A New Year: 2022 Project Management Trends
Instead of returning to normal in 2021, as we’d all initially hoped at the beginning of last year, we instead spent the year focusing on growing and evolving within the COVID climate that is clearly here to stay. From the continuing pandemic to the Great Resignation, 2021 continuously threw us curveballs. This year, rather than hoping that a fresh calendar year means a fresh start, 2022 will be about thriving while dodging the curveballs and finding stability amid continued challenges for the project management field. If we’ve learned anything, it’s that predicting what will happen in the next 12 months is an exercise in futility. Still, we can work with major trends already in motion that will shape our industry this year. Here’s a look at the top three.
Automation
“Artificial intelligence” and “automation” have been buzzwords in the project management world for some time, though real-world applications have been slow to become widespread. However, with the rise in planning and project management software usage among industry professionals and remote work now commonplace, there are more opportunities than ever for automation to make our lives and jobs easier. From bots that can send you daily reports to automating some of the more time-consuming menial tasks, automation could give us more time to focus on the big picture in 2022.
Soft Skills
As the Great Resignation has proved, employees are in a better position as a group than they have been for some time. They are now able to effectively fight for better working conditions and can more easily jump ship from a toxic work situation. Project managers have always needed to be adept people-focused leaders, but 2021 presented a renewed focus on developing vitally important soft skills. In 2022 it will be crucial to truly connect with your team and understand their needs. Being an authentic leader that respects your employees’ lives outside work and one that is willing to dive deep on their needs helps keep your team healthy and your projects on course.
Redefining Collaboration
Even for those on a distributed team before 2020, the last few years have presented opportunities to refine how a business operates as a remote company. In the office, collaboration often involved gathering for brainstorming meetings at a coffee shop or in a conference room, using in-person interactions to come up with collective solutions. Remote work does not mean that collaboration has to suffer; it just means that collaboration looks different and doesn’t necessarily mean that those meetings simply become video calls. In 2022 project teams will be experimenting with new ways to work together and innovate, and we predict that new ways of working will help us create solutions we wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.