Industry 4.0, digital transformation and agility are topics on everyone’s lips. But how do these changes affect project work and the project management (PM) requirements of companies and organizations?
Industry 4.0 is the fourth industrial revolution that we are currently experiencing. This involves the integration of data, the Internet and machines with the aim of fully automating a company’s production, management and service processes. It combines data and mechanisms. This development is closely linked to digitalization and digital transformation.
The aim of the project management discipline has always been to manage complexity. Project management concepts and methods have evolved over the last 30 years as projects have become increasingly complex. The dogmatic debates often held today between “classic” and “agile” project management contradict such an evolutionary view and are also not expedient. The project management discipline is subject to constant change and has rightly been supplemented by agile techniques over the last five years, particularly in research and technology projects. However, agile project management alone does not guarantee the necessary planning security for large-scale projects, especially industrial and public investment projects.
What now? We are of the opinion that it is not a question of “classic” or “agile”, but rather that it makes sense to enrich existing project management in companies with sufficient “agility” in order to demand agility where it makes sense, but at the same time to keep an eye on the entire planning horizon of a company’s project portfolio. The fine art of modern and successful project management will be to combine agile project management methods such as SCRUM or design thinking with the tools and concepts available in the company – also taking into account cultural and organizational barriers.
With our flexible and adaptive project management approach, we combine the best of “classic” and “agile” project management. Contact us for more insights!