10 Trends for Program Managers – Are You A Secret PM?

Budgets and time are tight, so one of the trickle down effects has been the evolution of the program manager. Now more than ever, people are taking on the role of program manager with little or no training. So how is it working?

ESI has brought together senior executives and subject matter experts to identify the top trends for program managers in 2013.

Bill Damare is the VP for Government Markets at ESI International. He told Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER program that budget constraints are bringing people into a team that haven’t been trained in project management. But now program management is a foundational skill that everyone needs to have.

ESI’s 10 Trends for Project Managers:

1. Organizations will continue to call for strong project leaders but will focus on investments in hard skills
2. Agile implementation will be viewed in some organizations as a failure, but for the wrong reasons. “In order for agile to work you have to take the time to set up the requirements ahead of time. You also have to communicate throughout the entire process. Agencies are having trouble committing staff. The Federal government should have core program managers trained in agile. And the lead program manager should be a government employee not an outside contractor.
3. Project management is not just for project managers anymore
4. Large projects pose unique challenges that are increasingly tough to overcome
5. PMOs will focus on proving their worth and driving innovation
6. The U.S. government will upgrade its PM certification in the face of rising criticism
7. Improving vendor management practices will top the list of skills for project managers
8. Continued poor project performance in many organizations will result in more PMOs being terminated
9. Portfolio management will take on a greater role as funding continues to tighten and the number of projects grows
10. Organizations will adopt Agile to accelerate time to market but what they ultimately achieve may be a different story

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