The year 2030. What will our world look like? Is our life so far fully digitalized or have we, perhaps even deliberately, retained a touch of the analog? If you look at the current technological developments or follow the innovations that are currently being presented at this year’s CES 2018 in Las Vegas, you will soon see yourself again in the sci-fi worlds that you know from films in 2030. The robot that makes the household, the virtual world as a substitute for holidays – Balkonien 4.0, but what about our daily work routine? What are the requirements for employees and project managers in 2030? The blog parade of the ProjektMagazin investigates this question.
Project manager 2030 – long since abolished or control centre of the digital (project) world?
Under this title, the expert portal for project management calls for a glance into a possible future. Rightly so, because the digital revolution is not only in full swing, it is already claiming its first victims. Disruption “is the name of the game in many media, as more and more industries are being shaken in their foundations. If the hotel industry had seen Airbnb coming in time, it could have resisted. Today they are far outstripped, at least in terms of the number of bids. Identifying the right trends is not always easy – and we are only at the beginning of this development into the unknown.
Technologically, the world will no longer be the same in 2030. With ever-shorter innovation cycles and ever-faster innovations and developments, it is difficult to predict in advance which direction the technological future will take. But a few traces of change can be seen. Automation is becoming an important part of the working world of the future. With ever better developments in robotics and machine learning, some of the professions we still connect with people today will be automated. But what are the consequences of digitization and automation for project managers in companies?
This profession is also changing, but I do not think it will become obsolete. The 2030 project manager will become an intermediary between the machine and the employee. Project management will grow as a necessary entrepreneurial capability and use the new technologies as tools for project management. Tomorrow’s project managers will not only have to create strategic added value, but their change management, risk management and agile skills are also needed to drive the company forward. Since robotics and artificial intelligence take on many simple and predictable tasks, the project managers working alongside these technologies must intervene in the event of unforeseen problems.
A future task for companies
By 2030, forward-looking entrepreneurs who have invested in the development of agile, flexible and creative employees will find themselves in teams that are able to combine the advantages of the human mind with the most efficient functionalities of future technology.
However, tomorrow’s employers must balance investments in technology and human resources to maximise productivity and develop new skills among project managers.
So the question is, will there still be a 2030 project manager like this? The answer is not a simple “yes” or “no”. If I have to imagine a person pursuing this job description, then I see an employee who has learned to deal with data, who has adapted to the conveniences of automation and individualization and recognizes their advantages, but at the same time critically cultivates his own well-being and his abilities and advances himself, his project and the company through agile, forward-looking decisions.
