Be prepared to talk about your skills and accomplishments.

The easiest way to get consistent answers is to have a copy of your CV, resume or application form in front of you. Who knows what year I took my project management certification? I don’t have that information in my head but I know it’s accurate on my CV. Don’t guess as it makes you look flaky. Just refer to your records. It’s fine.

4. Ask questions

At the end of the interview, be sure to ask a question or two about the company and the job. This shows that you’re interested in the role and that you’re looking for a good fit.

You won’t have a whole lot of time to ask questions as preliminary interviews are normally short and to the point. It’s fine to ask what the next steps will be and when you can expect to hear either way about the decision.

5. Follow up

After the interview, make a note in your diary to follow up after the date they told you they would have made a decision. Don’t chase for an answer before then, but if the date passes and you haven’t heard, it’s OK to ask.

I would assume at that point that I had not been successful – many companies don’t have the time or resource to let all unsuccessful candidates know. I would prefer that they do as I think it’s polite to provide an answer instead of leaving candidates hanging, but there you go.

If you drop the interviewer a note to ask where the decision is in the recruitment process, you may find they haven’t yet got any further. This is more common than you might think – recruiting seems to take an incredible amount of time.

A note on thank you notes: I don’t send them and I don’t expect to receive them. This might be a cultural thing so if you think it’s a nice gesture, do it. I think thanking someone for a 30-minute screening phone call is overkill, but it’s up to you.

Preliminary interviews can be a great way to learn more about a company and the job you’re interested in. By preparing for the interview and impressing the interviewer, you can increase your chances of ultimately getting a job offer.

FAQs about Preliminary InterviewsWhat happens during preliminary interview?

A preliminary interview is a screening process used by employers to determine if an applicant is qualified for a position. It is usually the first step in the interview process.

Why are preliminary interviews important?

Preliminary interviews are important because they help to determine whether or not a candidate is a good fit for a position. They also help to identify any red flags that may be present.

How do you conduct a preliminary interview?

A preliminary interview is typically a short meeting, lasting no more than 30 minutes, and is conducted by a human resources representative or hiring manager.

The interviewer asks the candidate questions about their work history, education, and skills. The goal of the interview is to identify candidates who possess the minimum qualifications for the position and to weed out those who do not.

How do you know if a preliminary interview went well?

If a preliminary interview went well, the interviewer will likely ask you to come back for a second interview. They may also give you positive feedback about your performance during the interview.

Your next steps

If you’re looking for a way to get the job you’ve always wanted, then learning how to nail your preliminary interviews is a great place to start.

But it’s only the first step on your journey to a new role. Here are some things to do next.

Check out our 90ish-page resource kit and interview preparation guide, complete with lots of competency-based questions and suggestions on what interviewers are looking for.Review the job descriptions of common project management roles so you know what key skills employers expect you to have.Find out how to list project management skills on your resume so you can best showcase what you are capable of.

With some preparation and practice, you can make a great impression on potential employers and land the job you’ve been after.

How to Prepare for a Project Management Interview $27.00

Are you preparing for a project management interview? Then this is for you.

This 85-page ebook on how to ace your project management interview gives you everything you need to approach your interview with confidence.

You'll learn my 3-step approach to Prepare, Research, and Practice before you meet the interviewer.

Buy Now We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you #ad

This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

Wicked Problem Solving Course Review (PMI)

Welcome to my PMI Wicked Problem Solving review! Project management has so many challenges to solve every day, so having a toolbox of techniques (and the right attitude) will help you deliver projects successfully.

But do you really need a course on problem-solving? It turns out you do. In this independent review, I’ll share:

Whether the course is really worth it (I think so)Why it’s good for experienced project and change management practitionersWho shouldn’t do the course?

It does take quite a lot of time to go through the material, and I’ve done that, so you don’t have to. At least, not until you decide it’s right for you and you’re ready to invest the 15-18 hours that the course takes!

The Wicked Problem Solving course

The WPS course is a self-paced video training class is a partnership between PMI and Tom Wujeck. I had not heard of Tom before, but he is a tech pioneer, facilitator, and TED speaker.

Tom calls the course “an operating system for solving problems and fostering greater collaboration.”

It’s worth 18 PDUs, and there is no exam, but there are recap quizzes.

What is a wicked problem?

A wicked problem is a problem that has a high degree of uncertainty and complexity. They are hard to solve because there are many variables and many potential solutions. Think about culture change, saving the rainforest, social planning, exploring the planets.

The type of wicked problem facing a business could be digital transformation, responding to globalization, addressing challenges in recruiting and retaining staff. These are all affected by socio-political, environmental, technological, and cultural shifts. And they might have unintended consequences.

Wicked problem solving is a design thinking approach that slots together, so you can use them in a flexible way to find the best way to solve problems. You can use it on your own or with others to come to a conclusion.

It’s a set of tools to help you develop the knowledge and skills to solve the tricky issues (and probably even the easy ones).

It will help you do the hard things and build better solutions and have some fun along the way.

Who is Wicked Problem Solving for?

Given that it deals with the big problems facing organizations, I think the course is best for senior project managers, program managers, and portfolio leaders. While anyone will benefit from the tools and the way the course helps you think differently, you’ll be able to better use those skills if you are in a role where you can effect strategic change.

I think it’s also helpful if you are a good facilitator already, as there is a lot of collaborative work required and assumed. If you aren’t confident leading a group, you might find it harder to put the skills into practice.

As a final advantage, if you are a senior leader who finds it boring to earn PDUs, this is for you! You get 18 PDUs credited to your PMI account, so it’s worth a lot. You have to complete the final course evaluation survey to get the PDUs.

It’s a method-agnostic approach, so it works whether you are working in an agile, predictive, or hybrid environment, and it doesn’t matter if you follow PMI methodologies or not.

Who shouldn’t do this course?

I don’t think this is a beginner’s course. It’s nothing particularly to do with project management, so you don’t need to have a lot of project experience, but if you are just starting out in project or change management, I’d get some of the other core skills first.

It’s also not the right choice for you if you need a certificate. There is no exam with this course, so you don’t get any credential. You do get a digital badge from Credly, and to earn that, you have to do the multiple-choice end-of-module quizzes/feedback assessments.

About the course and structure

The course is designed to help you learn how to organize tasks into a clear question, a shared idea, and a way of curating an activity to help others work through and solve the problem. Tom calls these ‘plays.’

You’ll learn:

How to work out if you can turn your current problem into a ‘play’If you can, what question is the key question to ask?How can you turn the problem into a visualization like a diagram so the team has a shared understanding of the challenge?What activity can we get people to perform to help address the problem?

Those questions are quite helpful on a smaller scale, too, for example dealing with project risk or unpicking a difficult project issue. The idea of ‘making ideas visible’ is great because it ensures the team understands the problem before they move into the design process or coming up with alternative solutions.

The course comes with a brilliant PDF workbook and digital playing cards. They take an age to download because they are marked with your PMI account details with a note on each page saying you can’t share them. I wish I had a color printer that was up to the job of getting these printed out!

Pros

The advantages of the course are as follows.

It’s really helpful content – you learn real-life skillsThe playbook is worth the cost of the courseIt’s easy to navigate and beautifully designed.

It’s more than a course. It’s a playbook with a toolkit. There are downloadable PDF resources and a workbook that goes alongside the video. I also got a set of the physical cards that act as prompts for each play.

