UXC Consulting - Increasing demand for project delivery in Australia ignites competition for multi-skilled project managers locally

Increasing demand for project delivery in Australia ignites competition for multi-skilled project managers locally

Melbourne, Australia, 26 October 2011

IT project managers who have entered the world of project planning and governance in the last five years, may not have the skills to do the job, while many senior managers are out of practice in project delivery warns Nick Mescher, CEO UXC Consulting.

Mescher has closely monitored the ever changing project delivery landscape, and the flow on effects of downsizing during the Global Financial Crisis, and he has identified that many of the changes that took place through out-sourcing, off-shoring, as well as the hiring and re-deployment of specialists to support business initiatives, and use of external specialists has led to a skills shift away from the functions that were once the domain of project managers.

This realignment of skills over the last few years has meant that many IT project managers are either out of practice or unprepared for the requirements to deliver projects successfully. And this skills exodus is a big challenge facing Australian business as they attempt to keep pace with competition and deliver a project, or set of projects on time.

“Prior to the GFC a host of functions that were previously part of a project manager’s domain were ‘in-sourced’ to various departments and the project manager essentially became a stakeholder manager, while other departments gained the subject matter knowledge and experience,” explains Mescher. “Consequently during the GFC many organisations scaled back these departments as budgets were dramatically cut, and through attrition or downsizing, areas such as shared services that had previously grown, were reduced.”

“Thankfully the post GFC landscape locally – despite other countries overseas facing challenging economic conditions – has seen the Australian IT sector looking to re-ignite new products, programs and drive project delivery,” says Mescher. “In a nutshell, as demand for project delivery is racing ahead, the lost skills in the project management space mean businesses need to assess and invest in project managers to restore confidence in project delivery areas.”

The need for organisations to develop the skill sets of existing project managers to compensate for this gap is becoming increasingly apparent as a growing number of organisations and government departments race to keep pace with competition through invention, transformation and updating, therefor applying new pressure on project deliverables.

“Underpinning the success of IT projects is the need to establish, execute and deliver the project or project sets, and presently many project managers do not have the skills to do so successfully, or are out of practice,” says Mescher. “A timely example of this skills shortage and need for successful project managers is visible in the rollout of the National Broadband Network, where the Australian

Government is spending considerable resources and sourcing skilled project managers to deliver the national project on time, across a series of timelines, and within budget.”

According to Mescher the key areas where there are now IT project management skill shortages across Australia and the Asia Pacific region include, negotiating with vendors, recruitment, and creating announcements to inform stakeholders of upcoming activities.