COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND
MANAGEMENT PRESENTS –
DR. AMIR K. AL NIZAMI
CTU Career Services
November 2021
CTU cannot guarantee employment, salary, or career advancement
Amir Al Nizami has over 20 years of experience in the field of Project Management.
His work experience ranges from working as a Project Manager, Program Manager,
Portfolio Manager, Principal PMO Manager, General Manager of PMO, and teaching
Project Management at colleges, universities, and certified educational institutions.
He’s currently the Lead Faculty of Project Management at Colorado Technical
University (CTU).
Degrees – PhD in Organizational Leadership, Innovation, and Human Development,
Master of Project Management (MPM), Master of Business Administration (MBA),
Bachelor of Business Administration, and Bachelor of Human Resources
Management. Holds Project Management Professional (PMP), Professional Human
Resources Management (PHRM), and Certified Scrum Master (SCM) certificates.
Positions – Professor, Consultant, Executive Coach, Business Owner, and various
leadership positions in Management, Project/Program/Portfolio Management,
Operations and Sales.
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WHAT YOU’LL EXPLORE TODAY
• Objective 1 – Define Project
Management basics
• Objective 2 – Define Project Manager
role & responsibilities
• Objective 3 – Recognize the future of
project management and project
management career
• Objective 4 – Recognize the
importance of project management
certification and program accreditation
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT
DEFINITION & ATTRIBUTES
• A project is a temporary endeavor:
o Produces a unique outcome, product, or service
o Requires a temporary team
o Has a distinct start and end date
• Projects are distinguished from routine work
• Projects are also different than operations
• Project management ensures that the resources are deployed to do the
work of the project
• Project management is utilized worldwide
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HISTORY OF PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
•
Modern age started with transcontinental RR (1860s)
•
Egyptian pyramids and Roman infrastructure likely to have used PM techniques
•
Gantt’s scheduling tools became popular in US government after WWI
•
Network diagrams with PERT in 1950s
•
PMI founded in 1969
•
Agile Manifesto in 2001
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OVERVIEW OF PROJECT
MANAGEMENT LIFECYCLE
•
Projects will pass through phases from start to completion – the lifecycle:
o
Starting the work phase
o
Organizing and Preparing phase
o
Carrying out the Work phase
o
Closing the Project phase
Project Management Institute (2017). Project management body of knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) - Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017
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PROJECT MANAGER ROLE AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
•
There is debate in the project management field regarding if project
managers need to be experts in the subject matter of the project
•
Basic skills project managers should possess:
o
o
o
o
o
•
Analytical thinking
Time management
Interpersonal
Communication
Leadership
Other skills include human resources and project management
mechanics
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PROJECT MANAGER ROLE AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
•
Project managers should have a combination of certain soft skills and hard skills
•
Some soft, or people, skills include having a strong work ethic, positive attitude,
problem-solving skills, team-building skills, and the ability to work well under
pressure
•
Hard skills include risk analysis, quality control, and technical and administrative
proficiency
•
Project leadership is a key characteristic
•
Team success is dependent upon an inspiring project manager
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THE FUTURE OF PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-5-6nQB8cc
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THE FUTURE OF PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
• There is a trend towards more knowledge work being run in a
projectized way
• There is a debate in the project management field whether
professional project managers are needed
• The business environment is more digital, globalized, competitive,
demanding, and uncertain
• New project management trends and tools are emerging
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EMERGING TRENDS IN PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
•
Hybrid Project Management: The Next Step for Agile
•
Artificial Intelligence and RPA. There are lots of applications for this in
project management software including:
o Identifying potential risks through natural language search
o Improving risk assessments
o Testing risk response
o Allocating resources and resource levelling
o Intelligent, real-time scheduling
o Automating mundane and repetitive tasks as Andy Crowe explains in
this article
o Improving consistency in process and decision making
Project Management Institute (2021, October 5th). Career Panel. Retrieved from www.pmi.org
CTU cannot guarantee employment, salary, or career advancement
EMERGING TRENDS IN PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
