This paper will explore three emerging trends in the project management environment, all of which have important implications for the future of practitioners and the success of the industry.

This paper will first examine the sources of performance dilution in today’s project environment which are resulting in a dramatic shift in expectations from customers.

With the development of global industry standards that enable customers to measure quality in projects, availability of low-cost highly educated labor markets and the human brain’s limits on processing huge amounts of information on complex strategic projects the industry is poised for dramatic changes to how it views project practitioners. This paper will explain why increased standardization of project processes, globalization of project management, enhanced technologies, information overload and project complexity will drive increased specialization of project management functions, the rapidity of these changes and their impact on project management professionals.

These trends are changing the landscape for the practicing project manager; many will be forced to focus on a specialized expert area, such as risk, scheduling or procurement.  Others will focus on project administration, controls and reporting, while still others will find demands for consultative or leadership skills.   Specialization increases competition and some skills will be more valuable than others depending on customer needs and project characteristics.  Project professions will experience rapid commoditization of skills and pressure to keep the cost of project services down.

Attendees will gain from this presentation information they need to navigate their project management careers through today’s rapidly changing project management environment.