Dear peers and readers,

Once again it’s such a pleasure and an honour to have the opportunity to share my thoughts with you on Project Management topics.

I’m firmly convinced that sharing knowledge and giving back to the community will strengthen and consolidate our industry and its practices all over the world.

This month, I was asked by the PM Magazine to write an article on the following subject “What is the top challenge for Project Managers nowadays? and what is the best way to deal with?”

I found this topic very interesting as it is related to the real life of project managers and what they are facing in their continuous journey to excellence.

What is the top challenge for Project Managers nowadays?

From my humble perspective, the answer to this question is really simple and straight: The top challenge for Project Managers today is the high-paced changing environment of the Project Management Industry.

Today, Project Managers are dealing with countless emerging and disrupting practices, methodologies or standards that are enriching the Project Management Ecosystem on a daily basis. I can name at least few of them: Agile, Scrum, Lean, etc.

To be honest, although these new practices are a good indicator of the healthiness of our Project Management Ecosystem, they can have the perverse effect to get the Project Managers confused or distracted in their learning journey and jeopardize the efforts of our peers and predecessors to genuinely bring together the essence of project management in a harmonized way.

What is the best way to deal with it?

My humble advice for my fellow Project Managers is something they are already used at while dealing with their multiple projects and endeavors. It’s basic: JUST STAY FOCUS!

I recommend to my fellows to not struggle in trying to systematically get certified on these emerging methodologies but only to try getting their own understanding on the related topics. Don’t fall into a certification race without consistence but rely on the good old references. For example, we are lucky to have the Project Management Institute (PMI) which have spent the last 50 years in gathering, analyzing and formalizing best practices all over the world in the Project Management Industry. We can assuredly rely on it to get a first level understanding of emerging practices before deciding to get into them more thoroughly.

Conclusion

Dear peers, as already said, you just need to stay FOCUS and CONSISTENT: Focus on your ultimate goal and the learning path you decided to follow initially and consistent with your understanding and aspirations. What is your purpose, your ultimate goal in project management? The answer to this question is the KEY.

Eternal Blessings!

PS: What about you? What is your top challenge as a Project Manager? And How do you deal with it?