Although organizations at the forefront of digital transformation have successfully deployed the combi­nation of design thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile methods and immensely benefitted from them, most technology organizations and their leaders still do not appreciate how the three complement each other.

Here in Part XII, the final installment of this Update series, we describe three perspectives on project management to discuss its future directions and especially the future for SPM.

A critical factor for the past failure of many Agile initiatives is that leaders are disengaged from their strategies. They’re not taking responsibility for the deep learning, mindset shift, personal role shift, and cultural shifts required of them in a transformation of this magnitude. The failure is not specifically about Agile. Indeed, any signi­ficant change initiative needs this sort of leadership engagement, where the leaders must go first in leading, or showing the way.

Collaboration is a key factor in solving many complex problems, including the one we currently face. In fact, collaboration is a new paradigm that is increasingly finding its way into many traditional practices, including the modern corporation, where it has been introduced via horizontal organizations. Horizontal organizations are based on collaboration and trust as their default strategy. This kind of organization increases employee satisfaction and builds higher profits. In this Advisor, we examine how practices such as an open-book management policy (OBM), consent decision making, and a bold profit-sharing policy lead to greater profit and, ultimately, real customer satisfaction.

In this Advisor, Rich Huebner shares some of his thoughts about how the COVID-19 pandemic is going to fundamentally change the education industry, in particular, and offer some lessons learned for other industries as well.

Eric Willeke’s look at whether we’ve missed a turn somewhere on the path. Perhaps we need to gene-splice some deliberate characteristics into our next incarnation of Agile. Forget whether we’re picking the right approach: Are we asking the right questions? Are we even asking questions? Do we know what we want to be? Are we even Agile for the right reasons?

Matt Ganis, Michael Ackerbauer, and Nicholas Cariello tee up our CBTJ discussion directly from where the “What will it take?” question leaves off. They look at the challenges and missteps associated with Agile, beginning with adopt­ion, which relies on expectation setting. And there’s no expectation setting without education. Can it be that simple? Occam’s razor says, “Probably.”