•
More Agile and Kanban
o Agile is no longer a ‘trend’ – especially since we’re now 20 years on from
the Agile Manifesto. It’s a reliable, repeatable way of working that brings
huge benefits to the teams that do it well
o More Kanban for operational teams: We have to be able to change and
adapt to market conditions, but the type of work we do often needs input
from specialists, meaning the ‘traditional’ multi-functional and self-sufficient
Scrum team doesn’t work for every project that would benefit
from Agile methods
•
Customization of Project Management Tools
o Customization is where you can tailor your messages effectively to the
audience to the point that they think they are getting a more personalized
service, but without too much work behind the scenes
 It’s a different take on tailoring your approach and communications to
suit the audience. Within project management tools, I want to see the
things relevant to me. My sponsor wants to see different things, like
real-time information on progress and budget
Project Management Institute (2021, October 5th). Career Panel. Retrieved from www.pmi.org
CTU cannot guarantee employment, salary, or career advancement
EMERGING TRENDS IN PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
•
Soft Skills over Credentials
o Long-time readers will know that I believe certification schemes to be useful, but not the only
thing that a successful project manager needs
•
Emotional Intelligence as a Differentiator
o Your project environment is a complex socio-political web of interactions, populated with
people who know what they want, most of the time. And those wants don’t always play nicely
together
•
Tailoring Project Management Methodologies
o With the PMBOK® Guide – Seventh Edition, The Standard for Project Management and the
PRINCE2 manuals both discussing tailoring more thoroughly than ever before, project
managers have more flexibility to adapt project approaches to their environment

Mentoring is one way to take control of your own development needs, and I think the complexities of
your project management environment will encourage more managers to seek out mentors and
coaches for themselves and their teams to learn from others
Project Management Institute (2021, October 5th). Career Panel. Retrieved from www.pmi.org
CTU cannot guarantee employment, salary, or career advancement
EMERGING TRENDS IN PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
•
Hybrid Project Management
o What matters is whether you can get the job done in a way that works for your business. If
that’s a blended approach, and I’m seeing that more and more, then good for you. If pure
Scrum works, or you’re totally a waterfall shop, then as long as you are seeing results no one
is going to care
•
Integrating Change Management for Project Success
o Too much of project management focuses on building and completing something. There’s not
enough focus on whether the people receiving the ‘something’ are actually ready to work with
it
•
Leading Remote Teams
o If nothing else, the pandemic of 2020 has shown us that remote teams are an effective way
of working. Businesses that resisted the shift to Zoom meetings are now embracing the
flexibility that remote teams give them
•
The Rise of Business Integrators and Online Business Managers
o A business integrator is someone who works with a business owner to bring all the moving
parts together. Often involved with business ops and creating processes to set up a business
effectively (and keep it moving) they also get involved with projects
Project Management Institute (2021, October 5th). Career Panel. Retrieved from www.pmi.org
CTU cannot guarantee employment, salary, or career advancement
5 THEMES FOR THE FUTURES OF
PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
Girl's Guide to Project Management. (2021, October 5th). Project Management Trends. Retrieved from https://www.girlsguidetopm.com/projectmanagement-the-next-10-years/
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MOST POWERFUL DRIVERS OF PM
EFFECTIVNESS
https://www.gartner.com/document/4005974/token?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&ref=GBSNewsletterEmail&utm_campaign=TECH-PMO-2021.10.19-Global-M-CD-NLGC&membertoken=A0S3-g0f8j9ne-wWfrH9W1EmMctudssu2lCCLd40WAFVANajjZnMmfAIE3pjljE6B6LWhsfnMupjCtcbjo-h3g&email_asset_id=22601
PROJECT MANAGEMENT JOB GROWTH
AND TALENT GAP 2017 – 2027
•
Demand over the next 10 years for project managers is growing faster than demand
for workers in other occupations. Organizations, however, face risks from this talent
gap
•
The latest PMI-commissioned talent gap analysis by Anderson Economic Group
(AEG) points to outstanding opportunities in jobs and career growth for project
managers within the 11 countries studied
•
Through 2027, the project management-oriented labor force in seven project-oriented
sectors is expected to grow by 33 percent, or nearly 22 million new jobs
Project Management Institute (2021, October 5th). Career Panel. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/jobgrowth-report.pdf?v=c304efd3-8c2a-48dc-9489-a945a8a07614&sc_lang_temp=en
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT JOB GROWTH
AND TALENT GAP 2017 – 2027
•
By 2027, employers will need nearly 88 million
individuals in project management-oriented roles.