The playbook helps you select the right approach for any situation. It’s full of very practical exercises that you can use in any kind of workshop, whether small groups, large groups, or virtual. Even the playbook alone is worth the cost of the course if you run meetings, workshops, or facilitate groups.

If you run cross-industry projects or just find yourself in complex interactions with different teams and strategies at work, the course gives you the mental models, systems models, and planning process to dive into problems.

The resources are beautifully designed. It’s attractive, and the team has definitely made the course a great user experience. The videos are very polished. It’s definitely a professional production, and it feels valuable.

It comes with a Miro board so you can complete the exercises, plot out your diagrams and get some real experience using the tools.

Cons

Like all courses, there are some disadvantages, namely:

There’s a lot of content to get throughThe videos are inaccessible if you prefer to watch with captionsIt’s pricey for only 3 months of access.

I felt quite overwhelmed logging in and seeing “0 out of 65 topics complete”. That makes the course seem like a lot. It is, but the videos are quite short.

To get the most out of the course, you need to do all the exercises. If you just want to read and watch, you’ll pick up the theory, but the real benefit comes in being able to apply that. You need to practice what you learn.

The embedded videos do not let you manage speed controls. This is a huge disappointment for me. I generally watch videos on x1.25 speed or sometimes 1.5 speed if the speaker talks really slowly. If I’m concentrating, I can take the info in that quickly.

The course is not accessible: there are no captions or transcripts. That means you can’t watch the videos while sitting in a darkened room waiting for a child to go to sleep, or on the train unless you have headphones.

Finally, the cost. An individual license is $649. I don’t actually think it’s expensive: I paid about 30% more than that for a virtual facilitation course that was about the same length (although it was live). Plus, you only get access for 3 months. That might be an advantage if you need to be motivated to complete online learning!

I can see how that price tag would put your manager off when you pitch using the team’s training budget for a course that doesn’t directly lead to technical skills or a credential.

Recommendation: Should you get this course?

Problem solving was the top skill* that project managers were perceived to have in a study by PwC and PMI. However, only 25% of senior leaders thought the project managers in their business were problem solvers.

Project leaders need to be able to solve problems – it’s part of what we do. And it’s hard to build that skill. Ideally you want to improve your skills in this area without having to learn through (bad) experiences.

A lot of thought has gone into making Wicked Problem Solving the best, most practical course on the market.

That’s why I think this is a worthwhile course to do. Ready to find out more? Watch the first lesson free on the WPS website and draw how to make toast!

Wicked Problem Solving

Join this project management course on solving problems with a high degree of uncertainty and complexity. You will also earn 18 PDUs.

Buy Now We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you #ad

* PMI and PwC. 2021. PMI and PwC Global Survey on Transformation and Project Management 2021 (Narrowing the Talent Gap).

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This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

Project Management Trends [2023]

There’s no denying that project management today looks different to how it did even 5 years ago. Project management trends shape our profession. We see technology evolving, new tools, consolidation, innovation and more.

Trends come and go, or they stay with us and evolve into new ways of working that stick around and become “the way we do things around here.”

Change is inevitable – we all know that. So what are the emerging trends in project management that are going to shape how you do your job in the future? And how can you benefit from them? Well, I have the answers for you. Read on!

How project management is evolving

The trouble with trends is that you might not notice they are happening. Often, ‘trend’ is shorthand for the prediction of a gentle evolution. You just carry on doing your job and you don’t notice the world shifting under your feet.

Until it’s too late.

How many of our parent’s generation found themselves less desirable at work because they were seen as anachronistic? I don’t want you to be in that situation.

The way tech, economic, social and environmental considerations are evolving – heck, even the way public health affects workforce planning – will impact the way projects are run.

10 Project management trends you need to know

Leaders need to know how the world around them affects the work they are doing today, and how to plan to capitalize on those trends in the future.

Ready to find out more? Here are the top project management trends for 2023 that are already shaping the world of project delivery.

1. Managing a hybrid, multi-generational team

Project leaders today have to manage a hybrid workforce. Your project team is no longer guaranteed to be in the office every day.

Remote work has always been part of the project ecosystem, from off-shoring and near-shoring development and customer services but now even the colleague who lives down the road is likely to be in her home office at least some of the week.

On top of that, we’re facing the first time that 4 generations have been in the workplace together. Managers need to adapt their leadership styles to better address how different team members want to work and be managed.

Why is it important?

“The only positive thing to have come out of this pandemic was the (at first) necessity and (later) willingness for employers to embrace flexible work,” says Amanda Haynes, Marketing Manager at Ganttic.

“Remote and hybrid work has been a boon for employee work/life balance (what we now call work/life integration) and often a prerequisite for new employees. Since 91% of US workers want to work at least somewhat remotely in the future,” she adds. “And since we’re already in the middle of the great resignation, companies need to be willing to allow this work model in order to retain their employees.”

 What you can doEmbrace the trend. It benefits you as well, not to be in the office every day.Listen to your team. Find out how individuals want to work as well as how the team overall wants to work. Use tools designed to help keep your remote and hybrid team on the same page.Be willing to incorporate a few different tools to meet the varied needs of your colleagues.2. More trust, less control (especially in remote teams)

If nothing else, the coronavirus pandemic has shown us that remote teams are an effective way of working. Businesses that resisted the shift to Zoom meetings are now embracing the flexibility that remote teams give them.

Project managers need to be competent in leading remote teams and working with colleagues online, and that means a different approach.

“There is already a shift in employer-employee relationships,” says Jacob Udodov, Founder and CEO of project and task management platform, Bordio. “And there will be more changes in the next few years. What we practice already and more and more companies are adopting is more trust and less control. Results are what’s important, and it doesn’t matter how many hours employees spent at their desks or what time they logged in today. If the deadline is met and the end-product is great, why micromanage the rest?”

Couldn’t agree more! A results-oriented workplace is where we should all have been for some time, and finally that’s gaining traction.

Why is it important?

Remote work gives you flexibility. It stops you having to rely on people who work in your local area and means you can draw on subject matter expertise from wherever the best people happen to be.

In the APM Salary and Market Trends survey 2021, 61% of respondents reported that working from home options were an important criterion for choosing a new role, up from 52% in 2020.

People want flexible options for work.

WFH and flexibility also minimize our impact on the environment by cutting down on commuting, give us more time in the day (which many people then spend working instead of traveling) and improve work/integration balance.

What you can doBrush up on your virtual leadership skills.Think about how you are going to run remote team meetings and workshops – it is different to holding meetings face-to-face.Assume trust in a remote team, but consciously try to build it as well.Make sure you’re alert to burnout in remote teams. Research from Gallup shows that nearly 80% of full-time employees experience burnout on the job at least sometimes. Our Pick Virtual Leadership: Practical Strategies for Success with Remote or Hybrid Work and Teams £22.65

Learn the skills needed to lead a virtual team, chair online meetings and manage the work remotely.

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Too much of project management focuses on building and completing something. There’s not enough focus on whether the people receiving the ‘something’ are actually ready to work with it.

“Reimagine the must-have project management skills,” says Brantlee Underhill, Managing Director, North America, Project Management Institute (PMI). “Project management isn’t just about managing spreadsheets and timelines. The projects of the present and future need project managers who are strategic partners and changemakers. In addition to business acumen, the top bracket of project managers deploys interpersonal skills like relationship building, collaborative leadership, strategic thinking, creative problem solving, and commercial awareness.”  

