ESI’s Top 10 project management issues point to need for more skills training

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Training organization ESI International said expert leadership is lacking in all areas of project management, portfolio management and program management. The analysis was part of ESI’s release of its top 10 trends in project management for 2013.

“This year’s trends bring a murky problem into specific light,” said J. LeRoy Ward, executive vice president, ESI International. “Leadership skills are lacking within the project community, and until project managers learn how to properly lead teams and their projects, project execution will continue to be a problem.”

ESI’s Top 10 trends in project management include:

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
3. Project management is not just for project managers anymore
4. Large projects pose unique challenges that are increasingly tough to overcome
5. Project management organizations will focus on proving their worth and driving innovation
6. The U.S. government will upgrade its project management 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 project management organizations 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

“Many of this year’s trends focus on the need to improve project skills, process and the overall management of our initiatives,” said Ward. “It is clear that it is no longer possible to hire project managers and expect results. We need our PMs to be experts, and take control of our projects to get maximum results.”