The past, present and future world of the project manager

Dr. Amos Haniff

Associate Professor of Project Management

Heriot Watt University

Scope

• Evolution of the project manager

• Four Phases• 1950-1960’s

• 1970-1980’s

• 1990-2000’s

• Present state

• Identify the necessary future (and current) capabilities of the project manager

Phase 1: 1950’s -1960’s

• Project Manager as the Scientist

• Focus on duration and cost of major engineering endeavours

• US DoD• 1958 PERT

• E.I.DuPont• 1959 CPM

Phase 1: 1950’s -1960’s

• Cold War• Ad-hoc development

• DoD encouraged publicity• PM Capability

• DoD/NASA PERT/cost guide (1962)• Forced customers to

use systems

• Too deterministic

• Negative reaction by contractors

Phase 1: 1950’s -1960’s

• Questioning project success

• Advances in techniques• Project management

failure

• Did capability in quantitative techniques guarantee project success?

Phase 2: 1970’s - 1980’s

• Project manager as the organiser• Project leadership

• Organisational Theory• Human Resource

Management

• Team working

• Organisational structures• Matrix organisations

Phase 2: 1980’s

• Shift to mainstream management

• PMI (1983) Body of Knowledge

• Foundation of PM practice

• Project success• Time

• Cost

• Quality

• Project Failure

Phase 3: 1990’s -2000’s

• The project manager as the strategist

• Managing projects to deliver organisational strategy• Management by

projects

• Choosing the right projects

• Creating project environments

• Stakeholder perception of success

Phase 3: 1990’s -2000’s

• Project Obsessed

• Projectification of Society • “Growing colonisation of all

quarters of life are guided by project-related principles, rules, techniques and procedures to form a new iron cage of project rationality”

• Daily survival is guided through projects

Present Competition• Globalisation• Technologies

Quality Standards• Customers higher expectations• At lower profit margins

Technological advancements• Expectations for state-of-the art at

lower costs

Present

• Project manager as the strategic leader

• Agile

• Manage uncertainty

• React to the changing environment

• Narrow windows of opportunity

• Quicker to market

• Innovate

• Sustain competitive advantage

Present

• Focus on the temporary organisation

• Ensure that the strategic directives of a single organisation are realised through a project

• Project success• Strategic alignment

Project

Organisation

Future

• Intense competition• Greater diversity of

specialist knowledge

• Core competencies

• Not found in a single organisation• Temporary multi-

organisation.

• Multiple organisations need to collaborate to compete together. • Joint ventures

• Partnerships

Temporary Multi-organisation

• Whose strategy is being aligned?

• How is strategic risk managed?• Sensitive information

• How do we lead• Who is the project

manager?

• Who is accountable?• How can we be agile ?

• Agreement at different levels• Corporate• Business level

Project

Organisation

A

Organisation

B

Organisation

D

Organisation

F

Organisation

E

Organisation

C

Layers of bureaucracy

Future Project Manager

• Project manager as the Super Hero• Tools and techniques

• Organiser

• Strategist

• Strategic Leader

• Agile

• Negotiator

• Deliver the strategic aspirations of multiple organisations • At any one time

Thank-you

• Questions

….or answers?

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