Change management uses all of the skills that Brantlee mentions and if you want to be a changemaker, it’s an important area to embrace.

Change management is the forgotten discipline of project success.

You might be lucky and have change managers working in your business. Or you might be like most of us and have to do the change management as well as the project management.

Relationship building is one of those cross-over areas that relates to both project management and change management as disciplines. We need to engage stakeholders about the project’s progress, but we also need to engage the people affected by the project work with what’s happening and why it’s happening.

Without change management, your project will struggle – and it might even fail. A successful project embraces change management, even if the only person doing it is you.

Recommended Training Change Management Workshop $79

Learn how to do change management on projects and prepare for successful delivery. Six videos covering tools and techniques, the process and more. Includes templates to get you started quickly.

Buy Now Why is it important?

Here’s an example of how project communications are changing, and how we can tap into that for better change management.

In 2021, Cisco estimated that 82% of consumer internet traffic was video. If that’s what your stakeholders are doing on the internet outside of work, how do you think they are going to want to get status updates and briefings at work?

Research by Vidyard and Demand Metric reports that video converts better than any other content type. In other words, it shifts behavior. It gets people to buy or sign up or whatever.

And my own research during the winter of 2017 shows that getting people involved in projects is still the most challenging part of getting work done. Stakeholder relationships are a huge area of concern for project managers.

Video shifts behavior? I’ll have some of that please.

Yes: video is coming to employee communications and to how we become changemakers and engage others.

To a certain extent, it is already here. Some companies are already using video as part of staff onboarding and training.

What you can doRead up on change management – learn what it is and how to best apply it to projects.Take a change management class (like my fab workshop which has loads of templates and support resources included).Look at your project schedule and consider whether you have truly incorporated enough change management activities (and time/budget for those activities) in the plan.4. Soft skills and EQ as a differentiator for leaders

Emotional intelligence is one key skill that it’s worth calling out because it’s about how you operate in your environment.

Your project environment is a complex socio-political web of interactions, populated with people who know what they want, most of the time. And those wants don’t always play nicely together.

As in the past, we’ll see soft skills valued more highly – perhaps valued more highly that credentials. As the demand for project management work grows, certification schemes are a simple way to differentiate candidates, but being able to operate effectively within the organization is key to getting things done.

Why is it important?

The trend towards valuing soft skills is important because as automation and AI bring advanced features to our tools, much of the ‘technical’ bits of project management can be done by software.

I see a day in the not too distant future where you plug your task information into a tool and out pops an estimate, based on the last 12 projects using the same resource and qualitative data on past performance. The tech is already there – it’s just a case of making use of it.

That means your interpersonal skills are more important than ever – the shift is to project managers being awesome at stakeholder engagement, conflict resolution, change management (more on that later), negotiating, influencing and all the things that tools aren’t (yet) capable of doing for us.

Emotionally intelligent project managers are in demand. The exec team need to know that you aren’t going to do or say something to upset anyone. Beyond that, being able to look out for your team takes being able to interpret social cues and people with high EQ find that easier to do.

What you can doBe culturally and socially aware.Be curious.Invest in relationships and actively value the people you work with.Read Anthony Mersino’s excellent book: Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers

Read next: 15 easy-to-do types of professional development

If you want a new job, or to get responsibility on larger projects, brush up your EQ skills.5. Resilience as a priority

Project work is stressful, we know that. I’ve written in the past about the results of my survey into why people are leaving project management. And let’s face it, so far this decade hasn’t exactly shaped up to be that great for many people’s mental health.

Safeguarding our emotional and mental health and that of our teams has to be up there as a trend for the forward-thinking leadership team. Resilience as an individual, resilience for the project, and business resilience are all essentials for the next 12 months.

Businesses were quick to put in place the resources to help staff work remotely. But the associated support networks for remote and hybrid work haven’t been as quick to appear. And given the ongoing disruption, frequent ups and downs and economic fallout that has happened recently, resilience is top of my personal list for next year.

“What businesses didn’t have the time or realization to do at the time, was to provide their people with the mental support they needed to adjust to this change,” says Karine O’Donnell, Director, project trainer and coach at Australian consultancy, Projecting With People.

“More and more, projects are being impacted by emotional and cultural factors caused by the changes to how people are working,” she adds. “I’ve already seen several organizations planning projects to support the emotional needs of the hybrid model of working, where some of the team work-from-home and some work from the office.”  

Karine predicts that more organizations will start projects to support well-being at work including:

New HR regulations for people working full or part-time from home Time sheeting projects to help businesses address productivity concernsDigital tools to facilitate online collaborations, task completion, project planning and management Online mindfulness programs to support staff anxiety, stress, and burnout.Why is it important?

People are our most valuable asset. It’s not enough to simply do the work. We have to do the work in a way that doesn’t destroy us.

The Great Resignation, quiet quitting, workplace stress, and having to hold the fort while colleagues are off have all taken their toll on teams.

Looking out for each other should be a top priority.

What can you do?Use resource reporting to check workloads and ensure no one is overloaded. If you don’t have resource management tools, do a verbal check in with the team at least once a week.Create psychological safety at work so people feel it’s OK to tell you they are struggling.Live it. Don’t be the kind of boss that says everyone should have a work/life integration and yet send emails at 2am while you’re still working. Model the environment you want to create.6. Artificial intelligence and RPA

This won’t be news to you: everyone is talking about AI being a powerful trend for the coming years. There are lots of applications for this in project management software including:

Identifying potential risks through natural language searchImproving risk assessmentsTesting risk responseAllocating resources and resource levellingIntelligent, real-time schedulingAutomating mundane and repetitive tasks as Andy Crowe explains in this articleImproving consistency in process and decision making.

However, AI is more likely to be suggestive rather than active, as Dennis Kayser points out in this podcast on the DPM website.

Remember the paperclip in Microsoft Office?

Clippy was early suggestive AI, bringing you “helpful” suggestions. It was so helpful that Time declared Clippy one of the 50 worst inventions of all time.

AI is coming to the tools you use, but let’s hope that the developers have learned the lesson of the doomed paperclip.

Bots are another aspect of this: if you’ve had auto-responses through Facebook Messenger or used a Slackbot then you’ll have seen them in practice. I think there are some good uses for this such as opting in to receive status updates, sending team member reminders and so on.

RPA is Robotic Process Automation. It’s a way of automating repetitive tasks and it’s having a bit of an impact on the PMO community. As a way to save time, it has huge potential, so expect to see more of that in your Project Office.

Why is it important?

Tech is always evolving, and if you want to stay relevant in the marketplace, you need at least some understanding of what’s happening to the tools you use.

Ultimately, AI, bots and RPA are there to make lives easier for project teams, streamline tasks and give us more time to do the stuff that robots can’t do.

“If you can have your project management tool do more for you without lifting a finger, you can save money and increase productivity,” says Lindsey Allard, CEO and Co-Founder of  PlaybookUX. “Use automation to help you to perform basic tasks, organize specific things, and even compile helpful data.”

She adds: “I’ve seen how helpful automation can be in regards to project management and I look forward to seeing how automation can elevate my processes in the coming year.”

Varada Patwardhan, Managing Director at Xebrio, agrees. “The role of project managers in the industry is evolving into project leaders,” she says. “They will be expected to integrate AI capabilities in their project management styles and give more emphasis on their emotional intelligence and soft skills like ideation, communication, and problem-solving skills.
For project leaders and organizations, implementing AI capabilities can help attain transparency. AI can accurately identify potential risks in a project and augment a project leader’s decision-making ability by analyzing data from multiple projects at the same time.”

