Digital transformation is changing not just how organizations engage with customers, but it’s having a profound effect on every aspect of operations.
It’s not hard to imagine such a deep impact when, according to IDC, direct digital transformation investment spending will approach $7.4 trillion between 2020 and 2023.
One area of business where organizations will see change? Project management.
For TechRadar, tech and business journalist Jay T. Ripton put together a great list of five ways DX is changing the role of project management:
1) Asynchronous communication
Communication is a key component of the modern digital approach. Yesterday’s meetings and emails have morphed into today’s collaboration tools like Slack, Chanty, Hive, Google Hangouts, and Cisco Spark. As a result, team communication is quicke, on-the-go, and in real-time.
2) Hands-off management
With the aforementioned changes in the very ways we communicate with colleagues, combined with agile project management, we’re in a “new era of self-guided, self-organizing” project management.
One example outlined is at French company Digicoop.io, who developed work management platform Kantree. They transitioned the role of project managers to be more akin to facilitators.
“We chose not to have managers, but coordinators who make sure that what we decide together gets done,” explained the company recently. “It’s not a full-time role, rather a temporary assignment. The coordinator takes on projects that are ‘up their alley’ and correspond to their skills, so that we can collectively tap into each person’s strength.”
3) Focus on results
Thanks to a new generation of project management tools born out of the digital age, everything from tracking deliverables to setting goals to time management has become easier, and to a degree, more automated.
Digital transformation is allowing project managers to take a step back and look at the bigger picture thinking and strategic planning. Basically, PMs can do more with less.
4) Analytics at the forefront
Digital workflows have made it simple to track and quantify almost every task assigned to teams. This means more data, and, of course, better streamlining and tracking.
With artificial and business intelligence integrated into software, project managers can get creative with this data, finding new ways to meet KPIs.
5) The agile workforce
Digital project management tools strike again. These, alongside videoconferencing and the resulting shift of work expectations have meant a dramatic increase in remote work.
Once looked down upon, digital tools have made remote work thrive — and limited only by company culture. “The role of the project manager has shifted more toward being a ‘mother hen,’” Ripton explains, “and less about hard-nosed deliverables and managing employees.”
Sure, project managers at digitally-native companies have already witnessed these trends and changes — or they have been ingrained from the start. But for organizations currently undergoing digital transformation, it’s a unique change for an essential role.
