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Project Management 20 Years from Now!

Lachlan McGurk

Senior Trainer & Consultant
IIL

About the Presentation

On this proud 20-year milestone for IPM Day, I’ve chosen to focus this presentation on what project management might look like as we celebrate IPM Day in 2044, twenty years from now.  

Many would agree that project management has evolved rapidly over the past two decades. While I’m no fortune teller, I’ve been confidently predicting for decades that the Scotland soccer team wouldn’t win the World Cup… and so far, I’ve been right! 

So, with my predictive skills no longer in question, let’s buckle up, because the evolution of project management over the past 20 years has moved at a snail’s pace compared to the ‘squirrel on steroids’ pace of change coming our way over the next two decades! 

Twenty years ago in 2004, watching a webpage load was like witnessing Tim Robins escape from Shawshank Prison in real time! With DSL and a blistering 10 Mbit download speed, accessing knowledge bases and lessons learned online was as torturous as enduring a parliamentary debate. To top it off, internet search results were rudimentary compared to today’s advanced search engines and AI. 

Thanks to the trusty predictability of Moore’s Law – doubling computing power while halving costs every two years – we’ve seen an explosion of AI, advanced search and collaboration tools, and global ‘brain pooling’ that was pure science fiction two decades ago. To glimpse the future, we need to rewind 20 years and see how far we’ve come. So, grab your iPod and camcorder, hop in the DeLorean, and let’s head back to 2004 to see how far we’ve come before we take a leap into the future! 

Key Takeaways

  • How AI will be able to help project managers 
  • How AI might negatively impact project management 
  • Likely advances in project management tools and techniques 

About Lachlan McGurk

Lachlan’s career began with 12 years of service in the Royal Air Force. After leaving the RAF, Lachlan worked as an IT Project Manager, leading hardware and software projects for a large, tier-one manufacturer in the auto industry. A promotion saw Lachlan move to Toronto, and in 2012 Lachlan became a full time Project Management consultant and trainer. 

Lachlan and wife Sharon own two successful retail businesses. Lachlan also chairs his city’s Business Improvement Association, leading a Board of Directors to execute their mission of Downtown beautification and betterment. 

For pleasure Lachlan plays the bagpipes and flies a Cessna 150! 

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