You’ve probably already heard this term, but most likely, you’re still not sure what it means. You may know that it has something to do with Web 2.0 and technologies like blogs, wikis or social networks, but this information is not enough for making up your mind about this new phenomenon. In this post, I’ll try to answer a few popular Project Management 2.0 questions, help you understand the basics of this new trend and see for yourself whether you want to join the movement of innovators or just sit around and wait to see what happens.
How it all started: The rise of technologies like blogs, wikis and social networks revolutionized the way people communicate online. Collaboration became easier and faster, especially for those who are separated by vast distances. Having gained immense popularity among consumers, the new technologies penetrated into the corporate world. Business visionaries found that Web 2.0 apps can be used to improve project communications. Wikis and blogs proved to be valuable generic tools that can help to share knowledge much more effectively than e-mails. Later on, developers saw an opportunity to improve other important aspects of project management, like planning, coordination, resource tracking, etc. by introducing more sophisticated applications. This is how popular tools like Wrike, Basecamp, Zoho, etc. came to light. These tools are based on the use of Web 2.0 technologies, and they utilize the main principle of Web 2.0 – collective intelligence, i.e. they allow a team to work on a project collaboratively in real time. These tools are often called Project Management 2.0 applications today.
Why is there so much buzz about Project Management 2.0 tools? Simple: because traditional project management software like Microsoft Project proved to be inefficient in many cases. The major problems associated with this software are:
- E-mail communications bypass the project management software, making plans outdated and information siloed in individual mailboxes.
- Lack of collaboration puts the enormous burden of routine operations on project managers.
- There are many single-view documents, instead of one multi-view plan covering different roles, levels and projects.
The new Project Management 2.0 tools promise to eliminate these issues. In fact, numerous companies from global corporations (including Hilton, Capgemini, GE, Coca Cola and many others) to SMBs report that Project Management 2.0 applications made their businesses more productive.
How does Project Management 2.0 work? Integrated project communications – Tools like blogs, wikis and social networks can energize project communications and help your team members to share and store knowledge more effectively than e-mail. Yet many organizations today are just not ready to abandon e-mail communications. The good news is some Project Management 2.0 collaboration platforms are integrated with e-mail and help you leverage this ubiquitous tool. These platforms are capable of tapping into the team’s knowledge and boosting the manager’s productivity. Some Project Management 2.0 tools allow plans to emerge from separate e-mails in the course of continuous interactions among many people.
Better visibility - Project management 2.0 tools enable team members to organize their daily tasks in to-do lists, which the tool merges into a structure that is turned into an organized plan by project managers. Project plans become part of a bigger picture that is aligned by upper management. This bigger picture reflects the bottom-up field knowledge brought in by the people on the team level. It also shows the real-time state of things in an organization, giving you a clear vision of your resources. At the same time, this structure is easy to coordinate and adjust from the top, as it is totally transparent to managers. The flexibility and openness of Project Management 2.0 applications allow organizations to harmoniously combine the field knowledge coming from the bottom up with the leadership and guidance coming from the top down.
Better project transparency and planning – Besides giving an up-to-date picture of internal operations, some of the new-generation applications enable managers and other members of the project team to view projects differently. People can pick any reasonable sub-set of tasks, create a view with these tasks and share the view with someone who needs it. It means that more people can collaborate and contribute to the project work productively. Each of these views can be changed by team members as the organization and its environment changes. The whole structure evolves with time. Managers, who have access to more views and to bigger views, can avoid scheduling conflicts, set priorities and align multiple projects. Flexible, many-to-many structures that allow you to create, share and easily merge views are an important part of the Project Management 2.0 approach. This approach enables collective intelligence and leads to collaborative planning. In turn, collaborative planning makes organizations more agile in the market, more productive and more transparent for their leaders.
Is it just about the software? - No. The use of the new tools leads to a major shift in how project management is executed. By transforming the way people work on projects, Project Management 2.0 transforms the role the project manager plays in the project. Project Management 2.0 software facilitates delegation. Employees become less dependent on the project manager as a to-do generator. At the same time, the new tools eliminate a great amount of routine work that distracts project managers from important things like leading and motivating their teams. There is less need to manually copy information from e-mails, pull information from employees, update plans for somebody else, notify people about updates and remind people about deadlines. The real-time visibility increases velocity in decision-making, helping organizations move faster and respond to changes quickly.
