We covered the following 2009 trends for project management in the Part 1 and Part 2. 

- #10 The increasing correlation between project management and operational excellence

- #9 The CFO and the project manager friendship

- #8 The rise of the Project Workforce

- #7. Dispersed customers, projects and teams kill politics

- #6. Finding the right talent gets a lot easier

- #5. Emphasis shifts from project management to workforce management

Let’s look at the last four trends.

- #4. Uncertainty is the new normal

The unceasing uncertainty we have all felt about our jobs, our homes, the economy and the world in the last two years is going to be with us for the foreseeable future. The credit crisis, terrorism, climate change, and prolonged wars will continue to directly and indirectly impact our lives, our psyche. However, with human being’s remarkable ability to adjust to any situation we are starting to get used to it! When this whole war/economic mess started I remember how shocked and surprised I was every time I turned on the TV. Now, I do not watch as much predictably bad news anymore, and if when I do, I know it will be bad … so it does not really bother me nearly as much as it used to.

- #3. The rapidly increasing service web

The business model of virtually every large monolithic company is under attack. The web has enabled small, fast moving, low cost global competitors to emerge virtually overnight. This is even more true in the enterprise software space. Small companies with deep expertise in a particular problem area are able to build and offer Web service based solutions that solve the customer’s pain point a factor of time-cost faster than the ERP/established vendor alternative. With ever improving collaboration, Web service and integration technologies this trend will only accelerate in 2009.

- #2. Enterprise software technology cross-pollination gains momentum

Web services and new technologies continue to create a powerful seemingly perpetual wave of innovation in productivity tools. One of the more recent developments that is starting to gain further momentum has been is the surge in hybrid software technologies. Here are some examples (with varying degrees of success):

• ERPs offering and embedding analytics
• Project management vendors embedding business process management capabilities (true enterprise class workflow engines)
• Project management and workforce management (not just time tracking but also workforce planning, time for payroll, leave time and other integrated HR/labor related functions/services) hybrid applications
• Accounting systems offering CRM and other enterprise solutions

Generally, hybrids that create large monolithic all or none propositions do not provide compelling value. Vendors with such solutions seek vendor lock-in as their ultimate goal and only pay lip service to the true goal of standards-based pluggable solutions that are based on Web services allowing the customer to pick and choose the services that best address their needs. However, modular Web Services oriented hybrid technologies that can be quickly implemented are on the increase and offer a compelling alternative to the legacy application models.

- #1. Leadership matters

Above all, I think one of the most important lessons of the last several years has been the critical importance of the leader. It does not matter who is on the bus, what great technologies one has access to, how many best practices you are fully versed in, it is all for nothing if the people that lead your organization and projects lack the leadership skills and intuition to make the right decisions. An incompetent leader can lead the best team, the best technologies and the organization with the most abundant resources to total and shameful failure. The primary reason we are in the mess we are in now is extremely poor ignorant leadership at some of the largest public and private institutions throughout the world. We have learned, the hard way, that choosing a bad leader or project manager can be hazardous to us, to our way of life. I think, in 2009 every single one of us, whether we are executives, members of a board of directors, members of a committee, voters … will pay a lot more attention to who we pick as our leaders, representatives and our project managers.

These are my predictions about what to expect for project management in 2009. It should be helpful to consider these trends in your business plans so you can leap ahead of your competition.

What are your thoughts about how project management practices and technologies will change in 2009?