PMO for Emerging Technologies within an Organization

By Kevin Coleman

Emerging technologies play a critical role in an organization’s ability to compete domestically and globally. Many believe that today, that role is more important than ever before. With all the major changes taking place in our industry, the rapid adoption of emerging technologies is essential when addressing the major challenges the business world faces.

While investigating this topic, an interesting discovery was made: there were multiple job postings for PMO leads for emerging technologies. In addition, there were additional postings for the lead of technology PMOs—and when you looked at the details, most of them specifically called out emerging technologies.

Perhaps the most shocking discovery was that these positions were for vacancies within the government and private sector. The top 10 emerging technologies I selected and modeled have a projected market value of between 15 to 40 trillion globally by 2020. So you can see where the demand for the specific role of emerging technology PMO is coming from.

There are many emerging technologies that will generate a number of programs and projects in the next few years. Three of the top emerging technologies that are likely to find their way into many projects—and thus impact PMOs—are robotics, blockchain and artificial intelligence. (It is important that you recognize there are about a dozen other technologies that will be entering the rapid adoption and advancement phases of their evolution in the same period of time. So program and project managers will have to deal with their issues as well.)

Robotics

In 2016, analysts at International Data Corporation projected global spending on robotics and related services would top $135 billion before 2020. With a double-digit compound annual growth rate, that is just short of double the 2015 market. Currently, the manufacturing sector is the largest purchaser of robotics. Some are pointing to home-assistance robotics as an up-and-coming segment. All that growth has to impact program and project management! [For additional information on robotics (current state and the future), I recommend checking out ASME’s site.]

Blockchain

This started out as a cryptocurrency transaction component for Bitcoin. It began as a public (general) ledger of all Bitcoin transactions that have ever been taken place. It was well liked, and is now being applied to many other applications outside of cryptocurrency. It is now seen as a substantial technological innovation that extends to many application areas. (For additional information on blockchain, I recommend checking out this IBM video on YouTube.)

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

After decades of research and development, AI is a reality. Today, AI is considered the merging of man and machine. Basically, it is a computer system/software that is able to perform activities that are normally associated with human reasoning capabilities. These capabilities include speech (artificial production and understanding human dialog), sight (visual understanding), decision making, walking, running and much more. The potential is so significant that many organizations and nations have drafted strategies to take advantage of this rapidly advancing technology. (For additional information on artificial intelligence, I recommend checking out Intel’s site.)

Given these and other emerging technologies, the fate of your career is in your own hands. Take the initiative, get up to speed—and stay that way. Focus on emerging technologies that are of interest to you and are likely to become integral to your work. Act as if on-the-job learning is a necessity—and continuous.

As with all programs and projects, there are many risks. With programs and projects leveraging emerging technologies, there are increased risks—of the new and unknown. Here are some suggestions that will help manage and reduce those risks:

  1. Routinely search the internet (especially social media sites) for postings, articles and information about the emerging technologies that you are using. You might even be able to find articles about projects involving the specific technologies that you have on your initiative. Also don’t forget about looking at websites for professionals, especially program and project managers.

  2. Find a part-time advisor on the emerging technologies that you will be using. They can provide a wealth of information and, more importantly, personal experiences.

  3. Add contingency to your timeline; cost that out as a possible impact on the budget.

  4. Enhance your PMO to address the challenges of emerging technologies and the changes that they will bring.

  5. Don’t forget to give back! As a project and program management professional, you should share within your organization all the lessons learned about the emerging technologies you use on your projects. However, you should not stop there! Write an article or create a blog posting about your program or project that uses emerging technology. You don’t have to be a professional writer; that is especially true when posting on blogs.

We live and work in a technology-intensive world. As program and project managers, this creates the challenge of managing the development, implementation and maintenance of emerging technologies. Emerging technology will undoubtedly drive change—and some of those changes will be radical and modify (or rewrite) the rules (and sometimes laws) of business. This will challenge all of us and require us to update our knowledge in order to be successful.

The greatest challenge faced by PMs is likely to be personal. It is almost assured that you will need to let go of some of the rules and “well-knowns” that you have developed over the years. Be cautious and a bit pessimistic, but be ready to adapt and make the changes necessary to embrace the coming era of rapid technological advancement. The next few years are going to be a very exciting time!

This article can be found at https://www.projectmanagement.com/articles/357236/PMO-for-Emerging-Technologies-within-an-Organization

About the Author

coleman kevin

Kevin Coleman is a highly skilled senior level project and program manager/advisor with experience leading projects with labor budgets ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars to multi-million dollar budgets across multiple industries.