What you can doLook at how you can leverage the AI capabilities of the tools you already have.Look at how you could adopt new tools with automation and AI features to speed up repetitive work and data analysis.7. A strategic shift for PMOs

With tools becoming smarter (more on that in a minute) and automations taking some of the grunt work out of project data crunching, what’s the future for the Project Management Office?

PMOs are here to stay in my view, but they might look different as they evolve to meet the changing needs of organizations.

For example, instead of putting together a strategic plan for what projects are going to be delivered over the next 3 years, they may be called on to answer “How” questions instead like these:

How can we optimize our processes?How can we make a splash in a new market?How can we launch a new product in 4 months?

“I believe the PMO will have to focus on those more strategic areas and shift away from specifically defining the teams and resources that will do the work,” says Bill Raymond, host of the Agile in Action podcast. “Moreover, the PMO may be removed from tracking those efforts after the problems have been identified and the teams set the work into motion.”

Why is it important?

Bill says that with cross-functional projects – especially those that are highly visible – it’s almost a given that a PMO will be set up to track and plan the work.

“Moving forward, organizations will put the tracking and delivery of the work on the teams and tools,” he says. “PMOs will be reporting centers and support the teams in addressing major issues or risks that the teams escalate.”

What you can do?Think about how your PMO teams are rewarded. Are they rewarded based on things within their control, or is an aspect of the bonus dependent on other people completing projects within a given time? What would make it fairer?Determine business outcomes and priorities and start operating strategically within the PMO, even if it isn’t demanded of you yet.8. Customization of project management tools

Customization is where you can tailor your messages effectively to the audience to the point that they think they are getting a more personalized service, but without too much work behind the scenes.

It’s another consumer trend. When I first wrote Social Media for Project Managers, I was reporting on consumer trends that were making their way into the business environment.

When the book was updated and reissued as Collaboration Tools for Project Managers, we saw that a lot of the consumer uses of social media were firmly embedded in collaboration tools: think features like chat, file sharing, liking and gamification etc.

Perceived customization is another example of a growing consumer marketing and tech trend that will find its way into how we manage change.

One aspect is all about making sure people see the right data at the right time, and smart analytics is definitely going to shape how we process data as project professionals.

“The predictive analytics space will be a completely new market to figure out,” says Ryan Fyfe, COO of Workpuls. “Primarily because those might model for strategic intent, human strategic intent. We’re going to have predictive analytics that not just look at what somebody does but tries to figure out why they do it, and figure out how their decision-making process works. It’s going for a much higher level of insight than you can get by looking at the person’s behavior alone.”

Rich data will help tailor the project management journey for stakeholders and help leaders make smarter choices about what next steps to take when the environment seems uncertain.

Who knows, we might see more virtual reality environments, tailored to our stakeholders, in the years to come.

Why is it important?

Customization is a different take on tailoring your approach and communications to suit the audience. Within project management tools, I want to see the things relevant to me. My sponsor wants to see different things, like real-time information on progress and budget. The data we both need is different, but obviously drawn from the same data set.

It’s all possible with a few clicks and a smart set up. One-size-fits-all doesn’t cut it any longer. Did it ever?

What you can doLook at how you can customize your project management software to present data intelligently to different groups via reporting and dashboards.Ask stakeholders how they would like to receive project information and customize to the best of your ability to make it relevant (and therefore more likely to be read).

Need advice choosing the right tool? We’ve partnered with software comparison portal Crozdesk to bring you expert suggestions. They’ll call you to find out your needs and then recommend products to fit — massively cutting down your time to shortlist suitable project management software.

9. Tailoring project management methodologies

Are you waterfall or Agile? Or something else? Project managers need to make smart tailoring decisions and choose the methodology that best fits your team and your project.

With the PMBOK® Guide – Seventh Edition, The Standard for Project Management and the PRINCE2® manuals both discussing tailoring more thoroughly than ever before, project managers have more flexibility to adapt project approaches to their environment.

But do project managers have the skills to tailor their approaches?

Tailoring requires professional judgement. It requires being able to differentiate between the benefits of Agile, waterfall and blended approaches, understanding the pros and cons of each. You don’t get that from reading a book.

What matters is whether you can get the job done in a way that works for your business. If that’s a blended approach, and I’m seeing that more and more, then good for you. If pure Scrum works, or you’re totally a waterfall shop, then as long as you are seeing results no one is going to care.

Having spoken to a lot of project managers over the last year, formal training seems harder and harder to come by, and more and people are having to take responsibility for their own career development. And this is a global project management trend.

If project success rates are going to go up – and they really should – then value and business benefit are where we should be putting our energy. Not into what template you need to use or whether it’s a ‘risk log’ or a ‘risk register’.

Agile is no longer a ‘trend’ – especially since we’re now 20 years on from the Agile Manifesto. It’s a reliable, repeatable way of working that brings huge benefits to the teams that do it well.

However, it’s still not widespread or adopted reliably and effectively.

There’s a trend, in my opinion, towards more intelligent adoption of agile methodologies in a way that better suits your context. For example, more Kanban for operational teams – shock! Non-project teams using agile tools to get work done! And Scrum of Scrum style set ups for larger organizations looking to scale.

Why is it important?

Today, more than ever, we need flexible ways of working.

We have to be able to change and adapt to market conditions, but the type of work we do often needs input from specialists, meaning the ‘traditional’ multi-functional and self-sufficient Scrum team doesn’t work for every project that would benefit from Agile methods.

Hybrid project management works – we know that. This trend is important because ultimately business value is the only thing that matters.

As project managers, we want (and need, if we care about our careers) to deliver something brilliant that is valued by the organization. Who cares how you get there? Methodology is not a competition.

The complexities of your project management environment are encouraging more managers to seek out mentors and coaches for themselves and their teams to learn from others.

That makes tailoring decisions easier, because you’ve got support and past experience to draw from as well as your own theoretical knowledge.

Oh, and that is something I can help with, if you are looking for a professional project management mentorship scheme.

What you can doLook critically at the project management methodology in use and consider if it really fits your project. Make conscious decisions about how to work effectively.Be brave with your tailoring. Flex your agile approach to truly suit the needs of the team members.Share your agile knowledge with people outside your immediate team. Ops teams and others can benefit from a smart way to manage their work.Find a mentor with experience to help you make tailoring choices.Don’t be snooty about agile or non-agile – whichever side of the fence you come down on as a personal preference. You can combine them and still get the work done. We’re all friends in project management, and we all have the same goal: delivery.Be open and collaborative. Work with your colleagues to learn about their best practices and bring your knowledge together to create the perfect solution for your teams.10. The rise of business integrators and online business managers

There is a whole new category of project managers whom ‘our’ profession is overlooking: that of business integrators, online business managers. We could even include virtual assistants and PAs in there.

A business integrator is someone who works with a business owner to bring all the moving parts together. Often involved with business ops and creating processes to set up a business effectively (and keep it moving) they also get involved with projects.

An integrator can be the second-in-command for the small business owner, managing a lot of the day-to-day project stuff and ensuring stakeholders and team members have what they need to keep the project moving forward.

Online business managers also have a large element of project management in their role because so much knowledge work these days is project-led.