China and India will represent more than 75
percent of the total project management-oriented
employment
•
This report shows that project managers are
important contributors to productivity. Talent
shortages in the profession can potentially create
risks of nearly US$208 billion in GDP over the 10year period in the 11 countries examined
Project Management Institute (2021, October 5th). Career Panel. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/jobgrowth-report.pdf?v=c304efd3-8c2a-48dc-9489-a945a8a07614&sc_lang_temp=en
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JOB OPENINGS 2017-2027—
LEADING SECTORS
Project Management Institute (2021, October 5th). Career Panel. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/jobgrowth-report.pdf?v=c304efd3-8c2a-48dc-9489-a945a8a07614&sc_lang_temp=en
HOW TO GET STARTED IN A PROJECT
MANAGEMENT CAREER PATH?
• Project management skills are still relevant and useful whether
you’re a person planning a wedding or a professional project
manager
• Take on project management responsibilities in your existing job.
Responsibilities spin across: technical capabilities, leadership
capabilities and strategic and business management capabilities,
and “power skills”—like collaboration, empathy and innovativeness
• Enroll in project management related training. American
corporations spend billions of dollars a year on training. The Project
Management Institute also offers many free and on-demand trainings. Go to
www.pmi.org
Project Management Institute (2021, October 5th). Career Panel. Retrieved from www.pmi.org
CTU cannot guarantee employment, salary, or career advancement
THE 70:20:10 LEARNING MODEL
•
70% of our learning comes from challenging assignments and on-the- job
experiences
•
20% of our learning is developed from our relationships with other people, our
networks and the feedback we receive
•
10% of our learning is derived from formal training, such as courses and workshops
Jennings, C. ‘70:20:10 Framework Explained.’ The 70:20:10 Forum (2013). Jennings, C. and Wargnier, J. ‘Effective Learning With 70:20:10’,
CrossKnowledge White Paper (January 2012)
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SHIFT IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
CAREER
•
Accept the remote reality
•
Waterfall/Lean into agile
o Many companies have adopted and will adopt even more agile or discoverybased approaches to better align decision-making and investment horizons with
different levels of uncertainty
•
Begin with a plan and an open mind
o As more and more organizations embrace digital transformation in the coming
years, the biggest change for project leaders is the need to be more adaptable
and flexible
•
Look for the silver linings amid uncertainty
o We must prepare our teams for this shift back to normalcy, but uphold our new
ways of working
Project Management Institute (2021, October 5th). Career Panel. Retrieved from www.pmi.org
CTU cannot guarantee employment, salary, or career advancement
SHIFT IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
CAREER
•
Expect uneven rebound
o The biggest change we’re going to see in 2021 is the quick rebound of Asian
economies and accelerated shift of manufacturing to China and Southeast Asia
•
Resilient to anti-fragile with continuous learning
o Project leaders need to continue building on two key attributes: agility and
antifragility both at the organizational and individual employee level. The goal of
continuous learning is to change what we do and how we do it
•
Forge real human connections
o Project managers have an invaluable opportunity to put into practice hyper
agility, people skills and to forge deeper connections to make a positive impact in
the world
•
Embrace change and expect more
Project Management Institute (2021, October 5th). Career Panel. Retrieved from www.pmi.org
CTU cannot guarantee employment, salary, or career advancement
SKILLS TO CAPITALIZE ON FOR THE
FUTURE
•
Adaptability. Listening, and digital skills
•
Effective communication, empathy, team motivation, and global outreach
•
SWOT analysis (a.k.a Skills Improvement Framework):
o Identify (gaps)
o Classify ( what can be achieved)
o Simplify ( bucketize Short, Medium and Long term goals)
o Justify ( correlate goals to current scenario)
o Amplify ( go full throttle to achieve your goals)
•
Anti-fragility
o A resilient leader resists shocks and stays the same; an antifragile leader gets better
