Project Management Survey 2021

The Australian market is struggling to keep up with the demand for experienced and qualified project managers due to the uncertainty of the past two years. The role of project managers has been shifting away from technical managers to encompassing strategic leadership roles for transforming change. 

Complex projects need a steady hand and a particular set of skills for successful delivery, highlighting the importance of continued development and training of project management professionals. Project professionals must seek to develop their skills beyond technical capabilities and strengthen interpersonal skills to be effective in an environment of increasing project complexity.

Recognition by organisations of the value of professional project experience and certifications will build support for the profession to develop.

Project management methodology is never one size fits all, and this year’s data highlighted the importance of adopting the approach best suited for the organisational environment. Agility can contribute to organisational and project success but requires several pre-requisites. 

To ensure the success of 'Agile' project outcomes, organisations need to ensure they have project professionals with the right skills, qualifications and experience in agile who can drive adoption and understanding.

To be truly successful with Agile, organisations and project leaders will need to upskill and develop leaders and project staff. Regardless of the methodology chosen, aligning project outcomes to the organisation’s strategy and goals, ensuring active stakeholder engagement, adapting to changing project environments, and appointing skilled project leaders are fundamental factors of successful implementations.  

Consistent with previous survey findings, investment in collaboration tools and project delivery tools has proven invaluable, especially in the COVID-19 world; when face-to-face engagement isn’t possible, collaboration tools contribute substantially to project success.

Project managers need options that will help them deliver. And that means being able to choose from predictive, iterative and hybrid ways of providing the work and blending what works to get the best results.  The survey respondents told us that an issue to watch is the potential for Artificial Intelligence tools to really contribute to the effectiveness of project management.

Half of the survey population has played a role in a transformation project or were looking forward to being involved. We believe the importance of transformational projects will continue as businesses focus on digitising. 

A carefully planned and executed transformation can change the organisation's future.  At times this may involve dramatic strategic changes, but in most cases, it's about building a better version of what the organisation is today. What makes the winners win?  At the heart, we believe it’s fundamentally the same principles that have driven successful projects all along: leadership, professional project delivery capability, and a strong integrated team.