Why is it important?

More and more people are having to do project management – or choosing to do project management – as part of their role. The project profession can’t afford to overlook this group or leave them behind.

What you can do

Look out for people in your organization doing project management informally, and support them where you can. For example, run a lunch and learn, offer to be a mentor and share resources. Having said that, don’t assume that because your job title is ‘project manager’ that you know more about their work than they do. They are highly competent, skilled individuals, so no patronizing allowed.

Now you’ve seen what’s coming in the short term, why not check out what the future of project management holds for us ? Get ready… more change is coming!

This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

What’s The Future of Project Management in 2023 and beyond?

What is the future of project management? Let’s look ahead and see what the next 10 years will bring for project management software, jobs, and the role itself.

Does Project Management Have a Future?

There’s a trend towards more and more knowledge work being run in a projectized way, which means more and more people doing project management as part of their day job.

So will we need ‘professional’ project managers in the future? People who just do managing projects?

I think we will, because there will always be complex and complicated projects that need a steady hand and a particular set of skills to bring to a successful delivery

As the business environment gets more and more global, digitalized, uncertain and fast, companies need to quickly adapt and bring services and products to market. Project managers are the people who can make that happen.

I do think project management has a future.

Future of project management: Jobs

PMI says that by 2027 employers will need nearly 88 million people in project-related roles. The global demand for project managers is increasing.

While PMI is an organization for project managers predicting the importance of their own community and you do want to take their figures in context, I do think they have a point.

The role of the project manager has long been shifting away from someone who can tick off tasks as complete on a Gantt chart and towards a strategic leadership position for effecting change in an organization.

Project managers still provide an irreplaceably human combination of leadership, integration of specialists, and ethical behaviour.

~ Arup, Future of Project Management

We are a long way from the death of project management.

Hybrid Project Management: The Next Step for Agile

One of the project management trends we are seeing is the acceptance that hybrid management approaches are the way forward.

I think hybrid project management has been around for ages. It’s certainly something I’ve used: ongoing iterations for development with significant customer involvement in the deliverables at all stages, but managed within a waterfall governance structure and life cycle.

Frankly, hybrid isn’t new.

But there does seem to be a trend in accepting that agile approaches like Scrum can fit within a hybrid framework.

The rise of hybrid project management is good news because:

Projects are more complex than everThey involve many more individuals: more than could comfortably fit in a multi-skilled Scrum teamMost large organizations aren’t geared up to run their whole operation in an agile way.

The future of project management needs to be more agile. According to research by IPMA, only 47% of organizations are using agile approaches for delivery.

And we wonder why we can’t respond to change fast enough.

The Future is Flexible

The way we run projects has been evolving since we started out formalizing how work gets done in a project setting.

As our environment gets more complex, uncertain and – dare I say it, political – we’ll need more and more tools to help deliver projects in that kind of environment.

For example, project managers need to respond to:

Stakeholders with shorter attention spansStakeholders with competing demands on their timeComplex and unknown technical situationsComplex and unknown geopolitical and socio-political situationsHigher staff turnover (no such thing as a job for life any more)Greater demands being put on management teamsCollaborative contracting and partnering with suppliersIncreasingly complex regulation and governance.

Project managers need options that will help them deliver. And that means being able to choose from predictive, iterative and hybrid ways of delivering the work and blending what works to get the best results.

The future of project management relies on more professional judgement and fewer textbook answers.

Project Management Software: The Next Generation

The future of project management software is interesting. I review a lot of PM software tools and there are companies now making massive leaps into integrating big data, automations, machine learning and more into the way they collate, present and make it possible to use large data sets.

Take Otter, for example, the online transcription tool I use for managing meeting output. It saves so much time and helps with inclusive meetings and accessibility.

Our Pick Otter.ai

Otter is a note-taking app that also records in-person meetings. I have a paid version of Otter and it is the tool I use myself.

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Here are some considerations for future technology – project management style.

5 themes for the future of project management softwareBlockchainArtificial intelligenceHuman/machine collaborationMobileRemote accessBlockchain

We will need to know about this and how we can harness digital assets to streamline infrastructure, logistics and data tracking on projects.

Over 80% of organizations report hiring someone with blockchain skills or planning to do so in the next 12 months. Could that be you?

AI

AI is already a feature in some project management tools and robotic processing will help automate routine PMO tasks. According to Deloitte, 70% of organizations are exploring or using AI.

Human/machine collaboration

I don’t know yet what this would look like in a project setting beyond the innovations we are seeing in AI, particularly in the PMO. But it’s coming. And it could affect jobs.

While I still remain positive about the role of the project manager, I think other jobs you routinely interact with, like system testers, could be more at risk of being automated.

Hopefully that means the human’s role is elevated into a knowledge leadership position and is freed up from doing the grunt work of tasks like system testing – taking the tools already in use to a whole new level.

Mobile

Devices will become more powerful, but currently we still don’t have all the functions of PM software available in most of the equivalent mobile apps. That will have to change.

Remote access

It’s going to be increasingly important that tools and systems are available at home and remotely for people based out of their home office. Which means connectivity and security have to extend outside the walls of HQ.

Data security is still an important part of being able to set yourself up on your kitchen table and get that work/life balance you dreamed of.

Resource Management: The Next Challenge

For all the talk about the future of work and how project management is going to evolve, I still think we have some challenges with how we work now.

For example, resource management and capacity planning are not things that are easy to do. Project managers lack the tools to effectively manage workload across teams because the solution required relies on enterprise adoption of software.

Make everyone do timesheets and resource planning just so project teams know who’s available to work? No thanks.

Unfortunately, unless we get strategic buy in for managing projects in a professional way, the resource planning challenge isn’t going anywhere soon.

Projects on the Board: The Next Professionals

Arup’s collaborative thought leadership piece into the Future of Project Management talks about every top 100 firm has a project management professional in at least one C-suite role by 2030.

If we are serious about improving project delivery and delivering strategically-aligned projects that generate business value, we need organizations to take project delivery seriously. And that means elevating the discussion beyond senior managers to the board of directors.

The Chief Project Officer role is (in my opinion) long overdue already. With executive oversight from people who actually get it, projects would have more chance of completing successfully – and fewer vanity projects would get started.

Digital Skills: The Next Competency for Project Managers

Digital skills are important for the project managers of the future (and – in all honest, those of us working as PMs today).

CBI’s report into what’s required to create a world-leading innovation economy says that upskilling people with digital skills is essential. The digital skills pipeline isn’t that great at the moment and they suggest more needs to be done to encourage greater ambition in that arena.

PMI’s research, The Project Manager of the Future: Developing digital-age project management skills to thrive in disruptive times (2018), has similar themes.

The digital skills important to project managers are:

Data analysis, analytics and managementSecurity and data protectionLegal and regulatory complianceOnline collaboration and leadershipKnowledge management          Data-driven decision making.

Add into all of that a very non-digital skill of resilience. With all this change, disruption and digital-ness, the ability to cope with the ups and downs of the job is going to be essential.

The role of project managers in the future

The future of project management is bright. There remains strong demand for people delivering change.

I believe much of the mundane stuff of being a project manager will go away eventually, as our tools tap into the advances in technology that are already out there.

PM will move from being seen by some execs as an administrative function and towards the strategic partnership that it has the potential to be in every business – not just in those enlightened firms with high levels of program management maturity.

