INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Ripton is a freelance technology, business and lifestyle writer out of Scottsdale
He loves to write to inform, educate and provoke minds.At first, IT was an efficiency play
Then social media came along, smartphones and the cloud
This radically changed how business is done, forcing every business to become a digital business.Not every business has fully become a
digital business, however; many are still in the midst of what’s known as “digital transformation.”Simply put, digital transformation
is incorporating digital tools in all aspects of a company’s operations, fundamentally changing business processes and how companies
engage with customers.This shift is changing not just how firms engage with customers, but also how companies make products; every aspect of
operations is affected, including the project management role.With that in mind, here are five ways that digital transformation is changing
how project management is done today.(Image credit: Microsoft)1
Asynchronous communicationTeams have always talked with each other, but digitals tools are nothing if not about communication today
This has opened up the back and forth that take place among project team members—and it is happening asynchronously.Communication used to
take place via meetings and email, but now tools such as Slack and Chanty have created a virtual space where much of the interaction among
project team members takes place.This shift not only increases the velocity of communication, but more fundamentally it moves it toward an
asynchronous model where team members check in and give updates between project tasks instead of in real-time
Face to face and real-time communication still occurs, but the lion’s share is starting to happen in these team spaces instead.2
Less managementThe days of siloed project work are rapidly coming to an end
For project managers, the role of guiding teams is even coming to an end in the traditional sense.That’s because greater communication
combined with the trend of agile project management, an outgrowth of digital methodologies, is ushering in an era of self-guided,
self-organizing project management.For instance, the digital transformation and project management experts atDigicoop.io, developers of the
work management platform Kantree, have made project managers become more like facilitators and less like traditional managers.“We chose
not to have managers, but coordinators who make sure that what we decide together gets done,” the company noted in a recent blog post
“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.”Project managers still have their place, but it is much lighter-touch and more big picture than before digital
transformations.(Image credit: Pixabay)3
Greater results focusThe tools of project management have gotten much better since digital took over how business is done.Tracking
deliverables, setting goals, managing time and watching team interactions has become almost a trifle for project managers post-digital
One project manager I know personally even spends a mere two hours a day working; with a little automation and efficient habits, she turns
her full-time project management job in Silicon Valley into less than a part-time gig.Even for project managers that don’t optimize to
that degree, digital transformation is freeing them up to focus more on big-picture thinking and strategic planning instead of the nuts and
bolts process work that used to be a hallmark of managing projects.PMs can do more with less, which means more focus on results and less on
Analytics at the forefrontA forth way that digital transformation is affecting project management is that numbers are taking a greater role
in decision-making; project management is getting more analytics-driven.Almost everything a team does can now be tracked and quantified as a
result of all-digital workflows
This opens the door for more data that project managers can use for tracking and quantifying the work being performed.At the same time,
artificial intelligence and business intelligence built into software is making it easier for project managers to use this data in new and
Project managers have always been focused on key performance indicators, but digital transformation has vastly increased the scope for
leaning on numerical data for managing projects.(Image credit: Pexels)5
Remote teamsFinally, project teams are getting a lot more decentralized.The plethora of digital project management platforms, combined with
videoconferencing and changing work expectations as a result of digital processes, has meant a large increase in remote work.Whereas remote
workers once were marginalized and somewhat out of the loop, the move to digital processes has made telecommuting an option that is only
limited by company policy; some companies even work entirely from distributed teams.This is a sea change for project managers, who now must
balance timezones and work on inclusivity as much as they have had to stop caring about the nuts and bolts of project management process
The role of the project manager has shifted more toward being a mother hen and less about hard-nosed deliverables and managing employees.For
businesses in Silicon Valley that are natively digital, this is all old news
But firms that are just now transforming digitally are discovering that more changes from digital than just customer relationships
All processes are affected, including project management.kHc8mjYzHYzUGZArBsdxHa.jpg?#