Is Project Management 2.0 a solution to all your problems? Probably, no. You will probably agree that to complete a project successfully all the three aspects of project management (processes, tools and people) should be in balance. Though Project Management 2.0 becomes a catalyst to important innovations, you should never forget that the real driver here is you. Software will not do the job alone, but it empowers people and multiplies their efforts.
Should you innovate? The present economic situation forces companies to do more with less. If you are open to new ideas and finding better ways of doing things, you have more chances to stay competitive and become a leader in your sphere. With Project Management 2.0, you can:
- Enhance project communications and integrate them into project planning
- Gain a clear visibility into your organization
- Be able to see your projects from multiple points of view Today, the project management landscape is changing, opening new competitive advantages for companies.
While some companies are struggling with the pains of traditional project management tools and e-mail, others are becoming more efficient by leveraging the benefits of the new technologies. Those that have already adopted the new tools feel they are indispensable for the business success.
Andrew Filev has been managing software teams since 2001 with the help of new-generation collaboration and management applications. His best practices are based on implementation of Enterprise 2.0 software in project management. Now Andrew is an expert in project management, a successful software entrepreneur and the CEO at Wrike.com, online project management software.
Twitter: projectmgmt
All i need to understand now is the difference bbetween social media and all the Web 2.0 and Project Management 2.0. I don’t just want to be a bystander if (or should that be when) this becomes the way of the world. Should there be a seperate article on here maybe entitled ” What every project manager needs to know about social media” or does this Project Management 2.0 article answer that?
Anyone got any answers??
Do you think that there are generational and technological barriers that prevent this dream of PM2.0? On some of my recent projects, there are serious barriers to moving beyond emailing static documents back and forth. Even with training, understanding of the benefits and pledges to utilize social tools, the familiarity of email prevails.
How do you move beyond email 1.0?
@lindsayascott Those are good questions. Here’s a brief round-up from me:
1) Web 2.0 vs PM2.0
Web 2.0 typically refers to software, while PM2.0 includes practices and processes. In this dimension PM2.0 is broader. When it comes to tools, Web 2.0 refers to all sort of things, while PM2.0 refers to the subset that’s applicable to project management. In this dimension PM2.0 is narrower.
2) Web 2.0 vs Enterprise 2.0
Web 2.0 typically refers to consumer software or to business tools that are completely open to an outside world. Enterprise 2.0 term is used to describe tools that are used mostly inside of organizations.
3) Social media vs Web 2.0
Web 2.0 tools give exposure to user generated content creating a new media which competes and sometimes replaces traditional media. So think of social media as of Newspaper 2.0.
The same tool can be used in different contexts. For example, when Twitter is referred to in the context of reporting the details of conflict in Iran, it’s a social media tool. When Twitter is used to communicate with customers, it’s a Web 2.0 tool. When there’s a private group that shares status updates on project, it might be called a PM 2.0 tool.
There are things that are unique to each of the above mentioned terms. For example, if you discuss the value of bottom up feedback in project scheduling process, you are speaking about project management processes, not web tools, so neither Web 2.0, nor social media are the right terms to use.
P.S. Other people may have different view, and they’re very welcome to share it.
@lindsayascott Here are also a couple of links to my blog posts covering some of the terms and differences:
Definition of PM2.0 -
http://www.wrike.com/projectmanagement/01/15/2008/Definition-of-Project-Management-2-0
Social project management – http://www.wrike.com/projectmanagement/04/30/2008/Social-Project-Management-Another-Point-of-View
Web 2.0 vs E2.0 -
http://www.wrike.com/projectmanagement/10/15/2007/The-Key-Difference-Between-Web-2-0-and-Enterprise-2-0
I hope you enjoy them.
Regards,
Andrew
Hi Robert,
I don’t think it’s a generational problem. If people are used to using email, then project management software should support email integration. We at Wrike.com put a lot of efforts in creating Intelligent Email Engine for two way integration. The idea behind it is quite simple – adopt the software to user’s behavior, not vice versa. You can see a quick demo at http://www.wrike.com/tour.jsp
I once heard a great presentation on IDEO’s implementation of internal collaboration and project management platform. Although one can imagine that culturally IDEO should be techies and early adopters and as close to “Facebook generation” as it gets, they had their own struggles. How they overcame it? They focused a lot of efforts on making sure that the software is very usable and that it fits existing behavior. This included, for example, push email notifications to promote user generated content and drive usage. They figured out and used the way of least resistance. I think this type of “judo” thinking is important in many projects where you see user resistance.
Regards,
Andrew