Skills for project managers have been shifting towards the ‘soft’ stuff for years. That’s going to be even more important with the way the future of work is going.

Project managers will need to be the humans on the team. We’ll need to connect with others with the skills that you can’t get from your robot colleague:

EmpathyStrategic thinkingFunCreativityMotivation and persuasionThoughtful customer serviceListening.Looking forward: Summary

Project management evolves to meet the needs of today’s workplace problems. We’re facing the kinds of evolution we’re seeing at work because the nature of the work itself demands it.

Efficiency is more than having the right process. It’s also having the capacity as a team – not simply as a project manager because the role is getting too big for one person to do everything – to lead increasingly complex work and solve difficult problems almost daily.

We can do it. We are doing it. And the best project managers are improving how they do it every day. Are you?

Pin for later reading

This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

Project Management New Year’s Resolutions for 2023

Can you believe another year has gone by and we’re heading into 2023 already!

I’m showing my age when I say I can remember partying to bring in the new century. Let’s hope this year is a good one for us all, and fingers crossed for a bit of respite from the constant up and downs of the business environment that we’ve seen of late.

With that in mind, I’ve been thinking about resolutions – the beginnings of new habits. Or at least, habits I used to have that haven’t really been my focus in recent times.

It’s the time of year when individuals start to think about what is important and how they can live their best life and all that – so why can’t teams do the same? You could have a conversation with your colleagues about what new habits they want to develop or reinforce during the year.

The infographic below shows the things I’ve been thinking of for my projects. If you are going to come up with a list of team resolutions, then it should be something you co-create – don’t just print off this list and tell them that’s what their goals are!

Use a team meeting to talk about what is important for the organization and for their professional development, and then pin the list up somewhere where everyone can see it.

Time tracking

We will track time on our priority projects and use the data to improve estimates.

Estimating

We will test new estimating techniques instead of always relying on professional judgement.

Options we’ll look at include Rough Order of Magnitude and parametric estimating.

Lessons learned

We will run regular lessons learned identification sessions and turn those into actions for improvements.

We’ll have a clear agenda for lessons learned meetings and invite the right people to contribute.

Meeting minutes

We will commit to getting meeting minutes out within 24 hours.

In fact, we might even go further than that and use automation tools like Otter to make it faster and easier to document what was agreed in meetings.

Work/life balance

We will take active steps to create a culture where balance is the norm.

In fact, we’ll move towards work/life integration, where we can seamlessly manage work and life together. Because kids in MS Teams calls is the new normal!

Internal networking

We will make an effort to meet other teams in the organization to share what we do and learn from them.

Professional networking is important so we’ll invite other teams to our team huddles so they can present what they do, and we’ll return the favor.

This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

How to use Slack for project management

When used effectively, Slack is a powerful add-on to your project management toolkit.

Slack is a collaboration tool for teams. With more and more teams operating in a virtual environment, and stakeholders wanting instant answers, it’s a great way to stay in contact with your colleagues.

However, Slack goes beyond messaging. It integrates with many project management apps, and Slack is useful for providing a central hub for all the chatter that goes with projects.

It’s one of the tools I use on my projects.

How project teams use Slack

A survey showed that teams using Slack had:

32% less email23% fewer meetings24% of features (in technical teams) delivered on time27% less time required for software testing10% improvement in employee satisfaction.

OK, so the IDC report, The Business Value of Slack, was sponsored by Slack, but frankly I’d take results half that good.

And that’s not all. Teams using Slack see a return on investment of 338%! (That number is from Slack’s own survey in December 2021 of 2,000+ users). It’s rare to see tools with that kind of return — not least one that can be actually measured.

85% of respondents said Slack improved communication and 49% said it improved productivity, according to the Total Economic Impact of Slack for Technical Teams report by Forrester.

In short, teams using Slack benefit from better communication, collaboration and get results: work is finished faster and to a better standard, with happier people. What’s not to love?

You should be considering your project collaboration tools as part of your comms plan.

Get afree project communications plan template here.

So how do you use Slack to support your project management processes? Slack talks about being your digital HQ, your collaboration hub. And as projects are all about people, collaboration matters.

Here are 5 ways to incorporate Slack into the way you manage projects, whether you work with remote teams or colocated colleagues.

1. Slack channels for project management

Collaboration and chat is managed in channels inside Slack. If you had everyone ‘talking’ at the same time, to everyone, it would get too confusing. You can invite people to a private channel. You might already have Slack within the organization with channels for different departments.

Here aresome example slack channels for project management that you could set up.

# Project name: set up a channel for your project team# Project sub-group: got a lot of one type of subject matter resource? Or is one group just very collaborative and the others don’t need to hear it all? Create a channel for that group, workstream or sub-team# Testing: create a channel for your project testing group, including core project team members and user acceptance or user group participants# Project Managers: create a community for your project delivery professionals and the PMO within Slack.

Don’t create too many channels. As a busy project manager, it’s hard enough to keep track of the few that are relevant to the project, so start small and only add more if you need them.

Your channels can be public (or at least ‘public’ within your company), so anyone can browse the discussion, or private.

The huge benefit is transparency. I thought the biggest disadvantage would be managing information overload, but if you Slack workspace is well organized, that really doesn’t happen. I check Slack at regular points and you can see if there are new messages to read.

2. Slack integrations for project management

Slack doesn’t replace your project management tool — unless you are doing something small and relatively easy. For most projects, you are going to need something else as well to create your Gantt chart or Scrum board, for example.

Good news! Slack connects with the tools you already use and it integrates with so many things! This is helpful for project managers because you can use your preferred project management tool (and if you need help choosing, here are all my software reviews), and your colleagues can pick up notifications in Slack.

They don’t have to learn to use another product because they can manage their tasks and work from within Slack.

There are a lot of project management and time tracking apps for Slack including powerful integrations with:

TrelloAsanaJiraWunderlistTodoistEvernoteSmartsheetProjectplacemonday.comWrikeMeisterTaskBacklogTeamwork ProjectsTeamGanttWorkfrontPaymoGoogle Drive and Hangouts

And more! It’s definitely worth checking to see if what you use can integrate directly with Slack.

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No ObligationsFree ServiceExclusive DiscountsExpert AdviceMinimal Time CommitmentGet a Custom Comparison Report Get tailored help now This service is free for you. I may receive a commission from the software company if you choose to purchase licences. #ad 3. Set up automations

Goodbye, routine boring tasks. Hello automations!

Automations, AI, robotic processing: it’s all part of modern smart ways to use our tech. Slack gives you an easy entry point to removing some of your less exciting project management tasks.

Set up automated reminders to ask people to submit timesheets or weekly reports, for example. Push out notifications half an hour before the daily standup. Send deadline reminders before deliverables are due. Because, you know, people procrastinate.

Connect Slack to your Google calendar if you want to push out notifications to the team, or use the /remind function. It took me a while to get used to how to phrase things that I wanted Slack to do, but this works:

/remind @channel/name time “what you want the message to say”

The image below shows what it looks like in the app.

The /remind feature in Slack4. Come back to messages later

When the app is pinging away, you can’t deal with everything at once. Set yourself reminders for a message that you want to come back to.

The screenshot below shows how to do this: it’s easy. Click the three dots to expand the message’s options and then select when you want the reminder. Choose Custom if the option you want isn’t there.

Click the three dots next to the reactions menu to get the options to set a reminder.