it means that he / she does not merely withstand a shock but learn and improves because of
it
•
Inclusiveness
o Leaders will need to create a well-intentioned, inclusive-minded environment to foster highperformance teams
Girl's Guide to Project Management. (2021, October 5th). Project Management Trends. Retrieved from https://www.girlsguidetopm.com/project-managementthe-next-10-years/
CTU cannot guarantee employment, salary, or career advancement
ESSENTIAL DIGITAL SKILLS FOR PROJECT
MANAGERS
Girl's Guide to Project Management. (2021, October 5th). Project Management Trends. Retrieved from https://www.girlsguidetopm.com/project-managementthe-next-10-years/
CTU cannot guarantee employment, salary, or career advancement
PMI PROJECT MANAGEMENT
CERTIFICATIONS
https://www.pmi.org/certifications
“The Project Management Professional (PMP), Program Management Professional (PgMP), Portfolio management Professional (PfMP), Certified Associate in
Project Management (CAPM), PMI Professional in Business Analysis *(PMI-PBA), PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), PMI Risk Management
Professional (PMI-RMP), and PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP) are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc. For the full list of PMI’s
legal marks, please contact the PMI Legal department”>
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6 OF CTU’S PROGRAMS ARE PMI GAC
ACCREDITED
• GAC is the world’s leading specialized accrediting body for project
management and related degree programs, accrediting programs at
the bachelor’s, postgraduate, and doctorate levels offered within
accredited institutions of higher education worldwide
• CTU is one of only 36 institutions Accredited by PMI-GAC in North
America, 76 total institutions around the world
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CTU PMI-GAD ACCREDITED DEGREE
PROGRAMS
The GAC Accredited Program seal is a mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.
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GAC ACCREDITATION IS IMPORTANT TO
CTU & OUR STUDENTS
•
Confirmation of a program’s commitment to educational quality and continuous improvement
•
Peer recognition and achievement of quality benchmarks
•
Differentiation as one of a select group of programs that embraces and promotes the discipline of
project and/or program and/or portfolio management
•
CTU students are granted 12 months credit toward experience required for all PMI professional
certifications
•
All CTU’s Project Management courses meet the 35 hours of project management
education/training required for the PMP® exam
•
CTU students who already hold a PMI professional certification i.e. CAPM®, PMP®, PgMP®,
PfMP® etc. will be able to use any successfully completed course(s) toward the Professional
Development Units (PDUs) required to maintain their certification
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QUESTIONS?
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REFERENCES
• Kajewski, K. and Madsen, V. Demystifying 70:20:10 White Paper, DeakinPrime (Deakin University, 2012).
• Girl's Guide to Project Management. (2021, October 5th). Project Management Trends. Retrieved from
https://www.girlsguidetopm.com/project-management-the-next-10-years/
• Jennings, C. ‘70:20:10 Framework Explained.’ The 70:20:10 Forum (2013). Jennings, C. and Wargnier, J. ‘Effective Learning
With 70:20:10’, CrossKnowledge White Paper (January 2012)
• Project Management Institute (2017). Project management body of knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) - Sixth Edition, Project
Management Institute Inc., 2017
• Project Management Institute (2021, October 5th). Career Panel. Retrieved from www.pmi.org
•
Project Management Institute (2021, October 5th). Career Panel. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org//media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/job-growth-report.pdf?v=c304efd3-8c2a-48dc-9489a945a8a07614&sc_lang_temp=en
• Gartner (2021, October 19th). Infographic: 10 skills Project Managers Need to Succeed in Digital Business. Retrived from
https://www.gartner.com/document/4005974/token?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&ref=GBSNewsletterEmail&utm
_campaign=TECH-PMO-2021.10.19-Global-M-CD-NL-GC&membertoken=A0S3-g0f8j9newWfrH9W1EmMctudssu2lCCLd40WAFVANajjZnMmfAIE3pjljE6B6LWhsfnMupjCtcbjo-h3g&email_asset_id=22601
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