How Adaptive Is Your Organization?

February 19, 2019 | by Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

I recently ran across a compendium of research statistics about project management (including some from PM Solutions Research studies -- Thanks, Business2Community.com!) It's a useful and thought-provoking list, covering project management research on all levels, from the intraproject to the strategic. But there was one area I was looking for that I was surprised not to find: the changing approach to project management that is both described and forecast by PMI's inclusion of agile and adaptive methods in the newest PMBOK® Guide.

As I've written before, when a practice or method is included in an international standard, it is there because it reflects the reality on the ground. Agile, iterative, and hybrid approaches to project management have been spreading across industries and throughout the enterprise for years, since their introduction in software development organizations. Maybe because we now live in a software-mediated universe, these methods have come to be viewed as useful responses to a business environment that requires creativity and flexibility.

But, a standard carries a lot of weight; and when a new(ish) practice becomes part of the standard, you can expect that many people who previously might have dismissed it will pay close attention. You can see this dynamic in action in our most recent study, The Adaptive Organization: A Benchmark of Changing Approaches to Project Management.

One surprise in that study is that one of the largest groups of organizations were in the manufacturing sector--not exactly what we think of as a hotbed of agility. These organizations were drawn to the topic of the study not becuase they are versed or skilled in adaptive methods (they lag behind on almost every measure, as you can read here), but because they are trying to keep up with the pace of the marketplace.

What about your organization? Agile? Adaptive? Wannabe? Learn more during our free Feb. 20 webinar: register here.

About the Author

Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin is editor-in-chief for PM Solutions Research, and the author, co-author and editor of over twenty books on project management, including the 2007 PMI Literature Award winner, The AMA Handbook of Project Management, Second Edition.

View Posts by Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

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