Do you see the option on the menu to Pin this conversation? This feature is useful for creating task lists. Pin the things you need to do and unpin them once the task is done.

Slack isn’t really a task management tool, but tasks do somehow end up in there! Being able to spot them easily so they don’t get lost in all the messages has helped me stay on top of the flow of conversation.

5. Share documents

Most collaboration tools allow you to share documents, and many teams are now using Microsoft Teams, Google Drive and so on. But sometimes you want to share files with someone who is not an in-house account on your collaboration tool. What if they joined the Slack channel instead?

You can share documents on Slack. They are available for the whole channel to see by default, and anyone who has access to them can download them. Consider using direct messages instead if you only want an individual to have eyes on the file.

Slack Project Management: An Example

I asked expert user, author and digital projectmanager, Brett Harned to talk about how Slack helps him and his project teamsget work done.

Brett Harned

Brett Harned is a Digital Project Management consultant who works with several teams to better their project management practices. He often finds himself working remotely with large teams and is always looking for a tool to help him manage from a distance.

Brett has been using Slack as a central communication platform since the tool hit the market in August, 2013.

“Slack has been quite usefulwhen it comes to keeping in touch and building a rapport with remote projectteams. It helps to build a team environment on projects where that could havebeen a struggle due to geography,” he says.

Read moreabout communication in virtual teams.

Brett and his teams use Slack to communicatereal-time about project details and decisions. There have been times when usingSlack has allowed the team to come to consensus on design deliverables and cutdown on wasted project time.

For instance, on a website redesign project, adesigner wanted to share basic sketches for the team to review. She posted thedesigns in Slack, and the team was able to comment on the files and have abrief discussion about the direction the design was taking.

Previously when this was done, it required ameeting of some sort. But with Slack, quick replies with notification of whowas typing, as well as emoji responses to comments cut down on the typicalclutter and helped the team get to the point.

As a project manager who is always in meetings or traveling, Brett enjoys the mobile version of the app. Not only does it mirror the experience on desktop, it’s easy to post responses and stay engaged with the team on the fly.

Brett has also found numerous other ways to use Slack. He’s been communicating with other project managers in a private account where they share ideas and resources.

He also uses Slack at the Digital PM Summit, the conference he organizes. All event attendees, speakers, staff, and volunteers can join the account and organize themselves around topics, activities, and sessions.

It was a great compliment to the in-personexperience and was proof that many project managers enjoy using Slack.

How to Stay Productive Using Slack

The only drawback that Brett finds about the app isthat almost too much conversation happens in Slack. There are times whereimportant project decisions can be made within the tool, and not communicatedto the rest of the team.

“Just as with every other tool we use, we’ve had to set up some rules around how the team use Slack — and are sure to share important project information with everyone — in and out of Slack,” said Brett.

Quick tips for avoiding Slack overwhelmSet guidelines for yourself and your team.Don’t try to follow everything ‘just because’. Let people talk to each other without being the gatekeeper. Make sure people know what to use Slack for and when to use email, your project management software or something else.Learn the keyboard shortcuts and the commands. You can format your comments with a few keystrokes to make them stand out. You can even create your own commands if you need something bespoke.Create a notification to trigger for keywords — or your name — so you can be alerted to the things you are most interested in.What is Slack useful for?

Slack is useful for lots of things onproject teams including:

Improving collaboration and communicationSetting up automated reminders via the Slackbot (for one-off events, you can’t manage recurring tasks)Manage your To Do list items by starring or pinning comments, or using the To Do botCollaborating on documents with the ‘posts’ featureStoring filesMaking voice calls so you don’t have to open up Zoom or SkypeActing as a full project archive for decisions and discussion.

Slack has a powerful search engine, so I’ve never had a problem finding anything again.

Example of Slack on WindowsGet started with Slack on your project1. Create an account

First, get yourself a Slack account. It’s free.

2. Create a team

Then, create a team. If your company already uses Slack, use the company ‘team’ that already exists. It becomes difficult if you have too many places to look for information.

3. Set up your channels

Channels are the fundamental categories you’ll use for your discussion.

Think about thetopics you need to discuss as a group, and whether you want those channels tobe public or private.

Slack iPhone channels4. Set up your integrations

Integrate the project management apps you use for the processes Slack can’t do, like scheduling.

5. Chat — but use threads

Start the chat! Talkto each other online. Share documents.

For a while, when I first started using Slack I did the equivalent of ‘reply to all’ every time I made a comment. If someone asks a direct question, you can post a response to that specific comment, instead of posting the answer five comments down.

Make sure everyoneknows how to use Slack threads to streamline the conversation and keepdiscussions tidy.

Collaboration Tools for Project Managers

My book, Collaboration Tools for Project Managers, gives a lot more information about how to set up and get started with tools like Slack in a project environment. So if you need more information about how to get your team using Slack (or any online collaboration tool), you can check out the book.

Once you’ve got the basics nailed, you can do more and more with Slack to make it useful for your project team.

Have Fun!

Slack only works as a collaborative tool if everyone uses it — that’s the same for any collaboration tool. It has a low learning curve if you can cope with the constant drip-drip-drip of messages (turn off alerts!).

Making a tool easyand fun to use is a definite tick in the box for user adoption. And Slack HQhas put time into building an intuitive, fun to use, interface.

If gifs are yourthing, you can drop those into Slack easily!

Work should be fun, and Slack makes it easy to build relationships and create a fun team culture. That’s one of the reasons Slack is important to project managers: we need to make it easy to get work done, and making it fun to do the work (or at least, not awful), is part of creating a great team environment.

Key TakeawaysSlack is a goodsolution to add to your project management toolkit if:You work on afast-paced project with the need for people to collaborate frequentlyYou have or cancreate guidelines to avoid the overwhelmYou can set up anduse the integrations to your project management software of choice to avoidpeople having to use two systems (or more).

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This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

7 Best PRINCE2 Books for 2023 (Including PRINCE2 Agile Books)

The PRINCE2® certification exam is tricky to pass because of the style of objective testing and the number of questions you have to answer.

But PRINCE2® itself is not a difficult method to learn – and the official manual is actually pretty easy to follow and understand.

When I did my Foundation and Practitioner exams, I only used the two official PRINCE2® handbooks:

Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2®

and the partner book:

Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2®.

To be honest, I didn’t think about buying any other books at the time, as those were enough alongside the course material from my training provider.

As an aside, the PRINCE2® training provider I recommend for is MPlaza. Their materials are great.

However, there a wide range of books available to help you understand the core themes, principles and processes of PRINCE2®. If you are studying for your exam and wondering what to read to supplement your learning, here are my recommendations. Plus one book I do not recommend at all!

1. Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2®

I think you should read the original guidance. It’s written in a very accessible way. If your training provider does not provide it, it is worth investing in. Not least because Practitioner is an open book exam and you can tab and annotate your manual to help you in the test.

Make sure you get the 2017 (latest) version, known as PRINCE2 6th Edition.

It is expensive – see if you can put it on your business expenses but is the best PRINCE2® book and you can pass the exam with just this one.

Buy Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2® on Amazon

2. PRINCE2® Handbook

The PRINCE2® Handbook is another official AXELOS publication. It condenses the whole of the ‘proper’ manual into a smaller format and acts as your quick reference guide.

Be warned though, it is exactly that: a quick reference guide. It is useful as a memory jog and something to slip into your bag for exam revision on the go, but it is not a replacement for the full textbook.

Plus, it’s a lot cheaper!

Buy The PRINCE2® Handbook on Amazon

3. PRINCE2® Study Guide (2017 Update) by David Hinde

If you are finding the PRINCE2® manual hard going or you are using the self-study route, then David Hinde’s book is for you.

It takes the official text and presents it in a way that is accessible. OK, it’s still not the most interesting content in the world, but it will help you pass the exams. There are sample questions at the end of each chapter and more questions in the appendices.

This is very much a study guide, and it focuses on helping you get through the test rather than on becoming the best project manager you can be. It is long. Might be better to get the ebook version if you are planning on carrying it around as a revision guide.

Buy the PRINCE2® Study Guide on Amazon

4. PRINCE2® Made Simple by Ian Lawton

This study guide is much shorter. It’s informally written and condenses a lot into the pages. There are no sample questions but it does a good job of explaining the different themes, principles and processes of PRINCE2®.

It’s also reasonably priced!

However, I would use it as an introduction or as supplemental material for the Foundation exam. You might find it a bit light in some areas for Practitioner. If you have good course material from your training provider, you wouldn’t need this.

Buy PRINCE2® Made Simple on Amazon

5. Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2®

Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2® is not an essential read for the exam, but it is super useful and provides a lot of background information about project context that is helpful.

This book is the partner book to Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2® (as the name suggests). It’s aimed at senior managers and senior project leaders. It covers the kinds of things that you need to know as a project sponsor working in a PRINCE2® environment.

The book approaches the project world from the perspective of someone in a leadership role, so it’s not directly relevant to project managers doing the day-to-day work. However, being able to see what the project process looks like on the exec side is very helpful and gives you a rounded view.

That background info is useful for improving your practice and filling in some of the gaps in how the whole thing is supposed to work.

If your manager is happy to fund this one, get it!

Buy Directing Successful Projects on Amazon

6. PRINCE2 Agile®

Are you taking the Agile version of PRINCE2®? This is the book for you. It’s the official AXELOS handbook.

The book covers agile basics, PRINCE2® basics and has a useful section on what to fix and what to flex.

The second part of the book is the guidance, tailoring and techniques that are core for the exam. It looks at how to apply the principles, themes and processes in an agile way and explains how to manage product delivery.

Part 3 looks at areas of particular focus for PRINCE2 Agile® like the Agilometer and how to manage communications, releases and contracts. There are plenty of diagrams and I found it OK to read, not too dry.

Keith Richards is one of the authors and that gives me immense confidence in the quality and applicability of the text. I’m sure the other authors are great too, but I don’t think I know any of them! I hadn’t realized that Keith was behind this book.

Buy PRINCE2 Agile® on Amazon

7. PRINCE2 Agile®: An Implementation Pocket Guide

There are hardly any PRINCE2 Agile® exam prep guides around.

This book by Jamie Lynn Cooke is available as an Audible ebook and on Kindle as well as in paperback format. However, it is not an exam prep book for the agile test. Instead, it is a guide to implementing PRINCE2 Agile® in your own environment.

It covers the important things to know for agile success, how to switch from ‘ordinary’ PRINCE2® to the agile version, merging all the methods together and other topics that allow you to get agile going in your organization.

It’s something to read before you take a training course, to give you a bit of background on the terminology and context, especially if you already sat the ‘vanilla’ Practitioner exam and are now adding agile to your toolkit.

Buy PRINCE2 Agile®: An Implementation Pocket Guide on Amazon

And here’s a book I do not recommend:

Passing Your PRINCE2® Exams

Passing Your PRINCE2® Exams is an AXELOS official text, but I’m honestly not convinced it is worth the money.

It provides an overview of the certifications and the syllabus for the Foundation and Practitioner exam. It talks about what routes you can use to sit the exam and how you can maintain your certification.

But if you are taking a PRINCE2® training course, then you would get that guidance from your training provider. And if you are self-studying, then your study materials or prep book would cover all this.

If you are planning on taking an online PRINCE2® course check out our post where we discuss choosing the right one for you.

If you haven’t yet made the decision to take the exam, perhaps it would help you know what you are letting yourself in for. However, if you have the money to spare, I recommend you use it on a PRINCE2® exam simulator instead, as you’ll get more confidence and value from being exam-ready.

How to choose PRINCE2® books

The most important consideration, whatever PRINCE2® book (or books) you end up buying, is to make sure they are aligned to the latest version of the manual. There are still old versions of several books floating around out there, so double check that you aren’t getting the 2009 version by mistake.

Next, think about what other materials you are going to get as part of your training course. If you are self-studying, it’s more important to have the right reading material. However, too many books to read just gives you more to do, and I think that time is probably better spent doing practice exam questions.

Good luck with your test!

If you are looking for some other suggestions for project management books to read, you can check these out:

Books by Elizabeth Harrin (that’s me!)Best books on project collaborationBest leadership books for project managers8 must read books on stakeholder management10 best books on change management

This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

Free Email Holiday Cards for Business

‘Tis the season for holiday planning!

And to make it easy for you to show some gratitude to your colleagues and suppliers, I have made you a set of digital holiday cards for business purposes.

In other words, they are suitable to send out from your work email address, to your work colleagues!

Why send digital holiday cards to business contacts?

In the olden days, my business used to send real cards to contacts. As a project manager, it was often difficult to get my hands on physical cards. They were for sales people. And yet, I had project suppliers and all kinds of people to thank for their efforts throughout the year. I wanted cards.

Then we moved to digital cards and – bam! Suddenly I could send holiday emails to everyone, with lovely cute graphics and yet still feel professional.

Plus, sending holiday greetings cards by email is free! And better for the environment.

In my experience, the people we work with LOVE getting a note of holiday cheer. And by basically slapping a jpg in an email, you make a digital holiday card from you and the team.

It costs nothing, hardly takes any time, and you can bask in the glory of creating a holiday feel-good moment!

How to use the email holiday greeting cards

These email card templates for Christmas, New Year and generic seasonal goodwill are easy to use.

Step 1: The cards are in the resource library here on this blog. If you don’t already have access, enter your email in the box below and you’ll get sent the password to the secret page. Then download the image files.

Step 2: Create an email to your contact.

Step 3: Take the image file, and inset it into the email.

Tip: In Outlook, use the Insert a picture option to have the image show up in the body of the email. If you drag and drop, it ends up as an attachment, which is not such a good effect for the recipient.

Step 4: Add a personal message, preferably mentioning them by name. You can mail merge in Outlook if you have a lot to do, but I prefer doing them by hand.

Step 5: Hit send.

That’s it!

I love sending email holiday cards because many of my suppliers, team members and colleagues are overseas, so it cuts down my energy overhead of having to get to the post office and have letters weighed.

Pictures in an email are a neat way of acknowledging the season, thanking someone for their contribution, recognizing their efforts and creating a little bit of goodwill… without it taking up too much time on your part.

As busy team leaders, we don’t have hours to spend on all this, and you probably don’t have a budget for cards! So use these digital email holiday templates instead and start spreading the cheer!

Enter your email in the box on this page and you’ll get instant access to the resource library to download the 5 holiday cards and also a host of other templates and resources.

If you already have access to the resource library, you can login here. Go to the ‘Extras & Bonuses’ section and choose ‘Holiday cards’. You’ll see the various packs of cards from the past few years so you can browse the designs and see which ones are going to be the best for your needs.

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This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management